Xuhaib
International Coach
yeah thats what concerns me 2005 was once in a life time spectacle you will struggle to recreate it but even in 2009 numbers were very healthy and the decline has been almost 100% since.
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Fall in Sky Ashes viewing figures
- Thread starter Xuhaib
- Start date
Uppercut
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Yeah it was a tough decision, and was made before the 2005 Ashes, at which point it seemed very clearly to be the right option.
What we're learning now is that, in the long run, demand for cricket is incredibly elastic. If you make it expensive to access, almost everyone forgets that it even exists. Lots of reasons why but I think the fact that it's seasonal is huge. It doesn't form habits (especially social habits) that last for nine months the way Premiership football does. Each summer it has to re-establish itself and find a way to rope in viewers. If this trend continues, Sky will decrease the sum of money on offer accordingly, which essentially makes the ECB's decision for them.
I think it's sad that we'll never see cricket grip the entire nation again as it did in 2005, but the decrease in participation is the real tragedy. Competitive sports is possibly the most fun you can have in life while fully clothed, and dropping a third of participants in the space of 8 years is absolutely brutal. It moves beyond "**** for cricket" and into "socio-cultural crisis" territory, especially considering that participation in other sports is decreasing too.
What we're learning now is that, in the long run, demand for cricket is incredibly elastic. If you make it expensive to access, almost everyone forgets that it even exists. Lots of reasons why but I think the fact that it's seasonal is huge. It doesn't form habits (especially social habits) that last for nine months the way Premiership football does. Each summer it has to re-establish itself and find a way to rope in viewers. If this trend continues, Sky will decrease the sum of money on offer accordingly, which essentially makes the ECB's decision for them.
I think it's sad that we'll never see cricket grip the entire nation again as it did in 2005, but the decrease in participation is the real tragedy. Competitive sports is possibly the most fun you can have in life while fully clothed, and dropping a third of participants in the space of 8 years is absolutely brutal. It moves beyond "**** for cricket" and into "socio-cultural crisis" territory, especially considering that participation in other sports is decreasing too.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
Kids need sport at school. It is an absolute joke that governments in the UK don't do more regarding this.
LegionOfBrad
International Debutant
Their first course of actio should be getting some t20 on FTA. It's the best gateway and is easy for timeslots.
Of course they can't because Sky have all rights until 2020.
Of course they can't because Sky have all rights until 2020.
GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
I think not being on the same weekend as Wimbledon will help. The next two Tests are the best chance for ratings this summer as if I'm not mistaken it's football season after that.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
Yeah in my 'fix English cricket' thing I only got half finished my plan for T20 was to do 4 packages of fixtures, at least one of which would have to be on FTA.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
Which is counter productive because encouraging sport brings the country an enormous return on investment.
GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
Next two Tests = the 2nd and 3rd. I'd accounted for the nobody cares shield already.
Niall
International Coach
I like the idea of Sky picking the games they want as they pay the most money and then maybe the BBC could have a game every week or two? I don't think one t20 game a a week on bbc would do anything whatsoever to sky numbers, nobody is going to cancel their sky contract just because one game a week has ended up on free telly.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
Well my T20 idea was 8 franchises, play each other twice, 2 games a week for 7 weeks. 2 games on a Tuesday night, 2 games on a Wednesday night for 1 round of fixtures, then the weekend round would have one game on a Friday night, one on Saturday afternoon, one game on Saturday night and one on Sunday afternoon.
All games would be broadcast on TV; and sold in 4 packages. The fixtures would rotate thus: Round 1 Games A & B would be Tuesday night, C& D on the Wednesday. Round 2 Game D would be Friday night, A would be Saturday afternoon, B would be Saturday night and C the Sunday game etc. The broadcasters would then bid for the rights to broadcast Game A, Game B etc, with the proviso that at least one of the packages must be sold to a company that broadcasts FTA. I'd also commit the FTA broadcaster to providing a weekly MOTD style round up show to be broadcast on Sunday evenings.
All games would be broadcast on TV; and sold in 4 packages. The fixtures would rotate thus: Round 1 Games A & B would be Tuesday night, C& D on the Wednesday. Round 2 Game D would be Friday night, A would be Saturday afternoon, B would be Saturday night and C the Sunday game etc. The broadcasters would then bid for the rights to broadcast Game A, Game B etc, with the proviso that at least one of the packages must be sold to a company that broadcasts FTA. I'd also commit the FTA broadcaster to providing a weekly MOTD style round up show to be broadcast on Sunday evenings.