There may be a lot of cricket being played these days, but it pales in comparison to the volume of cricketing conversations taking place right now. From satellite TV channels to YouTube, from Spotify to Instagram, there is more cricketing content being produced on a daily basis than even the most fervent lovers of the game can consume. No wonder then that the days of cricketing arbiters are long gone. The likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Atherton are still listened to, but their opinions and analyses are no longer the final word. In an increasingly democratised space, thousands of voices are jostling for attention, ranging from those of experts and presenters to influencers and journalists to those aiming to hit the sweet spot in between. But what about the voice of cricket’s most important stakeholders — the fans?
‘Fans can say things that are on everyone’s minds, they know the pulse of the sport’
Marc Hayward, the CEO of CricFan, is based in London but regularly travels to India to oversee CricFan’s progress CricFan
“Fans are the flag bearers of cricket, and cricket fans in India are nothing like anywhere else in the world,” believes Marc Hayward, a London-based media entrepreneur, whose brainchild, CricFan, intends to become the biggest producer of fan-driven cricketing content in India. Conceptualised and launched in the summer of 2023, CricFan is a “digital-first platform comprising innovative properties that put fans at the centre of cricketing conversations”. According to Hayward, CricFan’s CEO, traditional TV formats do not give fans a voice whereas most of the other digital alternatives are too busy roping in established content creators to be able to capture the authentic fandom of cricket fanatics. “Fans can say things that are on everyone’s minds, they know the pulse of the sport,” says Hayward, who has already set up a Mumbai studio for CricFan and hopes to do the same in Delhi.
CricFan’s Queens of Cricket is India’s first female-centric cricket chat show CricFan
At the time of writing, CricFan has three exclusive properties. FanzoneTV debates the hottest cricketing topics besides focusing on insights for fantasy cricket. Cricket Chirps rounds up the most buzz-worthy activity from the world of cricket on social media, highlighting “trending tweets and mischievous memes”. Queens of Cricket, as India’s first female-centric cricketing chat show, celebrates the burgeoning potential of women’s cricket in India and has featured Indian cricketers such as Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey. All three shows are available on JioCinema, with clips trending on Instagram (where CricFan has more than 85,000 followers) as well as YouTube (where CricFan has surpassed one million views).
“We want to build and sustain properties that not only thrive in India, but also appeal to other parts of the world. In the past, India has adapted to formats pioneered in the West. But why can’t India create properties and formats that are taken up elsewhere? Bollywood has done that already, and there’s no reason why cricketing content can’t do the same,” feels Hayward, who clarifies that CricFan does not wish to dictate to Indian fans what they should watch. Rather, the idea is to forge a bottom-up ecosystem where fans actively participate in the kind of content they engage with rather than being passive consumers of the same. Having received a surge of following during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup last year, CricFan is optimistic of even greater growth during the ongoing IPL.
‘Cricket is for the masses and we want to reflect that in the content we create’
“There are plenty of amazing producers and directors in India who have a bunch of great ideas and we want to work with them along with fans, presenters, influencers and ex-cricketers to bring something fresh to the table.” says Hayward, who recollects there being a “lot of raised eyebrows” when CricFan was first pitched in India. Initially influenced by the holistic nature of debate and discussion around football in the UK, CricFan wanted to try a similar model for cricket in India, but had to contend with scepticism in a market that is moving rapidly towards “stats and analysis”. Wholesome conversation, even if it involves fans, is a difficult sell, but CricFan is showing it can be done.
Going forward, Hayward wants CricFan to diversify into “curating fan experiences” (which would involve travel and tourism) alongside launching free-to-play online competitions that “promise to be fun and win you some money”. The long-term goal, however, remains the same: “To get as many people in India, of all ages and genders, invested in cricket as possible. Cricket is for the masses and we want to reflect that in the content we create.”
