By Ram. Kewalramani
In the world of cricket, India is truly a force to reckon with. The love for the game has only amplified over the years and the Indian Premier League (IPL) has taken it to a whole new level.
As the 16th edition of IPL is currently underway, its brand value is going strong, reaching $8.4 billion, up from $4.7 billion in 2021. With a $16 million per match value, IPL today is not only the fastest-growing but is also the second-most valuable sports league in the world.
With cricket fans flocking to the stadiums to catch their favourite teams in action, fantasy sports have also taken off witnessing massive growth in recent times. It’s safe to say that the fantasy gaming industry in India is having its moment attracting foreign direct investments and contributing significantly to the country’s economic growth. With over 13 crore users, India has the largest fantasy sports market globally, with two of the fantasy gaming companies even earning unicorn status in recent times.
Fantasy sports platform: The new gaming pinnacle
Fantasy sports have come to the forefront as an extension of real-life sporting events. These digital sports engagement platforms give users the opportunity to build their own virtual teams consisting of proxies of real-life players from forthcoming matches. Based on the real-world statistical performances of their players, the teams are awarded points and the winners of these games are offered exorbitant cash prizes.
These fantasy games offer meaningful engagements with the sporting event, allowing its users to take up powerful roles of a coach or a manager and take the call on which players to recruit or trade off.
In India, the fantasy gaming platforms have brought in fans in droves by diversifying their portfolio to include sports ranging from crowd-favourite cricket to football, hockey, basketball, and more. Reports from Redseer Strategy Consultants confirm that this momentum is only going to pick up pace given how the gross gaming revenue of fantasy sports during the current season of the IPL is projected to grow in the range of 30-35% to reach Rs 2,900-3,100 crore.
How IPL is driving a surge in fantasy sports
Over the years, the growth in the user base of fantasy sports platforms has been to the tune of 20%. However, this year, fantasy gaming platforms are expected to witness a 20-30% growth in user transactions, with a larger share of the user base coming from tier 2 cities.
Much of the growing popularity of fantasy sports can be attributed to the IPL cricket tournament. IPL contributes to nearly 35-40% of the overall annual revenue that fantasy gaming platforms earn.
Key factors such as the cross-migration of users from other games and an increase in internet accessibility, coupled with the government’s move to formalise rules regarding GST for Real Money Gaming (RMG) platforms are driving the growing adoption of fantasy sports platforms. Additionally, Google’s limited-time pilot program will have big players like Dream11 and Fantasy Cricket featured on the Google Play Store.
Fantasy gaming companies have also ramped up their marketing efforts during the IPL season to draw more users and retain them on their platforms. With the IPL business soaring to new heights and its ad revenue growing threefold since 2018, advertisers now end up shelling out high premiums to feature during the matches.
Fantasy sports platforms in India: The beginning of a new innings
With fantasy sports stepping into new frontiers of growth, it will not only have a role to play in the advancement of India’s sports industry but is also said to be a great source of employment, creating future-ready jobs in sports. This multi-billion-dollar industry is also attracting forex and substantial amounts of working capital.
The fantasy gaming industry is expected to positively impact other existing businesses including digital payments, sports merchandising, and online sports streaming. RNG (Random Number Generator) certification and secure payment gateways are a few of the many measures introduced to enhance the users’ trust in these gaming platforms. Apart from creating a sporting culture and popularising sports beyond cricket in the country, the fantasy sports industry will be an exciting space to watch in the coming years!
The author is MD and co-founder at CredAble.