Fall in Sky Ashes viewing figures

[Xuhaib]

Fall in Sky Ashes viewing figures leaves English cricket facing stark choices | Sean Ingle | Sport | The Guardian

I usually don't bother too much with those "test cricket is dying" crowd however less half half a million viewership for an Ashes test is pitfully low surely cricket can't remain behind the paywall much longer if cricket is to survive as one of the major sports in England.

 

[Spark]

But it's all good so long as Giles Clarke continues to rake in money right

 

[Howe_zat]

reap what you sow

In September I'll ask my students how many of them watched any of the Ashes. It will be 0

 

[Pothas]

Loads of them will be watching the Premier League though.

It is not just Sky.

 

[Furball]

The problem Test cricket has is that it's fundamentally unwatchable. It requires a 5 day commitment between 11am and 6pm, when most people have this thing called 'work' that gets in the way.

I only saw as much of the 1st Test as I did because I was in bed ill for 2 days, I won't get to see a single ball of the 2nd Test live because I'm working 4 of the 5 days and on Sunday I'm heading up to St Andrews to watch the final day of the Open.

 

[Niall]

Its as dull as complaining about Premier League players making millions before they hit 20, but having the Ashes so often for the "casual" viewer at least has probably hurt some of its aura, and as the article suggested Wimbledon was concluding.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Loads of them will be watching the Premier League though.

It is not just Sky.

Fair point; well made.

If the BBC or ITV could be arsed to bid for the highlights it'd be a start.

I actually quite like 5's coverage, but it's it's still very much the Tito of the five main channels.

 

[GIMH]

I disagree with Furball. The great thing about Test cricket is that you can have commitments around it and still see plenty of the match. I mean, granted, I did cancel plans on Saturday once it looked like the game was going to end that day. But I worked in the office Thurs/Fri, so no visual coverage for me until around 5.30, and still feel like I saw enough of the match to form a reasonable (by my standards opinion) on it.

I agree with Pothas's point to an extent, about the Prem, however there is no doubt that the Sky deal starting in 06 at the point when kids all around the country were picking up bats was a kicker. It was a huge opportunity wasted.

Football hooks them in in many ways, and there is still a fair amount on free TV. The kids without sky will find a way, be it streams, visiting a relative/friend, settling for MOTD. Cricket doesn't have them on the hook to start with.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah it is a fair point and I think it is really important that we at least get some domestic Twenty20 on free-to-air. I don't know what sort of proportion of people have Sky these days anyway, I also know that there are number of big cricket fans (my Dad being one) who still follow the game closely but would never dream of getting Sky, they settle for the radio.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Guess a lot of people will be like me though as I cancelled my Sky and watch it online instead. Might be a bit naughty but it saves me lots of cash.

 

[91Jmay]

Cricket is what it is in this country. 2005 was a zenith and it will never be reached again. As long as the finances are solid and we keep producing decent teams that's about all we can ask for considering how far down the priorities cricket is for most people.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Back to back to back Ashes getting tiresome ? That we've had three 5-match Ashes series since 2013 is kind of absurd.

 

[GIMH]

Back to back to back Ashes getting tiresome ? That we've had three 5-match Ashes series since 2013 is kind of absurd.

Could be a fair point. People who post on forums like this aren't complaining but it makes it less 'must-watch' for the casual fans who wouldn't dream of watching us on a winter tour or against Sri Lanka/New Zealand at home (no offence, just the way it is sadly) but enjoy watching the Ashes.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I'm not sure how they calculate satellite/cable viewing figures. I subscribe to BT Sport and can have anything up to 20 people watching the Saturday lunchtime game because not many people subscribe. When calculating the viewing figures they can have no idea how many people are watching in pubs or on mass at friends houses. (Incidentally I don't have 20 friends, the house is usually full of people I don't know).

 

[Athlai]

Surely a humiliating World Cup and a (on paper) poor showing against New Zealand would likely have contributed to this? The fairweather fans will likely return to England now that they're winning again.

 

[Burner]

Cricket is not a sport that you will take on without someone in your life influencing you or without you developing genuine interest by watching it on TV. It's not like football where the only thing you need is a damn ball to get sucked into the game.
If it's difficult for people to watch cricket, then I am afraid that it does not bode well to the game we all love.

 

[Cabinet96]

I often wonder whether I would've properly gotten into cricket had Sky got the full rights a couple of years earlier than they did. I survived about two and a half years with no regular live cricket before I got sky, but after experiencing two pretty awesome summers in 04 and 05 I was probably already hooked enough for that not to be an issue. I managed to get into football around the same time, but as has been mentioned, it's kind of different.

 

[Jono]

watch the ratings go up for Lord's after the win...

 

[Uppercut]

Cricket is what it is in this country. 2005 was a zenith and it will never be reached again. As long as the finances are solid and we keep producing decent teams that's about all we can ask for considering how far down the priorities cricket is for most people.

Check out the figures in the article though. The decline even since 2009 is far too big to just be accepted for what it is. Also a massive decline in the number of people playing club cricket. It's not being overly dramatic to say the game is rapidly dying in the UK.

 

[Furball]

The ECB are caught between a rock and a hard place with this one though; without the millions Sky pump into the game some of their grassroots programs would struggle for funding, yet they'll struggle to attract kids to the game if they can't make heroes out of the players because they don't get a chance to see them.

The problem (and it's not just cricket that faces this) is that kids need to discover sport in their own time at private clubs rather than being introduced to it at school. The BBC needs to be reminded of its duties as a national broadcaster and needs to take sport more seriously instead of squandering millions on ****e like The Voice.