Connecting with the Cricket Crowd: AI-Powered Immersive Experiences for the Hundred

Cricket’s Digital Revolution: Engaging the Next Generation of Fans

The landscape of cricket is undergoing a dramatic transformation, driven by the demands of a digitally-savvy generation. Passive spectating is no longer enough. Today’s young fans crave interactive, personalized and shared experiences that extend beyond the stadium.

To meet this demand, innovative companies are creating immersive digital ecosystems. These platforms leverage cutting-edge technologies to redefine how fans connect with their favorite teams and players. This shift has profound implications for the future of cricket, impacting everything from media rights deals and investment to revenue generation.

The Impact of The Hundred League

The Hundred is a 100-ball cricket competition organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) with the specific aim of attracting younger audiences, particularly Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Recognizing the shorter attention spans of these demographics, the tournament prioritizes a fast-paced, action-packed format with simplified rules. Innovations include 100-ball innings, strategic timeouts, and engaging in-stadium entertainment to create a more dynamic and accessible experience for new fans. The Hundred also heavily leverages digital platforms, utilizing social media, live streaming, and interactive content to connect with young audiences globally and foster a sense of community around the sport.

The Future of Fan Engagement

The next generation of cricket fans expects more than just watching live games or pre-game live streams. They seek immersive experiences:

• Virtual Reality: Attend matches in stunning virtual venues, experience the game through the eyes of players.
• Interactive Platforms: Engage in real-time conversations with players through holographic technology.
• Hyper-Realistic Experiences: Feel the intensity of the game from the boundary with innovative apps like Xtadium.

Such immersive experiences still require a fundamental foundation based on leveraging 1st party data at scale to provide the basis for personalized, shared experiences. This capability and challenge cannot be avoided and needs a data-driven culture and leadership at each cricket franchise in The Hundred if tangible, scalable immersive revenues are to be achieved.

TIAKI forecast:
Overall digital immersive revenues consolidated, from The Hundred 8 cricket franchises, could deliver a total revenue growth of £18.3 million in 2025, compared to digital online jersey sales at only £4.9 million.

The Metaverse and the Future of Cricket

The metaverse, projected to exceed $936 billion by 2030, offers unprecedented opportunities for fan engagement. The Hundred has the potential to embrace this revolution, creating unique and unforgettable experiences for cricket fans worldwide.

The New Immersive Technology Partner Ecosystem

New collaborations and ecosystems are taking shape which will fundamentally disrupt the cricket fan digital experience in the next 2 years. Key technology vendor partners such as Ethereal Engine, iR Studios, Zappar, Landvault, and Genius Sports, combined with a robust Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture and advanced stadium connectivity infrastructure, can revolutionize fan engagement for The Hundred cricket league.

By integrating immersive technologies with AI operating platforms and data ecosystems, the potential to deliver personalized, data-driven fan experiences that transcend traditional viewing and create new revenue streams for The Hundred, can be realised.

Key Partners:

• Ethereal Engine: Specializes in developing high-fidelity digital twins of real-world environments, enabling realistic and immersive AR/VR experiences.
• iR Studios: Focuses on creating interactive and engaging mobile and web-based experiences, including AR/VR games and applications.
• Zappar: A leader in AR technology, providing tools and platforms for businesses to easily create and deploy interactive AR experiences.
• Landvault: Offers blockchain-based solutions for secure and transparent digital asset management, including NFTs and in-game items.
• Genius Sports: Provides comprehensive sports data and technology solutions, including live data feeds, AI-powered insights, and fan engagement platforms.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Foundation:

• SASE architecture: This is crucial for this ecosystem. SASE integrates network security functions (like firewalls, intrusion detection) with wide area networking (WAN) capabilities, providing secure and consistent connectivity for all users and devices across any network.
• Data Security: Protecting sensitive fan data, including personal information, preferences, and financial transactions.
• Data Privacy: Ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and maintaining trust with fans.
• Data Flow: Enabling the seamless and secure flow of data between partners, devices, and platforms.
• Scalability: Supporting the growing volume of data generated by immersive technologies and the increasing number of connected devices.

Wireless Infrastructure:

• Private 5G SA (Standalone): Offers ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, and network slicing capabilities, crucial for real-time data processing and delivery of high-quality immersive experiences.
• Wi-Fi 7: Provides significantly higher speeds and capacity compared to previous Wi-Fi standards, enabling seamless connectivity for a large number of devices within the stadium environment.
• Wireless Smartphone Cameras: Enable real-time capture of the live game and fan interactions with contextual data, enriching the immersive experience and providing valuable insights for personalized content delivery.

18 Immersive Cricket Fan Experiences for The Hundred (Teenager Focus)

By leveraging this powerful data, AI and immersive technology ecosystem with SASE and advanced wireless connectivity, truly innovative and engaging experiences can redefine the fan growth potential for The Hundred. This becomes the growth lever, in an ever-increasing, highly competitive global sports industry where all sporting codes are in the fight for relevancy and loyalty with Gen Z and Alpha fans.

Here are 18 Use Case examples of the art of the possible for The Hundred:

1. AR-Powered Stadium Exploration: Fans can use their smartphones to explore the stadium
   virtually before attending a match, accessing interactive maps, player profiles, and
   behind-the-scenes content.
2. VR Match Day Experience: Immerse fans in a virtual reality environment where they can experience the match from different perspectives, including player viewpoints and on-field action replays.
3. AI-Powered Personalized Highlights: Utilize AI to analyze fan preferences and curate personalized highlight reels, delivered directly to their devices via AR/VR or social media platforms.
4. AR-Enhanced Live Commentary: Overlay real-time statistics, player performance data, and interactive graphics onto the live broadcast using augmented reality.
5. “X-Ray Vision” with AR: During live matches, use your phone’s camera to “see” the ball’s trajectory, spin, and even the bowler’s grip in real-time with augmented reality overlays. Analyze every delivery with unprecedented detaill.
6. VR “Bowler’s Eye”: Experience the thrill of bowling a yorker to a top batter in virtual reality. Feel the pressure, hear the crowd roar, and try to outsmart the AI-powered batter in a realistic simulation.
7. “Cricket Clash” AR Game: Transform the stadium into a giant interactive game board. Use your phone to “catch” virtual sixes, defend boundaries with a virtual force field, and compete with other fans for high scores.
8. “My Dream Team” VR Experience: Design your own dream cricket team in VR. Select players, choose their roles, and then experience a virtual match where you control their actions, making tactical decisions in real-time.
9. NFT Player Cards: Collect unique digital trading cards featuring your favorite Hundred players. Each card has unique attributes and can be used to unlock exclusive in-game rewards or even enter virtual player auctions.
10. NFT Player Cards: Collect unique digital trading cards featuring your favorite Hundred players. Each card has unique attributes and can be used to unlock exclusive in-game rewards or even enter virtual player auctions.
11. VR “Net Practice” with AI Coaches: Practice your batting and bowling techniques with personalized VR coaching sessions. Receive feedback from AI coaches on your form, technique, and shot selection.
12. “Player Q&A” in VR: Join live Q&A sessions with your favorite players in a virtual environment. Ask questions, interact with them in a more engaging way, and get exclusive insights into their lives and careers.
13. “Predict the Play” AR Game: Use AR technology to predict the outcome of the next ball. Will it be a four, a six, a wicket, or a dot ball? Test your cricketing knowledge and compete with other fans for bragging rights. Utilize the stadium environment, such as catching virtual cricket balls.
14. Social AR Experiences: Enable fans to share their immersive experiences with friends and family through social media platforms, fostering a sense of community and excitement.
15. VR Team Training Simulations: Allow fans to experience the thrill of training alongside their favorite players through immersive VR simulations.
16. VR Jersey Selfies: Enable fans to take a VR selfie at a stadium camera booth wearing their favourite franchise jersey. Already extremely popular with teenage hockey fans in the NHL leagues with instant distribution to fans’ personal social media platforms.
17. VR Selfie with Favourite Cricket Star on the Team: Allow fans to have a VR selfie with their favourite cricket star as part of their pre-game experience. Already proving a ‘big hit’ with teenage fans in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
18. Create your own VR avatar in the live game: Fans can digitally replace their favourite player on the pitch in the live game streaming feed in real-time. Already available in the NBA league where teenage fans can become their favourite sports star in a live basketball game. [See sports fan in the purple shirt in the below]

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver unveils streaming experience of the future via the NBA App!

Key Considerations for Teenagers:

• Gamification: Make all experiences interactive and competitive, with leaderboards, rewards, and social sharing features.
• Social Integration: Seamlessly integrate with popular social media platforms to allow teenagers to share their experiences and connect with other fans.
• Cool Factor: Focus on cutting-edge technology and visually appealing graphics to make the experiences exciting and engaging.
• Simplicity: Ensure the experiences are easy to use and understand, with intuitive interfaces and clear instructions.

By focusing on these key considerations and tailoring the use cases to the specific interests and preferences of teenage cricket fans, The Hundred can create a truly immersive and unforgettable fan experience.

Emotion Detection AI in Cricket: Enhancing the Fan Experience

Emotion detection AI leverages machine learning and computer vision to understand human emotions by analyzing facial expressions, voice tone, body language, and other behavioral cues. Deep learning models, trained on extensive datasets, identify emotions like joy, sadness, anger, and surprise with high accuracy.

In practice, these systems combine multiple data sources for reliable emotion inference. This includes analyzing visual cues (facial expressions), auditory cues (speech patterns, volume), and even physiological data (heart rate, skin response). Contextual information helps disambiguate emotions, allowing for more nuanced interpretations.

Key Advantages:

• Non-intrusive: Measures emotions unobtrusively in large crowds.
• Scalable: Monitors emotions across the entire stadium.
• Real-time: Provides immediate insights into fan sentiment.

Potential usage in cricket:

• Enhancing the Stadium Experience:
• Understand Fan Engagement: Track emotional responses to on-field events (e.g., close finishes, winning performances).
• Optimize In-Stadium Atmosphere: Trigger celebratory events (music, fireworks) during moments of high excitement.
• Address Fan Dissatisfaction: Identify areas with negative emotions and proactively address issues.
• Increase Fan Engagement: Project live emotion metrics on screens to create a shared emotional experience.

By leveraging emotion detection AI, cricket venues can create more engaging and enjoyable experiences for fans, leading to increased loyalty, reduced churn and improved monetisation opportunities.

Areas of opportunity in The Hundred include:

Facial Image Data Collection & AI Sentiment Analysis:

• In-Stadium:
  • Camera Network: Deploy a network of strategically placed cameras capturing crowd reactions throughout the stadium.
  • Facial Recognition & Emotion Detection: AI algorithms analyze captured images to detect and classify emotions (e.g., excitement, joy, disappointment, frustration).
  • Anonymized Data Aggregation: Aggregated data provides real-time insights into overall crowd sentiment and localized pockets of intense emotion.
• At-Home Viewing:
  • Camera Phones: Encourage fans to use their phone cameras to capture their reactions during the match.
  • Social Media Analysis: Analyze facial expressions and sentiment from live-streamed videos and photos shared on social media platforms.

Real-Time, Authentic, Personalized Sponsor Advertising:

• Contextualized Ads:
  • “Excitement Boosters”: When the crowd is highly engaged (e.g., during a six), trigger ads from sponsors associated with excitement and celebration.
  • “Mood Lifters”: If crowd sentiment dips (e.g., after a wicket), display ads from sponsors offering refreshments, entertainment, or merchandise to improve the mood.
• Personalized In-Stadium Experiences:
  • Targeted Offers: Based on individual fan emotion, deliver personalized offers (e.g., discounts on merchandise, exclusive content, chances to win prizes).
  • Interactive Games: Integrate sponsor ads into interactive AR/VR games, rewarding players with virtual prizes or exclusive content.
• At-Home Viewing Enhancements:
  • Emotion-Triggered Content: Deliver sponsor messages that align with the viewer’s emotional state. For instance, if the viewer is feeling frustrated, display ads for calming beverages or relaxing experiences.
  • Interactive AR Filters: Create sponsor-branded AR filters that react to the viewer’s emotions, adding a layer of fun and engagement.

Ethical Considerations:

• Data Privacy:
  • Anonymization: Ensure all facial image data is anonymized and processed securely to protect fan privacy.
  • Transparency: Clearly communicate to fans how their data is being collected, used, and protected.
  • Consent: Obtain explicit consent from fans for the use of their facial image data for sentiment analysis and personalized advertising.
  • Bias Mitigation: Implement measures to mitigate potential biases in the AI algorithms that could lead to unfair or discriminatory targeting.

Benefits:

• Enhanced Fan Experience: More engaging and personalized experiences for fans both in-stadium and at home.
• Increased Sponsor Value: More effective and targeted advertising campaigns that resonate with fans.
• Valuable Insights: Gain deeper insights into fan emotions and preferences, enabling data-driven decisions for improving the overall fan experience.

Technological Considerations:

• Edge Computing: Utilize edge computing to process facial image data in real-time, minimizing latency and ensuring a seamless experience.
• 5G Connectivity: Leverage the high bandwidth and low latency of 5G networks to enable high-quality video streaming and real-time data processing.
• AI/ML Expertise: Partner with AI/ML experts to develop and refine the sentiment analysis algorithms for optimal accuracy and performance.

This expanded approach leverages the power of AI and immersive technologies to create a truly dynamic and personalized fan experience, while ensuring ethical and responsible use of data.

Powering Business Value

Our TIAKI model for Business Value Realization in cricket, powered by ‘data-at-scale’ is below

In the highlighted GREEN area we highlight the core components that will contribute to data use cases to create value including fan growth & retention, redefining new commercial rights deals and new digital revenues. New immersive fan experiences are central to many of these listed core components. These include:

• Immersive ‘arena like’ fan experiences independent of location
• Rea-time live analysis & predictions to educate & entertain
• Real-time AI-augmented game management decisions
• Personalized VIP commentary with AI audio doppelgangers
• Real-time avatars for unique customer service engagements
• Immersive real-time AR fan experiences in the stadium
• AR virtual jersey & selfies with favourite sports stars

Focusing on Value Quantification Immersive Fan Experiences:

• Measuring ROI: To ensure the long-term success of immersive technologies, it is crucial to demonstrate a clear return on investment (ROI).
• Clearly Defined Use Cases: Sports organizations must focus on developing clearly defined use cases for immersive technologies that are directly linked to measurable business outcomes.
• Value Quantification Frameworks: Implementing robust value quantification frameworks to track and measure the impact of immersive technologies on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as fan engagement, revenue generation, and operational efficiency.

The Revenue Impact of 18 Immersive Cricket Fan Experiences for the 8 Franchises in The Hundred in 2025

The Hundred franchises continue to grow their online brand profiles as they seek to become more prolific social media content generators.

The challenge is how to convert social media growth into monetised opportunities that benefits the franchises and their investors as well as the fans.

Let’s now examine the opportunity roadmap comparing digital immersive fan engagements with online jersey sales opportunities for 2025.

We considered social media profiles for all 8 of The Hundred franchises and examined the potential growth potential for both domestic and overseas social media followers if a data-centric, marketing campaign was executed. This output created a base foundation of social media followers per franchise that could then be considered for immersive digital fan engagement monetisation opportunities using the 18 immersive use cases. Monetised revenues were created for each of the 18 business cases using conservative % adoption figures unique for each franchise. The revenue growth profile was then compared with potential online jersey sales that could be monetised against this same base foundation of social media followers, for each franchise.

On average, each franchise has the potential for X3.7 more revenue from new immersive fan engagements compared to online jersey sales

Our analysis of 8 franchises in The Hundred suggested they have the potential to generate, on average, a X3.7 multiplier in incremental revenue, compared to online jersey sales, when 1st party data and immersive fan engagements are scaled effectively.

Our modelling suggests that the X3.7 multiplier equates to an average additional £2.3 million immersive digital revenue growth per franchise in 2025, compared to online jersey sales average at £0.6 million per franchise.

Overall digital immersive revenues consolidated from the 8 Franchises could deliver a total revenue growth of £18.3 million in 2025 compared to digital online jersey sales of £4.9 million.

Value Creation:

Across the 8 franchises, the total aggregated immersive fan revenues averaged 3.7 times more than online jersey sales per franchise.

Group III had the HIGHEST forecast revenues:

• Consisting of Southern Brave, Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals.
• Southern Brave has the HIGHEST 2025 revenue forecast of all franchises, powered by their superior Instagram following:
  • AR Stadium + Team + Gaming Experiences Revenue: £2.4m
  • AR / VR Live Game Experiences Revenue: £0.7m
  • Immersive Revenue Multiplier compared to Online Jersey sales: 3.2.

Group II had MEDIUM forecast revenues:

• Consisting of London Spirit, Birmingham Phoenix and Trent Rockets.
• London Spirit has the largest 2025 revenue forecast in this group:
  • AR Stadium + Team + Gaming Experiences Revenue: £1.7m
  • AR / VR Live Game Experiences Revenue: £0.6m
  • Immersive Revenue Multiplier compared to Online Jersey sales: 4.0.

Group I had the LOWEST forecast revenues:

• Consisting of The Northern Superchargers and Welsh Fire
• Welsh Fire has the most conservative 2025 revenue forecast of all franchises:
  • AR Stadium + Team + Gaming Experiences Revenue: £1.1m
  • AR / VR Live Game Experiences Revenue: £0.5m
  • Immersive Revenue Multiplier compared to Online Jersey sales: 3.8.

Our modelling methodology:

Assumptions:

• Domestic and Overseas social media followers grew organically in the first 6 months of 2025 driven by data-driven marketing campaigns. Social media growth rates were franchise specific ranging from 15-25% for domestic growth and 15-33% for overseas growth.
• Fee per month per Immersive app covering 18 unique use cases was charged as an upfront fee ranging from £5 to £25 depending on the specific application. Majority of the apps had a £5 monthly fee.
• Each specific app fee provides a monthly access to the immersive cricket fan engagement
• Fans purchased 2 months of app usage for the live game period July – Aug’25, during The Hundred competition period.
• Conversion rates from the social media follower fan base to monthly fee paying fans engaged in immersive experiences was assumed to be 5% for 16 of the 18 use cases.
• Two highly compelling immersive apps were forecast to be highly popular [based on proven results in the NHL in 2023-2024]. The conversation rates were higher for:
  • AR Jersey Selfies (Use Case #16): conversion rate at 9-25% depending on the franchise.
  • AR Pregame Selfies with Favourite Cricket Player (Use Case #17): conversion rate at 12-25% depending on the franchise
• The comparative alternative to Immersive Fan Engagements was Online Jersey sales. We assumed a franchise specific conversation rate ranging from 6-10% of social media followers who purchased online jerseys priced at £60. The same jersey price applied across all franchises.

AI-augmented cybercriminals smell opportunity in private equity invested sports franchises with high value rights deals

As the AI-augmented cybercriminals ramp up the volume and complexity of their data breach attacks, the cyber threat and consequential risks to new 2025 sporting business models have never been higher. The industrialisation of the cybercriminal ecosystem has created a 79% increase in ransomware attacks in the last 12 months 1 . More worryingly, the complexity and speed of the attacks are increasing significantly due to the deployment of AI tools by the cybercriminal.

The cybercriminals are opportunistic. They hunt for soft targets that are digitally and data immature, where there is significant investment from private equity and sports rights stakeholders to justify the criminals’ demands for high ransomware payouts following a data breach theft. The NBA’s $76 billion and NFL’s $111 billion sports rights deals, with increasing amounts of private equity investment and an explicit business goal to target data-driven fan growth in international markets, demonstrates exactly why the sports industry is becoming an increasingly attractive target for ransomware data breach attacks.

The recent, high profile investor auction into The Hundred will not have escaped the cybercriminals attention.

The cybercriminals are now ‘AI-weaponised’ to attack enterprises that have failed to put robust network cybersecurity postures in place. The cost of a data breach is significant. Our research suggests $6.1 million was the average cost of an enterprise data breach based on 200 selected enterprises with high-end monitoring 2 . In addition the risk of unrepairable brand damage for the sporting entity, the loss of trust from sporting fans and athletes from the theft of their personal data, and the exit of sponsors and investors, could quickly create an untenable, unrecoverable business.

Cricket franchises can pivot confidently to new Immersive Fan Experience business models with an effective Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) strategy

A SASE strategy is fundamental in reducing cybersecurity risk by ensuring C-suite ownership and awareness on the risk to the business. It is crucial to increase top-level buy-in to address the evolving cybersecurity threat landscape, especially with the transition to digital enterprise and next-generation technologies. Many sporting organisations are ill-prepared to respond to the evolving AI-augmented threats, including 3rd party supply chain risks, necessitating the need for the C-suite to elevate network cybersecurity as a senior leadership priority.

By making SASE and network cybersecurity a board-level agenda item, with proper oversight and governance, the franchises can align their leadership, their investment priorities and commit to enhancing digital resilience for new, innovative immersive fan opportunities.

This strategic alignment and prioritisation of risk-based controls and AI-automation, are essential components of a SASE strategy to effectively manage network cybersecurity risks whilst enabling monetisation of creative immersive fan use cases and data assets.

The data centric cricket franchise

Leading franchise should look to pioneer Immersive Fan Experiences and build out Smart Venue capability in the next 12 months if they seek to achieve differentiated offerings to their fan base to for social media fan expansion and new revenue growth.

Immersive fan experiences will become a central critical orchestrator value proposition in the future data-centric cricket franchise, powered by an effective SASE strategy.

2 Orange Cyberdefense Security Navigator Report 2024: Research-based cybersecurity insights to drive smart business decisions

Conclusion:
SASE and secure data-at-scale can power X3.7 revenue growth for cricket franchises in The Hundred compared to online jersey sales

In today’s digital, data-driven economy, cricket franchises should continue to pioneer adoption of cloud-native ecosystems and GenAI capabilities as they seek new AI powered immersive revenue streams, invest in innovative hyper-personalised engagements with their fans and upgrade stadium physical infrastructure to become digitally connected, ‘smart venues’. This is needed to grow a highly loyal, digitally engaged fan base across the globe, willing to pay for immersive sporting experiences.

This shift will fundamentally transform the way cricketers, coaches, journalists, and fans experience cricket in the next 2 years. Secure ‘data-at-scale’ will be the ‘lifeblood’ of this new cricket reality.

The criticality of a robust network cybersecurity posture to protect against the cybercriminal and enable ‘data at scale’ for new monetisation opportunities, is not yet fully recognised, which is creating significant business risk. This risk can be reduced with an effective SASE strategy.

However, implementing a comprehensive SASE strategy across all aspects of a cricket franchise operating model should not be regarded as a defensive, technology centric cost burden. With correctly deployed SASE data use cases, it becomes a fundamental business enabler to catalyse immersive revenue multiplier growth.

By shifting to become data-centric, content-generating operations, The Hundred cricket franchises have seemingly limitless creative possibilities to reimagine personalised, relevant shared immersive experiences for their existing and prospect digital cricket fans across the globe. Data-at-scale is the lifeblood of these pioneering new ambitions. SASE adoption will ensure this data is secure for revenue growth and value creation.

---

About the Author:

David Andrew
Founder & Managing Partner
www.tiaki.ai
[email protected]

David is the Founder & Managing Partner at TIAKI, a niche consulting practice helping executive leadership in sport make confident, informed decisions on their risks, investments and business outcomes powered by secure ‘data-at-scale’. He collaborates with bold and determined leaders in the sports ecosystem to define their data, AI and cybersecurity strategies to deliver sustainable value.

David’s vision for TIAKI is to empower sports franchise CEOs, leadership teams, sports media broadcasters and investors in the global sports industry with strategic advisory frameworks to deliver secure, pioneering digital fan experiences and new ecosystem business models to achieve breakthrough returns.

David has over 20 years of strategy and technology enabled business transformation experience, providing consulting expertise in cloud native technologies, data strategy, digital business enablement and cybersecurity strategy. He is passionate about helping talented leadership teams succeed in securely growing their differentiated business models in the data-driven, digital sports economy.

Based in Stockholm, David previously worked for IBM Consulting, EY, Accenture Strategy and Orange Business. He studied Chemistry at Durham University and holds an MBA from Trinity College, Dublin Business School.

• LinkedIn
• X

Copyright © 2025 TIAKI.
All rights reserved. TIAKI and its logo are registered trademarks of TIAKI.