Cricket is often branded a slow long winded sport with exciting moments a rarity. Overs pass without so much as a run being scored and so a change was required. Former England batsman Mark Ramprakash has said “for years, we’ve all had to accept that the domestic four-day County Championship has been making a financial loss ”(Ramprakash, 2012).A new faster format was introduced to engage more fans as it brought with it a more exciting edge to the sport. “Without rules a sport cannot broaden” (Vamplew, 2007). The rule changes were influenced by media as it required cricket to “speed up the action” in order to entertain fans (Coackley,2017). This hasn’t only been seen in cricket, with World Rugby adopting a similar approach by introducing the sevens format which sees shorter games with more tries and exciting open play. 

The new format was introduced as Twenty twenty or T20 cricket. It is similar to the original format but with innings consisting of only 20 overs each. On the 13^thof June 2003 twenty twenty cricket was played for the first time in a tournament basis between the England and Wales Cricket Board counties.”T20 has been the saviour of cricket in some ways. I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind that T20 is funding the county game”(Ramprakash, 2012). The season was considered a success and attracted a new younger audience as the sport became more exciting with boundary hits and run outs cropping up more often. This increased fan base opened a new opportunity for cricket to sell broadcasting rights as there was a new following in the sport. The sport thrived from this as following for the sport continued to increase and fans engaged more with the sport as more matches were broadcasted on television. Companies now recognise twenty twenty cricket as a popular sport and so sponsors are willing to pay large sums of money for advertising slots on television during intervals. “Popular sporting events that can attract a global audiences via broadcasting become ideal vehicles for corporate sponsors seeking to raise the global profile of their brands” (Gratton et al., 2016:68).

It also brought huge financial benefits from selling television broadcasting rights for example BT Sport, who bought the rights to the 2019 IPL, highlighting the global effect the new format is having.  “Commercial sports are those organised and played to make money as entertainment events” (Coakley and Pike 2014). To announce the deal, Bt Sport confirmed they had UK rights to all matches in the 2019 IPL season on twitter. Providing quality content such as this ensures a strong social media following with Bt Sport holding a strong 630,000 followers on Twitter. “The fan is placed at the centre of a digital ecosystem which involves the athletes, the clubs, the leagues and the media” (Helleu et al., 2012). Delivering this exciting format of cricket through social media allows information to be fed directly to the fans. 

Selling broadcasting rights meant the cricket boards and clubs could re-invest in the sport to help it continue to grow by reaching more fans. As the sport has become more entertaining, media companies are willing to invest in broadcasting T20 matches as they see a potential for income due to the popularity of the format. “As we have detailed over the past weeks, sport and media have a relationship attributable to it’s entertainment value” (Nicholson et al 2015). From this, cricket has grown globally by broadcasting matches live on television across the world. The IPL is worth millions in sponsorship with cricket being the country’s national sport and now has an exciting edge to it in the form of this fast flowing game. In 2018, Duff and Phelps the global valuation and corporate finance advisors valued the IPL at $6.3billion, a 19% increase from the previous year (Gupta, 2018). It hasn’t only brought success to twenty twenty cricket, but also to test cricket as it also seems to be thriving with sky sports buying the rights for the 2019 ashes. In 2013 it changed the name of its main channel from Sky Sports One to Sky Sports Ashes during the series and has since seen them dedicate a channel to the sport having announced a new Sky Sports Cricket channel. Providing the whole series on one channel means sky and the media make it easily accessible for fans to watch elite level cricket. 

This isn’t the only rule change in cricket in recent times as the sport has seen an increasing amount of technology being introduced in the form of ‘Hotspot’ and ‘Hawkeye’. “Five factors that impact on rules of sport are gambling, fair play ideology, economics, technology and law” (Vamplew, 2007). These new technologies increase the capability of the umpires ability to make correct decisions but also give the fans a prolonged dramatic moment. Sky Sports were the first to introduce the hotspot concept by linking up with Australian company BBG Sport. This allowed for more stoppages in play during exciting moments proving an ideal opportunity for sponsorship through adverts. Overall twenty twenty cricket has brought a new dimension to the traditional game, drawing wider global audiences due to the media broadcasting matches worldwide. Social media has also helped spread the excitement of the new format by sharing offers and linking with television advertising campaigns. 

References

Vamplew, W. (2007) Playing with the Rules: Influences on the Development of Regulation in Sport. International Journal of the History of Sport, 7, pp. 1-52. 

Coakley, J. and Pike, E. (2014) Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies (2nd edn.) Berkshire: McGraw Hill Education.

Nicholson, M. (2015) Managing the Nexus. 2^ndEd. Oxford: Elsevier. 

Coakley, J. (2017) Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies. 12^thed. New York: McGraw Hill Education. 

Helleu, N. and Karoutchi, M. The internet, online social networks and the fan digital experience. In: Beech, J. & Chadwick S. (2012) The Business of Sport Management. Essex: Person. 

Ramprakash, M. (2012). Has Twenty20 changed cricket?. [online] BBC Sport. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/19624160 [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].

Gratton, C., Liu, D., Ramchandani, G. and Wilson, D. (2016) The Global Economics of Sport. In: Byers, T. (ed). Contemporary Issues in Sport Management – A Critical Introduction. London: Sage. pp. 68-84. 

Gupta, G. (2018). Brand IPL now soars to $6.3 billion – Times of India. [online] The Times of India. Available at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl/top-stories/brand-ipl-now-soars-to-6-3-billion/articleshow/65321837.cms [Accessed 29 Apr. 2019].

Football is continually becoming a more commercialised sport with external influences affecting the way it’s sold and marketed. “Commercial sports are those organised and played to make money as entertainment events” (Coakley and Pike 2014). Keeping the fans interested with new innovative ideas has led to football being one of the biggest and richest sports globally. “Sport fan engagement has been established as a critical contributor to commercial success” (Stander, Van Zyl, & Motaung, 2016: 309). There has been a rise in the popularity of betting sites in recent times with new media platforms allowing companies to expose new forms of betting. “The digitalisation of betting platforms has reconfigured the links between the traditional actors and created a new ‘online football betting ecology’” (Lopez-Gonzalez et el, 2015). This has been seen with betting sites like Betfred, Bet365 and William Hill all having their own apps. Using apps as a new media form allows users to place bets with a few taps of their phone, making betting more accessible than ever.

Betting firms have used gamification to keep English Football League fans interested by introducing new ‘game styled’ formats. “Emerging technology using digital media to motivate people to act a certain way in what is a traditionally non-gaming environment” (Brittner and Shipper, 2014). Gamification works by interacting the fans in a new way by bringing a new commercial market to football. 

Sky’s Super Six has proven to be one of the most successful ventures over recent seasons and allows players to attempt to predict six scores correctly with the winner winning a prize sum of £250,000. This format has seen wide spread success due to the accessibility of the app on users’ phones. “Digitalisation of sports betting [leads to an] increase in sport media consumption” (Lopez-Gonzalez and Tulloch, 2015). The app is free and so draws in consumers however offers a link to Sky’s betting account ‘Sky Bet’ and provides instant personalised offers on individual predictions. This increases and directs traffic directly to Sky Bet’s app leading to more bets being placed. Sky have also introduced other successful formats including Six a side where players choose players who earn points during live games with again a chance for a cash prize. Despite the game game being free on the app, it engages fans with live events and so are more likely to watch or bet on the match.

Another popular example of gamification is fantasy football. “Fantasy sports actually got their start in the 1960s. With pencil and paper, a few folks from the Oakland Raiders outlined the beginnings of what turned into modern fantasy football rules”. (Lee, 2018) Sky again host a competition with a cash prize offered for as a reward. The format has always been popular with Americans and especially baseball fans with the Rotisserie system being used to choose players and calculate scores before the rise of modern calculating technology. By now football accounts for 37% of fantasy teams (Lee, 2018). Gamificating the sport like this was one step for companies but delivering and communicating it with the consumers is another. The rise of social media has allowed players to exchange opinion, tactics and teams with each other. “Sport consumers join and participate in networks of like-minded fans and engage in collaborative consumption activities” (Hedlund, 2014: 51). Companies like Sky thrive from debates about fantasy team choices on twitter and other social media platforms as it stirs an interest in the sport and game by allowing fans to create their own personalised content. Fans can now interact, modify and produce content, thereby increasing their role as co-producers” (Helleu & Karoutchi 2012:45). 

Almost all betting companies offer a new customer deal with free bets often offered as a return for your first deposit. These deals are promoted on social media with links to their sites and apps. Social media have been increasingly used by sports organizations to communicate with the public (Wang & Zhou 2015). Paddy Power have been one of the most successful betting companies in terms of their media influence by using humour to gain followers on social media. “Social media experts recommend channelling fan passion into well-designed social media campaigns (Wakefield, 2016). Having a large fan base is important but so is building a strong two way relationship. “Sports organizations should take the personal interest, thoughts, and feelings of their followers into consideration and interact with them via public messages or retweeting on Twitter to build personal relationship with followers” (Wang et al., 2015). 

They link their tweets to their television adverts for example the recent Rodri Giggs loyalty advert promoting paddy power in a risky yet humorous manner. This has resulted in an increase of revenue from £827 in 2017 to £867 in 2018 (McCarthy, 2018). They also use live offers on television adverts during big Premier League matches therefor feeding information directly to their target audience. Sky also profit from this as they have priority access to half time slots on their high audience programmes such as Super Sunday. Over the years this market for betting companies has increased as it continues to lure fans through it’s social media and television campaigns.

References

Wang, Y. and Zhou, S. (2015) How Do Sports Organizations Use Social Media to Build Relationships? A Content Analysis of NBA Clubs’ Twitter Use. International Journal of Sport Communication, 8, pp.133-14 

Stander, F.W., Van Zyl, L.E. and Motaung, K. (2016) Promoting fan engagement: An exploration of the fundamental motives for sport consumption amongst premier league football spectators. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 26, (4), pp. 309-315. 

Wang, Y. and Zhou, S. (2015) How Do Sports Organizations Use Social Media to Build Relationships? A Content Analysis of NBA Clubs’ Twitter Use. International Journal of Sport Communication, 8, pp.133-14 

Helleu, N. and Karoutchi, M. The internet, online social networks and the fan digital experience. In: Beech, J. & Chadwick S. (2012) The Business of Sport Management. Essex: Person. 

Coakley, J. and Pike, E. (2014) Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies (2nd edn.) Berkshire: McGraw Hill Education.

Wakefield, K. (2016) Using Fan Passion to Predict Attendance, Media Consumption, and Social Media Behaviors. Journal of Sport Management, 30, pp. 229 -247. 

Lee, K. (2018). Social media and the rise of fantasy sports. [online] Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-and-fantasy-sports/ [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].

Lopez-Gonzalez, H. and Tulloch, C. (2015). Enhancing Media Sport Consumption: Online Gambling in European Football – Hibai Lopez-Gonzalez, Christopher D. Tulloch, 2015. [online] SAGE Journals. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1329878X1515500115 [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].

McCarthy, J. (2018). Paddy Power praises ‘relevant’ and topical marketing for market counter attack. [online] The Drum. Available at: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/08/08/paddy-power-praises-relevant-and-topical-marketing-market-counter-attack [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].

Arsenal FC have millions of fans across all seven continents of the globe and use a variety of platforms to connect them with the club. The number of people watching live sporting events is increasing. An example of this is the 20% increase in the amount of television viewers who watched the 2016 than the 2012 Olympic games in London (IOC, 2016).

Old Media and Television

Television is considered an old form of media but is still an effective way to engage with fans by providing fans worldwide access to Arsenal’s games live. “The outcomes of games (frequently broadcasted via traditional means of media) can now be accessed across multiple media formats” (Gantz and Lewis, 2017). In the 2017/18 premier league season Arsenal had the joint highest number of games broadcasted on television with 28 out of their 38 matches broadcasted (TalkSport, 2018).

Fan TV

Fan TV is another way fans interact with their club and AFTV, previously known as Arsenal Fan TV, is the largest Fan TV channel in the Premier League. Often, the presenters on the show made negative comments about the club, players and managers and so Arsenal wanted to distance themselves from the show as although it engaged fans, it gave a negative impression of the club. “The consumers popularity for Fan TV was to the extent that Arsenal fan TV was ordered to rebrand to AFTV because the club felt the use of Arsenal was negatively impacting the club” (Vaghela, 2018).

Fan Engagement

Media has allowed sports and clubs such as Arsenal to grow and has transformed football into a multi-billion pound industry. “The media has transformed sport from an amateur pursuit into a hyper-commercialised industry” (Nicholson et al 2015: 10). However, the media doesn’t only draw in money and investors but allows the club and their followers to have a stronger relationship. “Millions of fans and consumers have now transitioned from purely using traditional media to receive their sport content to a integrated approach where they engage through a variety of platforms” (Mitchell, 2015 cited in Pedersen et al 2016).

New Media

New media is “the merging of traditional media forms with interactive digital technology, with a focus on interactivity and technology” (Dittmore et al 2012 cited in Dittmore and McCarthy 2014:165). This includes social media which allows fans to engage with the club. Arsenal have over 37million facebook followers (Facebook, 2019) which allows the club to provide them with the latest information about the club and it’s players. Facebook is the largest social media platform with 2.3 billion active monthly users. According to Digital Information World (2018) Cristiano Ronaldo is the 3^rd highest payed celebrity on Instagram earning $750,000 per Instagram post. The amount of money footballers are getting paid to post on Instagram highlights the followings professional footballers have and how engaged fans are with players and clubs.  

The Players

It’s not only Arsenal as a club that provides content on social media for their fans but so do the players with Mesut Ozil having the biggest Instagram following of any Arsenal player with 19.3million followers as of March 2019. Social media allows a two way relationship with Arsenal to be built with their fans by allowing them to also produce content of their own by commenting or uploading photos, videos and recordings. “Any platform capable of sending and receiving content digitally (I.e. Computers or Handheld devices)” (Blakey, 2011: Gantz and Lewis, 2017).

Use Of Humor

Engaging fans isn’t all about providing results and information but drawing fans and customers in. Arsenal have done this recently by reacting to Manchester United stating ‘Ole’s at the wheel’ on their social media platforms. They reacted after Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Manchester United by captioning their Instagram ‘Unai’s at the wheel’. They also did this by reacting to Jesse Lingard when he changed the location of his Instagram post from The Emirates Stadium to ‘Dancefloor’ as he celebrated a goal against arsenal. Mesut Ozil later posted ‘Dancefloor hmm?’ after their win. “You should use a tone of respect, and humor can sometimes help” (Davidson, 2017). Providing followers and fans with more than results and basic information draws a younger audience and brings attention to the club.

Reference

Gantz, W., and Lewis, N. (2017) Sport as Audience Studies. In: Billings, A. (ed) Defining Sport Communication. Routledge: Oxon. Pp. 235-251.

Nicholson, M. (2015) Managing the Nexus. 2^nd Ed. Oxford: Elsevier.

Digital Strategy Consulting (2017) The growing impact of social media on sports. [Online] Available at: http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/intelligence/2017/11/the_growing_impact_of_social_media_on_sports_infographic.php [Accessed 20th February 2019].

Stavros, C., Meng, M. D., Westberg, K., & Farrelly, F. (2014). Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media. Sport management review, 17(4), 455-469.

Abeza, G., O’Reilly, N., & Reid, I. (2013). Relationship marketing and social media in sport. International Journal of Sport Communication, 6(2), 120-142.

Asmussen, B., Harridge-March, S., Occhiocupo, N., & Farquhar, J. (2013). The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1473-1483.