English cricket is bouncing back via social media
For cricket fans, yesterday’s Telegraph Sport headline “Cricket in crisis” was alarming to say the least.
There are growing concerns over the future of domestic cricket in the UK, with a battle underway between the traditionalists wishing to preserve it and those yearning for a franchise Twenty20 competition to bring in the cash.
While the ECB announced impressive cash reserves of £73m, it doesn’t take a cricket insider to see that the domestic game is struggling, reflected by fledgling crowds and low TV audience numbers.
Last season’s Natwest T20 Blast Finals Day registered the day’s worst UK broadcast viewership since the competition began in 2003.
By stark contrast, Australia’s Big Bash League became one of the top 10 most attended sports leagues on the planet this year. Franchises are making a combined profit of over $4 million each summer, packing sun-drenched stadiums with record-breaking crowds and broadcasting every game live on free-to-air channel Network Ten.
Now Australian cricket has its obvious advantages, the majority of which are impossible to imitate. Its urbanized society makes it better suited for city-based clubs, whilst the consistent weather creates better pitches and is far more appetizing than a cold, grey evening on the South coast.
The problem facing the ECB seems to be simple enough; in a world of fast and exciting T20, four day county cricket is becoming increasingly difficult to market.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite the frosty opening of the County Championship in April and a lack of mainstream coverage, they’ve discovered assistance from digital platforms and content from this year’s tournament is reaching larger audiences than ever before.
Higher quality highlights and live reaction are posted on the @CountyChamp Twitter handle and the re-branded Specsavers County Championship Facebook page – which has gained over 20,000 likes since its inception – using the hashtag #ProperCricket with emojis and gifs to merge tradition with trend:
Watch out @OfficialSLC – @englandcricket's @root66 and @jbairstow21 are on ???? for Yorkshirehttps://t.co/t59D5phPNq
— County Championship (@CountyChamp) May 9, 2016
Individual counties post highlights on their YouTube sites, whilst round-ups of the previous day’s action are delivered at 9am across the England Cricket network. The official Vine page is dedicated to the latest short clips, and a “Top Catches” platform has been introduced, sourcing the best grabs from all formats of the game and showcasing them across social media.
By combining love of tradition with the most exciting aspects of the domestic game, the ECB is attracting more digital consumers than ever before. It remains to be seen whether this increased engagement online will translate into tickets at the turnstiles, and English cricket still has a long way to travel if it wants to rival the lucrative frenzy of franchise cricket in the sub-continent.
But perhaps it doesn’t need to. The record breaking crowds for last summer’s Ashes were testament to the popularity of the longer format of the game. Instead of trying to compete with the likes of the Big Bash and IPL, the ECB have chosen to invest in tradition and deliver “Proper Cricket” to a new generation of fans.
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