WCC research: Declining Test attendances

In October 2009, MCC commissioned research into the reasons attendances at Test cricket were declining in parts of the world.

A survey of 1,500 cricket in India, New Zealand and South Africa shows:

Factors influencing decision whether or not to attend a Test match

The least important elements across all markets, particularly New Zealand and South Africa, are bland pitches, slow over rates and drawn matches.

The factors with the greatest influence are more practical, with the proximity of the venue being the leading factor in New Zealand and South Africa.

Queues of people at Lord's In India the leading factors are the quality of the two teams involved. The affordability of tickets also has a significant influence in New Zealand and South Africa.

Outside of a World Test Championship increasing the interest in Test matches, there are two areas which appear most likely to offer opportunities for enticing and re-engaging cricket fans: ticket prices and timings.

Another idea worth testing is the offering of session-by-session pricing.

Whilst not filling the grounds from the start of play, it may entice fans for whom it is easier to take half a day off, and for whom the lower level of investment may be more appealing.

Another option is the introduction of day/night Test Cricket.

Amongst those who have attended a Test match recently, there is strong endorsement for the experience, with 95% across all three markets claiming that they are likely to re-attend, suggesting that it is not the product itself that is driving people away.

Of respondents who have never attended a Test match, 63% identified a preference for watching matches on TV as a reason for not attending a Test match in the past, with one in three citing it as the main reason.

Also featuring prominently amongst the reasons for never attending a Test were: a lack of time, and the increasing popularity of the shorter formats, which would seem to go hand in hand with one another.

For those who have attended Test matches previously (but not recently) the main reason given was that they did not have time to attend, with the difficulty of getting to daytime matches also featuring quite prominently.

In India there were a number of respondents who would like to attend, but find it hard to obtain tickets. The preference for watching on TV featured strongly in all three markets.

Ticket prices and the time of day that play starts are deemed to be very/extremely important in influencing the decision to attend in all three markets, and changes to both factors would increase the likelihood of future attendance amongst cricket followers in each of the three countries.