The independent platform for regional sports journalists expects to cover 15 of the 18 professional county cricket clubs before the season starts in April
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CounterPress, the independent publishing platform for sports media, is making a bold play to revive coverage of neglected sports — most notably the UK's beloved summer sport, county cricket — amid a long-term decline in local newspaper reporting.
The platform has just launched new football outlets in Leicester and Plymouth, but its most ambitious move is the rapid onboarding of cricket titles: by the start of the cricket season in April, CounterPress expects to cover 15 of the 18 professional county cricket clubs, with the majority of these outlets launching in March.
Founder Sam Morshead sees this as a pivotal moment for the sport and for local journalism. Cricket, once a staple of UK regional reporting, has seen its day-to-day coverage all but disappear from local press. Cricket fans have become reliant on club media or national outlets that have decreased their commitment in recent years due to a lack of perceived interest in the sport.
CounterPress looks to prove there is a market willing to support independent journalists. Like other independent platforms - think Substack or Beehiiv - it has features for subscription handling, native analytics, podcast hosting, secure athentication and audience management. But it is purpose-built for community-driven sports journalists, not high-profile personalities.
"The principle for us is that you can make money by having low volume, high value content and appealing to a community that is hyper-engaged," says Morshead.
CounterPress has a leading football case study in The Moonraker, an outlet covering Swindon Town Football Club in League Two (the fourth division of English football).
Since its launch in August 2024, The Moonraker has attracted 570 subscribers (peaking at 625), with over 800 all-time paid subscribers and a registered database of 1,400.
All-time paid subscribers represent around 10 per cent of the club's average attendance last season (8,117). It has generated £26,000 in annual gross revenue on a part-time basis for Morshead.
This is comparable, but behind, the average UK journalist's full-time annual salary (£34,500 nationwide). The gap could potentially be closed by dedicating more hours to developing commercial partnerships and additional revenue streams.
Does this necessarily transfer from football to cricket, though? While football generally commands larger, more engaged audiences, Morshead argues that cricket’s underserved fan base signals untapped potential.
"There’s a bit more market demand — if we can get even a small percentage of county members to subscribe, the model works," he explained. For example, while larger clubs like Surrey have 20,000 members, a similar conversion (200–250 subscribers) would make the publication viable.
The platform is also experimenting with bundled access to all cricket outlets for £15–20 per month, testing whether fans will pay for comprehensive, independent coverage.
At the heart of CounterPress’s approach is a model that onboards local journalists to cover their own regions. Unlike traditional publishers, CounterPress gives these journalists full autonomy over editorial decisions, including pricing, strategy, and coverage. This means each outlet is shaped by the person who knows the community best, rather than by a centralised editorial team. Journalists retain ownership of their work and are free to experiment with formats, membership models, and content strategies.
Current network and pipeline
CounterPress is rolling out a major technology upgrade later this month, including native analytics (eliminating the need for Google Analytics plugins), podcast hosting, reinforced OAuth security, full email functionality, and advanced audience monitoring tools.
This article was drafted by an AI assistant before it was edited by a human.
