Fan Fatigue and the Subscription Trap
Pt 4
Issue No 24
There is a quiet risk sitting underneath cricket’s media rights evolution.
Fans.
As rights get split, platforms multiply, and deals chase maximum value, the viewing experience becomes harder, not better.
Football is already living this reality.
The English Premier League didn’t fragment rights by accident. It did it to maximise value. Different packages. Different broadcasters. Different platforms.
Financially, it worked.
Experientially, it fractured the fan journey.
To watch every match across a season, fans now stack subscriptions. Costs rise. Friction increases. Casual viewers drift. Hardcore fans feel exploited.
Revenue went up. Loyalty became transactional.
Cricket does not have football’s weekly rhythm or match volume.
A Premier League fan expects to engage every weekend. A cricket fan engages in bursts. Series. Tournaments. Windows.
Fragment that experience too much and fans don’t chase the product. They wait for highlights. Or they disengage entirely.
This is where subscription overload becomes dangerous.
Multiple platforms are often sold as “consumer choice”.
In reality, it’s complexity.
Different apps. Different logins. Different price points. Different user experiences.
For a global sport with a fragmented calendar, that complexity erodes habit.
And habit is what media rights depend on.
What cricket must avoid copying blindly
Cricket should be wary of importing football’s model without football’s scale.
Splitting rights makes sense commercially. Doing it without coordination doesn’t.
If cricket ends up with:
One platform for ICC events.
Another for domestic leagues.
Board-owned channels for archive.
Regional free-to-air exceptions.
The average fan will not keep up.
They will pick moments, not seasons.
Fan fatigue doesn’t show up in the next rights cycle. It shows up in the one after.
Lower engagement leads to weaker negotiation positions. Platforms start discounting future value. Rights become harder to justify at premium levels.
This is the risk hiding behind today’s monetisation strategies.
Cricket doesn’t need fewer platforms. It needs clearer pathways.
Bundling. Simpler access. Consistent storytelling across rights holders.
Growth markets need reach. Core markets need quality. Super fans need depth.
That requires coordination, not just competition.
Part 5 will pull the series together.
What does a smarter cricket media future actually look like?
Fewer dependencies. Better storytelling. Sustainable value beyond one cycle.
Not just higher bids. Better systems.
Community Question
As a fan, would you pay for multiple subscriptions to follow cricket fully, or does fragmentation push you to watch less and engage only with major moments?
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