England Cricket: Expanding Fan Engagement
By Josh Hershman, Ten Toes’s Managing Director
I’ve got a confession to make. I am a cricket badger. I played the sport, I love its intricacies and I care about its future.
Needless to say, I’ve therefore followed every ball of the men’s and women’s Ashes intently for the past couple of months. And loved it. It’s been a joy to see the growth of the women’s game - attendance was 4.5x that of the 2019 series, viewership doubled compared to four years ago (5.3 million on live TV) and 33.5% of tickets in a sold-out women’s series were sold to women.
Meanwhile, the men’s team has also broken viewing figure records while playing in a way which will inspire a generation. The broadcast coverage of both series has been superb across Sky Sports and BBC but what’s really stood out from a digital and social perspective compared to any previous Ashes is England Cricket’s approach to its men’s and women’s teams.
When England men’s Test captain, Ben Stokes, specifically referenced the ‘men’s Ashes’ in a press conference, it felt like a seminal moment. A key juncture for the sport. A clear need to label the men’s team rather than make an assumption about which gender team is being referred to.
But, what’s that got to do with social?
Well, England Cricket has one lead account - a united front to champion the best of all its teams. By comparison, the English Football Association has one account for its national teams, one specifically for its women’s team and one for the grassroots game, while the RFU adopts a similar approach to its cricket counterparts. There’s no right or wrong here - as the men’s Ashes series showed, there’s more than one way to play the game.
The question of how to give the right prominence to all your teams or stakeholders and engage audiences to convert them from followers to fans is one a lot of clubs, leagues and organisations are rightly asking themselves and we’re perfectly placed at Ten Toes to be able to help. It’s no mean feat to cover the men’s and women’s team simultaneously, telling the stories that need to be told and appealing to fans generally without bias.
England Cricket’s content across both teams has largely excelled - focusing on the skill level, key moments, great access and the light-hearted quirks of the sport. Branded content had its place, as did broadcast clips, but there were a few standout strands worth highlighting:
1) Authentic teammate chats replacing ‘standard’ interviews
There’s no tagging on to a broadcast interview to get the thoughts of the players after a game. Instead, it’s two players mic’d up having a casual chat on the boundary or balcony. Rather than the ‘standard’ interview, you feel like you’re listening in on their conversation and the players bounce off each other in a natural way. The pairings aren’t a coincidence either: teammates who are friends are more relaxed around each other, resulting in more natural conversation and interaction. The same theory is what made Ten Toes’ Wingmen series such a success and why the likes of Cinch – a sponsor of England Cricket – achieved positive results in their ‘conversation in cars’ format.
2) Elite skill is elite skill, irrespective of gender
Whether it’s the clip which is chosen or the caption which accompanies it, England Cricket showcased the best moments of skill across both series very well. As the clip below shows, world-class cricketers are world-class cricketers irrespective of gender. There’s no distinction between the men’s and women’s game or alluding to anything other than the skill on show.
3) The moments around the game
In all major sports, it’s fair to say the cameras cover multiple angles of the action on the pitch and it’s tricky to find a unique viewpoint or something which will make users ‘stop the thumb’ as they scroll through their feeds. However, jumping on authentic moments involving fans is always a winner.
Whether it was impromptu games of cricket during rain delays or Mark Wood using a moment in between balls to sign a watermelon (yes, a watermelon), having an eye for moments like these which appeal to a wider audience can pay dividends. It’s no surprise, therefore, that England’s quickest bowler taking a sharpie to a piece of fruit was one of the account’s most viewed reels on Instagram this summer.
4) Storytelling
Storytelling is often thrown around as an industry buzzword but it takes skill and expertise to do it well. As marketeers we can’t, of course, determine what happens on the pitch and sometimes those stories are harder to come by than we’d like. That certainly wasn’t the case here. From England recalling Moeen Ali and controversial ‘stumpings’, to bail switching and an all-time great, Stuart Broad, deciding to hang up his headband, there was no shortage of angles. England’s content around Broad was particularly excellent and it was no coincidence that he did his final ‘chat’ walking around the outfield with his good mate, and fellow legend, Jimmy Anderson.
Elsewhere, on the broadcaster front, Sky Sports’ ‘late cut’ edits which went out at the end of each day were the perfect wrap-up of the action, not to mention their series-ending montage which hit the nail on the head.
As always, there’s more that can be done. One area in which cricket seems to fall below its fellow sports is the role of the players themselves and using them as an extension of the team or organisation.
It’s notable that while collaboration posts on Instagram were fairly plentiful with the women’s team, there wasn’t a single collab post with a male player throughout the entire Ashes. Not only that, but posts from players were very few and far between - for example, Mark Wood, who is one of the biggest personalities in the changing room, posted just once on his Instagram account throughout the series.
When you consider that the men’s Test captain, Ben Stokes, has more followers on his own account than England Cricket do on theirs, you can’t help but feel this was a huge missed opportunity. People engage with – and relate to – other people far more easily than they do organisations, so using your squad to extend your reach and add value for commercial partners is an area ripe for exploration and growth.
At Ten Toes, our work with sports stars, brands, clubs, leagues and federations means we see this issue from both sides of the fence and, whether it’s through a clear strategy or having the right tools and processes in place, we know how to maximise the potential of your squad (of influencers) without compromise on either side. It would also be great to see talent, clubs, leagues and organisations take greater responsibility for moderating their social channels.
We know there are on-platform tools available but an added layer of context and protection on top can tidy up the comments section while protecting players and fans from seeing abuse, spam or worse which negatively impacts everyone’s enjoyment of the game. As I watch a clip of Jonny Bairstow, I don’t want to be sold fake bitcoin or read abuse hurled in his direction from those who can’t forgive a dropped catch. No-one should have to see it: Jonny and his friends or family certainly shouldn’t have to read it, and nor should the next generation of fans seeking to engage with the game. As the ECB aims to eradicate discrimination from every aspect of the game, it’ll be well-served ensuring online abuse of any kind is part of its plans.
It was perhaps fitting that the men’s and women’s series mirrored each other on the pitch too: Australia going out in front, England responding strongly to end in a draw and, while the respective urns may have been retained by – and return to – Australia, it’s the England teams who have really moved the needle for the game of cricket this summer.
For the sport to prosper, it needs to deal with its well-documented issues and continue to connect with new and existing audiences as it has done over the last two months – and, if they achieve that, there’ll be more cricket badgers in the future like me.