Q: In the UK, the England Cricket Board (ECB) and football’s Women’s Super League (WSL) have both finalised their latest media rights agreements for the next cycle. Both properties have renewed deals with Sky and BBC. So, what’s changed?

The ECB had previously agreed a new rights deal with Sky for the 2025-2028 rights cycle back in 2022, so the fact that the BBC contract has only just been announced suggests the cricket body has faced challenges in attracting satisfactory offers from free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters. 

In the process, the BBC has lost the rights to show any international cricket games controlled by the ECB, as the cricket body turned down its offer for four T20 International matches per year (two men’s, two women’s, as per the current cycle). Instead, the public broadcaster will increase its share of Hundred fixtures, showing 15 matches of the domestic hundred-ball competition from 2025, up from 10 in previous years. The BBC will also maintain rights to Test match highlights.

Reflecting the growing interest in women’s football, the WSL has seen greater success in terms of driving revenue growth across the new cycle (albeit from a lower base). According to reports, Sky and the BBC will pay an average of £13m per season between them from 2025, up 78% from the current deal. The BBC has not added to its 21 games and Sky will drive the increased value in the next cycle, increasing its number of exclusive games from 44 to 78. 

Fewer games will therefore also be available via the WSL’s YouTube channel. This could impact UK fans’ access to live games, as more will require a subscription to view; at the same time, it is testament to the growth in WSL fans’ avidity: Ampere’s Sports – Consumer survey shows that, in Q4 2024, 4% of football fans were willing to pay to watch WSL matches – up from 1% in 2021.

Q: What do these deals tell us about the current state of FTA sports broadcasting in the UK?

These deals show the BBC’s ongoing commitment to broadcast live sport and ensure continued free-to-air coverage of cricket and women’s football in the UK, in an increasingly challenging economic context for the broadcaster, due in particular to the freezing of the license fee for two years in 2022. 

Retaining the rights to the Hundred fixtures while losing out on the international cricket games suggests the BBC’s focus is directed more towards emerging sports competitions that may be more affordable, rather than bigger-ticket items. But with the ECB reportedly unable to drive sufficient interest from other broadcasters such as ITV and Channel 4 for the international cricket fixtures, this new deal indicates a wider theme of FTA players being more selective around their rights portfolio at a time of growing revenue pressures.

On the other hand, these new agreements also highlight the tension that sports bodies face between ensuring their sports are accessible to the widest possible audience, and the need for financial stability. Sky has driven the rights value growth for the WSL, with an increase in the number of games now heading behind the paywall, while the international cricket fixtures that went unsold among FTA broadcasters will now only be broadcast by Sky, as part of the ECB’s lucrative agreement with a TV operator that has significantly deeper pockets than the commercial and public broadcasters in the market. Driving additional media rights revenue provides opportunities for leagues and rightsholders to reinvest in their sport, although this can come at the expense of growing their potential fanbase, especially in the long-term.  Ampere clients can read further analysis of this trend here.

Q: How are these deals going to impact fans of both sports?

The ECB’s new deal remains broadly similar in terms of the proportion of fixtures available for free and behind a paywall. Ampere’s latest Sports Consumer survey data indicates that over half (53%) of cricket fans in the UK have access to Sky Sports channels, so will still be able to watch all English domestic and international cricket. The remainder will have access to an increased number of games from the Hundred, although Ampere’s data shows that the competition has less than half the following that the England Men’s cricket team does. 

Ampere’s data also highlights that cricket fans skew noticeably older than the average sports fan, though with an average age of 38.8, Sky Sports viewers actually skew younger than BBC sports viewers (43.5). Among cricket fans, 60% of those aged 18-34 have access to Sky Sports or Now Sports, compared with 52% of those aged 35+. Therefore having international cricket games on Sky taps into the younger fans of the sport more than broadcasting via the BBC. However, as a sport with an ageing fanbase and the most attractive fixtures behind a paywall, alternative solutions may be considered to drive additional engagement from younger audiences in future, such as partnering with streaming platforms or bringing more games to YouTube. Indeed, Amazon’s rights agreement for ICC competitions in Australia highlights an appetite from major international streamers for cricket rights, which may be leveraged in future rights cycles in the UK.

Maintaining a broad reach must remain a key strategic goal for the WSL, too, though fewer games (21) will be available to watch for free each season via BBC channels or digital platform. The league saw strong growth in streaming viewership after switching from the FA Player to YouTube last season, but the number of fixtures available via the YouTube channel is set to drop as Sky increases its number of exclusive games. As a rapidly-growing competition, however, these BBC and YouTube matches are vital to the continued success of the league.