Ben Warren: Can digital media save County Championship cricket?
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Ben Warren: Can digital media save English county cricket?
Cricket, lovely cricket.
England's national sport has been under pressure for many years, with the four-day County Championship widely perceived as the domestic competition in the most precarious position.
However, there has been genuine hope in the blossoming audience for a relatively basic video streaming service synced with the traditional radio commentary.
Ben Warren, Somerset CCC
It is a League-Wide scheme developed by the England and Wales Cricket Board but Somerset CCC have been at the forefront. Digital marketing & communications executive Ben Warren runs the service for the club.
Like many county devotees, he is fiercely protective of a game that is overlooked but far from unloved.
With a controversial new franchise-based tournament starting next season and threatening to take attention from the longer-form game, the pressure is on.
But can digital media really help save county cricket?
TOPICS
1:48 Content strategy in a nutshell and how it has evolved
3:50 Live streams of the four-day games - the proposition and the surprising popularity
6:14 The quality of our video product "far away from a TV product"
9:37 500,000 views in 35 days last season and 100,000 for the first three days in a pre-season friendly
13:34 Whether the new digital product is a lifeline for county cricket?
16:01 Early thoughts on monetisation
18:31 "The product is not a level where we would expect a fee"
22:21 Would sponsorship be possible when your product is using BBC commentary teams
24:43 Tapping into the passion of the Indian subcontinent
27:01 Engagement patterns and utilising wifi at the ground
29:35 The different cadence of county cricket. The value in being 'quality background noise'
30:31 Fulfilling the expectations of the crowd for a live experience
31:32 The digital team at Somerset and covering away games
32:19 The in-play clips of boundaries, milestones and wickets. The popularity (around 10m view last year) and the system that creates them.
33:45 Has the new digital content really brought in new spectators
36:01 Don't put paid-for walls around a new product
37:10 What will be the effect of the Hundred?
41:24 Taking lessons from the franchise model in cricket and starting from scratch
44:43 "IPL is the perfect scenario for content"
46:20 The trick of getting fans engaged in new stories
47:50 Who creates great content in county cricket
49:34 Somerset's developments in the upcoming season
LINKS
Highlights package created from live stream footage.