Back in 2003 gold ETFs were introduced for the first time. Many of which were physcially backed by the precious metal.

At the time gold was trading for roughly $300 an ounce.

Fast forward a few years and gold hit $1,900 an ounce in 2011.

That is over a 6X increase in just 8 years.

Keep in mind that all of that price appreciation wasn't due to ETFs as there was the whole "Great Recesion" in 2008 that spurred demand significantly as well.

That being said, prices still more than doubled to about $700 from 2003 to 2007, and reached $1000 an ounce just before the Recession and QE really sent prices of commodities skyward post 2009.
There certainly seems to be a correlation between the ETF demand and the price of gold. As the ETF gold demand increased, so did the price.