With Indian cricket in the throes of continuous controversy over the last few months, the biggest challenge for the BCCI and its strategic partners is to be able to retain the single most important constituency of the game?the lay cricket fan. Declining attendance at cricket grounds round the country have further added to the concern of administrators and with the IPL just two months away, the most important question doing the rounds in cricket circles is how to enrich the fan experience by ensuring active fan engagement and participation.
One realm where fan engagement continues to be at a nascent stage in India is the digital/Internet space. There has not been much to develop fan experience in these new media spaces and the most we have done in the past is follow scores on the Internet or on the mobile phone. These are spaces where maximum innovation can take place if Jatin Ahluwalia of Seven3Rockers is to be believed. ?The mobile space is substantially bigger than the televisual space and with leading providers wanting to reach out to fans in more innovative and interesting ways, cricket provides a great option,? suggests Ahluwalia. Seven3rockers, a relatively new player in the market, has already created a few successful techniques of active fan engagement that are innovative and interesting. One such is getting fans to directly converse with a star while scores of other fans can listen on. To quote Ahluwalia one more time, ?The concept is that of a large conference call. We get a star player to interact with one fan directly on the phone while we connect a large body of people so they can listen on to the discussion. One person is picked from a random number of people calling in on a particular number at a given time and is a process that encourages everyone to participate. We once had a fan from Meerut talking to Rahul Dravid and he was so overwhelmed to hear that Rahul visits Meerut to get his bats made, that he suggested Rahul should get in touch with him every time he is there. It is about the common man and their true emotions. That is the best part of this engagement. Now that we have acquired the digital rights of the Celebrity Cricket League, we will look to disseminate the league to the largest constituency of consumers, men and women who love their cricket and their cinema.?
With India embracing the tablet as a significant mode of communication, the mobile space is bound to become a hot property in developing fan engagement. A leading brand expert explained the new media possibilities on condition of anonymity, ?There is so much competition in the mobile/digital space that any innovation will be embraced. And the truth is nothing has been done so far so every step is an innovation going forward.?
Voice and video blogs are some of the new techniques of fan engagement, which are fast gaining ground. Personalised greetings done by a star player or a video message downloadable into the mobile is the easiest of these techniques. Extremely affordable, these are ways and means to encourage the fan to remain connected with the game at his work space and even during his travels and in ways which are far more interesting than a mere score update.
Video capsules of 20-30 second of the game in your mailbox might well be the one of the stages in fan engagement. And this is also a way the IPL franchises, for example, can start to earn revenue and strengthen their income streams. All of this is much needed because the television ratings of the IPL are already showing a downward slide and the tournament is badly in need of innovation.
With a packed year in prospect, active fan engagement in the digital space is soon to become a reality in India. Anyone who possesses a 3-inch phone or a 7-inch tablet is part of the target audience and the numbers amount to almost 80% of the Indian population. Reaching out to even a tenth of them can make these new strategies extremely savvy and profitable, while also enriching the cricket experience overall.
While individuals like Ahluwalia of Seven3Rockers continue to innovate the mobile and digital-based fan engagement programmes, the one thing that will help these innovative ways of fan engagement going forward is team performance. No amount of innovation can help if the Indian team isn?t doing well for the fans will not want to be engaged in such a scenario. Now that Dhoni and his players have started the CB series well and are looking all set to make the final, fans will once again start taking an active interest in the game. And with the market offering new opportunities, Indian cricket might soon start to look beyond the days of continuous controversy and negativity.
The writer is a sport historian
