Barely a year after Cricket
Australia established its own editorial team to cover the sport online,
cricket.com.au "has over-taken rival ESPN Cricinfo to become the No 1
Australian cricket site," according to Lara Sinclair of THE AUSTRALIAN. Yet, questions remain "over its editorial independence, the success
of its subscription strategy, and when the sport will see a return on
its investment." According to
Nielsen, just over a year into its operations,
cricket.com.au averages 444,000 unique visitors a month, "well ahead of its biggest direct rival, Cricinfo’s 366,000." CA Exec GM of Media, Communications & Marketing Ben Amarfio said that "the
sport’s digital media venture is already a raging success." Amarfio: “We’ve had a
goal of wanting to be the No. 1 digital cricket destination. A year down the track and we’ve achieved that already." As the '14-15 summer cricket season
approaches, CA "is preparing to relaunch its digital assets and expand
its activities, including by having a social reporter at all matches
covering events on and off the field." Amarfio said, "The
whole reason we’re doing it is we want to attract more fans to
cricket" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 8/25).
