When the Hundred started four years ago, there was excitement as a new format was introduced to the cricket landscape with fans keen to see how it would play out.
Overall, it has achieved what it set out to do: bring new fans to the games, particularly families with young children, and more attention to the women’s game. However, the 2024 edition brought to light the tournament’s challenges.
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The 2024 summer has been a busy one for sport, with the UEFA European Championship, Wimbledon, and the Olympics. This year’s Hundred notably clashed with the Paris Olympic Games. Consequently, the tournament’s viewership was down compared to 2023.
TV viewing figures for the Hundred dropped by more than a quarter this summer. The men’s competition fell by 28% on Sky and 25% on the BBC, whilst the women’s competition dropped by 41% on Sky but roughly stayed the same on the BBC.
The BBC was one of the UK broadcasters for the Olympics, with extensive daily coverage, usually with the evening sessions being the main event of the day.
Unfortunately, the Olympics coverage clashed with the Hundred, hence the coverage was down for the Hundred on the BBC. Arguably, this is poor scheduling from the ECB, but with the busy scheduling of franchise cricket, and the test series, there probably wasn’t any other choice.
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By GlobalDataPositively, the final week of the Hundred did not clash with the Olympics, therefore the play-offs and the final saw the tournament finish on a high note, especially for the men’s competition.
Audiences for the men’s final were up 36% on the BBC, with a peak audience of 1.3 million, compared to 869,000 in 2023. Sky figures were up 6% on last year. However, the average audience for the women’s final was down 10% on Sky and 20% on the BBC.
Even though the women’s final may have experienced a drop in viewership, throughout the tournament, more than a million fans attended games and there were record crowds for matches at seven of the eight grounds used.
Aside from a strong final at a sold-out Lords for the men’s game, and a record attendance for the women’s, the tournament was very disappointing in terms of a lack of England players, chopping and changing of players and low-scoring games.
A main attraction of the Hundred is the presence of the world’s top cricketers, which certainly was the case for the women’s game, but not so much for the men’s.
With the Hundred clashing with Major League Cricket and the GT20 Canada, several overseas players arrived on short-term contracts as replacements or missed the start of the Hundred due to the clash. Bowling superstar Shaheen Shah Afridi skipped the Hundred in favour of interest from Canada.
The large amount of franchise cricket is another reason why the Hundred struggled this year as the novelty of the format may have worn away. There are many limited-overs competitions throughout the year, the main one being the Indian Premier League (IPL), but this year also saw the Men’s T20 World Cup. By the time the Hundred started, people may have been bored.
With Jos Buttler getting injured before the tournament, and Ben Stokes tearing his hamstring in his fifth-ever game for Northern Superchargers, this added to the lack of international stars in the men’s competition. More significantly, the public’s response to Stokes’ injury emphasises that the tournament does remain hugely unpopular with many.
The women’s competition this year proved that investment could attract the world’s best players, with a 60% increase in top salaries which have tempted the likes of Meg Lanning and Ash Gardner for the first time. This ties back into the issues of the men’s game.
With Ben Stokes’ injury, the ECB pulled Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson towards the end of the tournament, purely precautionary taking into consideration the upcoming test series. The women’s competition had some of the world’s top stars, whereas the men’s competition felt depleted.
The Oval Invincibles have been the most successful men’s side, especially over the last two years as back-to-back champions, with only three defeats in the last two seasons.
They have benefited from a consistent core group of players, the likes of Sam Billings and Sam Curran, which other Hundred sides have been majorly lacking. This has enabled the side to create an identity.
Another aspect which boosts the success of the Invincibles is the ticket sales in London. Between Lords and the Oval, they hosted 10 of the matchdays out of 34 but contributed around 46% of the Hundred’s total attendance. This raises questions over why there is a lower attendance at the other franchises but also how this can be addressed in the future.
The feeling is that the Hundred has stagnated and needs new investors. Owners of all 10 franchises are expected to bid, and there is also anticipated interest from North America. When IPL owners have bought teams in other franchise leagues, this has often resulted in name changes, therefore the expectation is that the Hundred will follow suit.
Given the higher attendance of the Hundred for the London franchises – Oval Invincibles and London Spirit – they’re expected to be the most sought-after franchises from investors.
The prospect of new investment for the Hundred is important in solidifying the tournament’s future. The only way to attract the biggest players around the world and compete against the other franchise competitions that clash with the Hundred, like Major League Cricket, is money.
The women’s competition this year saw a 60% increase in top salaries, which brought in some of the top women’s players. The same must be replicated for the men’s competition.
The clash between the Olympics and the Hundred cannot happen again. When the LA 2028 Olympics comes around, the ECB must make sure the two don’t clash. In terms of the Hundred’s future, the new investment is vital.
The tournament has certainly stagnated, and it needs to find a way to keep up with the other major franchises globally to have any chance of surviving.
There is certainly a sense of unknown regarding the Hundred’s future. The tournament is theoretically locked in for another four years with the current broadcast cycle set to end in 2028.
However, new investment has the potential to significantly change the tournament and the competing teams.
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