Kayo Sports CEO: ‘Cricket is the biggest sport to watch over summer with national appeal’
“We’ve just kicked it off with the longest bowling run-up with Ellyse Perry. And it’s very fitting as it’s actually the longest summer of cricket, we’re talking about 1600 hours of cricket this season,” Kayo Sports CEO, Julian Ogrin told Mumbrella.
“We expect that to be bigger throughout the summer this year. It is the biggest sport to watch over summer with national appeal.”
Kayo Sports – Summer Of Cricket Launch 2022 at the SCG. Kayo Ambassadors with Fox Cricket Executives. Picture: Brett Costello
Kayo Sports – one of Australia’s sports streaming services and home to over 50 sports – is set to deliver a host of cricket fixtures to its 1.3 million customers including two ICC T20 World Cups, every Australian Men’s and Women’s home international, every match of the BBL and WBBL, plus major domestic and international matches live and on demand.
“Cricket is the national sport that brings everyone together during summer,” said Ogrin. “Last year we announced having just over one million subscribers, and over 500,000 people watched every day of the Ashes Test Series at that time.”
“The thing that’s really taken off for us is our Kayo Minis and Bites,” he said. “One thing about being a customer is it’s not just about watching the live game, you get a condensed version of the game and then watch it in full in your own time.
“So, we’re really expecting the short-form content to take off in cricket this year.”
“There’s a strong cross-over between AFL, NRL, and Cricket. In fact, the crossover interest is at 70% and then you add into that the growth for cricket with fanatics that come in for the summer,” he said. “It’s all about retaining those people all year round. So it’s absolutely critical to our transition of the seasons.”
Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry has broken the world record for the longest bowling run-up as part of Kayo Sports’ official season launch event today at the iconic SCG, celebrating the biggest Summer of Cricket ever.
Perry completed her six-kilometre run in a time of 34 minutes, 22 seconds – smashing the previous record for 6(km). She bowled to David Warner who managed to avoid dismissal, playing a well-executed hook into the side of the Members Pavilion. They were joined in the field by Australian test captain Pat Cummins while wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy was behind the stumps.
Kayo Sports’ official Summer of Cricket launch, hosted by Adam Gilchrist, also featured some other members of the Fox Cricket team including Mark Waugh, Kerry O’Keeffe, Brendon Julian, Mel Jones, Kath Loughnan and Megan Barnard. They will be joined behind the desk this summer by legendary batsman Brian Lara, adding his commentary expertise for the West Indies Test matches against Australia.
In addition, former South African skippers Shaun Pollock and Hashim Amla will also join the Fox Cricket team for the three-test series against the Proteas.
With over 1600 LIVE hours planned – Fox Cricket also announced a new dedicated channel (Fox Cricket +) which will predominantly showcase LIVE international series featuring India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and special programming stunts such as Windies Week and Fox Cricket Classics.
Ogrin added: “Kayo Sports will bring the biggest summer of cricket to our 1.3 million customers – that’s every Australian match on home soil plus two World Cups – all live, with our game-changing innovations and Fox Cricket’s expert commentary team.”
“Streaming audiences continue to grow with viewers wanting to watch on their terms in a multi-sport environment. And this summer, we will offer more cricket for free via Kayo Freebies, including Sheffield Shield and WBBL matches, helping grow audiences for these competitions.”
Fox Cricket’s traditional channel (501) will continue to be the home of all LIVE domestic and international cricket including the T20 World Cup, Australian Men’s Test series against West Indies and South Africa, BBL, WBBL and Women’s internationals.
Toyota Flying Fox will return in November for the ODI Series against England, and the Test Series against the West Indies and South Africa, providing viewers with the eagle-eye perspective that cricket fanatics can use to break down batting techniques, field placements and more.
Fox Sports executive director, Steve Crawley said: “We’ve had big cricket summers before, but with five different touring nations, two World Cups and more than 1600 hours of live action, we haven’t seen a summer like this.
“It’s not just the biggest but it’s the quality and variety of countries like India, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan that we will see on home soil this summer.
“It’s ensuring the domestic competitions are firing, like BBL, and early indications say it will, that will make it a summer of cricket like no other.
“It’s a big year for Fox Cricket, the first without our much-loved mates Shane Warne and Andrew Symonds, and we feel an extra responsibility to carry on their wonderful work under the leadership of our captain Gilly.”
Fox Cricket veteran, Adam Gilchrist said ‘’There is nothing quite like the summer of cricket, and this one is going to be an absolute bumper. Not only will we deliver all the Aussie Men’s and Women’s home International Tests, ODIs and T20s, but to have two World Cups in one Summer, with Australia the defending champions in both, is just incredible.
“If you don’t want to miss a thing this summer, with Fox Cricket you won’t. For the first time we will deliver not one, but two dedicated cricket channels – it’s going to be non-stop action, and it’s all on Fox Cricket.”
Along with the longest summer of cricket, Kayo Sports customers can stream over 50 other sports LIVE and On demand. All of the coverage on Fox Cricket is also available to watch on Foxtel.
Hours of live games are calculated based on maximum match times across Fox Cricket’s 2022/23 summer of the cricket programming schedule.
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Adam Gilchrist
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Julian Ogrin
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Kayo Bites
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Steve Crawley
Summer of Cricket
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