It was nothing short of a gank. In one fell swoop, the new online gaming law banned all forms of real money games (RMG) and their advertisements, putting a question mark before the estimated 10,000-crore (80% digital) marketing investments of leading brands in the category. For the Indian advertising business, which is expected to cross 1.5 trillion in 2025, their elimination presents serious short-term challenges, though most insiders remain optimistic that the festive season will keep the industry buoyant.
The thing is, RMG accounts for a whopping 85% of the 31,938 crore (2024) online gaming industry (as per WinZO Games, Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council), and brands such as Dream11, My11 Circle and Mobile Premier League have been omnipresent across tentpole sports properties like the IPL. They are unmissable on OTT and other digital platforms, accounting for 11% or8,000 crore of the `70,000 crore digital ad market.
Naturally, the immediate impact will be visible in digital advertising. Experts aver there will be a temporary dip in premium inventory demand especially around marquee entertainment and sports properties. “What we may see are flatter CPM (cost per mille) rates on high-demand inventories such as connected TV and prime OTT slots, as competition for those impressions redistributes. Performance marketing metrics could also normalise in the short term where RMG campaigns often pushed up bid prices,” predicts Bhavesh Talreja, founder & CEO, Globale Media.
To take advantage of the situation, he adds, agencies and fence-sitting advertisers must be more agile, shifting ad monies into OTT, e-commerce and influencer marketing. “This reallocation may actually accelerate innovation in cross-channel performance marketing, driving more sustainable user engagement strategies,” says Talreja.
Up and down
Dream11, which earns nearly 90% of its revenue from RMG, has exited as the title sponsor for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the government ban on real money gaming. There is speculation that My11 Circle, which has pledged 625 crore over a five-year period as official fantasy partner for the IPL, may also have to terminate its deal. Dream11 and My11 Circle jointly add nearly1,000 crore to Indian cricket annually.
Sandeep Ranade, executive vice-president and head of the quantitative research division at Hansa Research, notes that the law’s impact will not be limited to Indian cricket alone. Dream11 is also the official partner of the Caribbean Premier League and sponsor of the Australian Big Bash League. Dream11 is also an advertiser with other Indian sports leagues such as kabaddi and football. “These companies will now focus on subscriptions or non-money gaming offerings and will have to consider building new products to survive,” says Ranade.
Of course, there is a silver lining to every dark cloud
Dream11 came in as Indian cricket team’s lead sponsor to replace Byju’s that got into deep financial distress. For its part, Byju’s had replaced Oppo India, which withdrew from the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team in 2019 citing low return in comparison to the sponsorship cost.
In other words, while the withdrawal of RMG brands creates a short-term gap for sporting properties, it also opens up valuable space, observes Kushal Bhuva, AVP, founder’s office, influencer marketing and video at White Rivers Media. “For years, their dominance kept emerging categories like D2C, fintech, OTT and consumer tech on the sidelines. With that barrier removed, sponsorships are now more accessible to a wider pool of advertisers, creating a healthier and more balanced ecosystem,” explains Bhuva.