Sports is a religion in India, the craze of any sport can be felt almost everywhere in India. From a school going kid to a retired old man, the excitement related to any sport has got almost every Indian. With such craze, people follow everything related to sports and Fantasy sporting is one of them. Fantasy sporting has been on real popularity since its birth in India.
What is fantasy sporting? Fantasy sport, often played using the Internet where contenders assemble imaginary or virtual teams of real players to play a professional sport.
According to GroupM’s ESP Properties – Sporting Nation VII 2019 was also the year in which fantasy sports platforms gained huge levels of user engagement. Dream11, already a unicorn from India, invested significantly in sports properties within the country as well as outside.
One of the reasons for the popularity of fantasy sports in India is the mass availability of the mobile 4G network.
Being the presenter as an Official Partner for BCCI Home Cricket Series as well as in the IPL, also were in team sponsor list for Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Founded in April 2019, Dream11 became the first Indian gaming company to enter the ‘Unicorn Club’.
Dream11’s associations went beyond cricket; in addition to, the PKL and the ISL, they were a Global Partner for the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and the Official Fantasy League Partner for the National Basketball Association (NBA). In terms of share of mind of the digitally engaged sports lover from India, 2019 was a year in which Dream11 enjoyed hugely groundswell.
In this space, Dream11 was the first big name and risk-taker, but in 2019 another entrant MyTeam11 coming forward in the cricketing world as the Title Sponsor for the India – West Indies Series, launched in 2016, MyTeam11 presently acquires a user base of 15 million+ it has five major sports, multiple playing modes and exciting contests that are engaging quotient for the audience.
Cricket is a big contributor to the overall user engagement levels for these platforms given the popularity of the sport in their main market, but they see opportunities in other sporting activities too. With more than one player in the equation and with the sports lovers demonstrated increasing propensity to be digitally engaged, it is game time now at major sporting events.