Fantasy sports is suddenly a water-cooler conversation. From a handful of companies until a few years ago, there are an estimated 60 fantasy sports platforms in India at present.
Dream11 and MPL are some of the top fantasy sports apps in the present scenario. These apps have changed the industry of Indian fantasy sports all over the world. These apps have played a pivotal role in giving rise to the fantasy world of the sports industry.
In this blog, we will discuss how these apps are changing the sports industry.
Dream 11 and MPL - An introduction
Dream11 is a platform for fantasy sports where users are allowed to play fantasy cricket, football, hockey, kabaddi, and basketball. As per reports, it has become India’s first gaming company to become a unicorn.
Tencent-backed Dream11 is the poster child of India’s fantasy gaming ecosystem. Earlier in 2019, BCCI signed up Dream11 as the IPL’s official fantasy sports partner until 2022. This is not only validation for Dream11, but also the overall fantasy sports sector in India.
Founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth in 2012, Dream11 allows users to create imaginary teams and earn cash based on selected players’ actual match performance. Each good move gets gamers cash rewards, and Dream11 pockets 15-20 percent of the winnings.
The Mumbai-based startup looks to double its user base to 100 million this year riding on the IPL, and later the ICC Cricket World Cup. Dream11’s early backers include Kalaari Capital and Unicorn India Ventures.
Sequoia, an American venture capital firm funded MPL is the latest upstart in India’s fantasy sports market. It is growing at the speed of light, having notched up to 10 million users in 7-8 months. This Bengaluru-based startup is the country’s fastest-growing fantasy sports platform development, and also the leading app in the ‘Casual’ category of Google Play Store India.
MPL was founded by Srinivas Kiran Garimella and Shubham Malhotra in 2018 who are the former founders of Creo, which was acquired-hired by Hike in 2017. This app-based platform allows fans to compete in skill-based sports and win real rewards.
Just ahead of IPL 2019, MPL roped in Team India captain Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador in a deal reportedly valued at Rs 12 crore.
Dream11 and MPL both are famous fantasy sports games based on the knowledge and prediction skills of the players. These sports test the skills of the players as to how much players can predict the performances. It is all about how much you know about the player and the sport. Players have to create a virtual team for the upcoming games and points are gained based on the real performance of the players on that day. It makes cricket more exciting and players found it adventurous to play such fantasy sports. With this advancement, the fantasy sports industry has risen over two years as it has gained popularity in this pandemic situation.
Dream11 and MPL - A change in the Sports industry
Dream11 and MPL are playing a remarkable role in the fantasy sports world as both apps have brought the industry into the world of leadership by adopting new ways of new technology and trends.
The fantasy sports market consists of sales of fantasy sports services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that are engaged in providing online gaming and betting services. Fantasy sports, often known as rotisserie sports or roto, are any of a variety of games that allow a player to play a virtual game or a virtual season of a league. These teams compete based on the statistical performance of those players in actual games. In fantasy sports, a player earns points based on real-life statistics that are converted into fantasy points. The fans take on the roles of both general manager and field manager for their team, assembling a squad through a draft and deals and putting together lineups in desire of the highest statistical output.
Both these apps are leading the fantasy sports app world and made a continuous and remarkable change in the sports industry which has accelerated the growth and pace of the fantasy world and witnessed a tremendous change in the sports industry.
Currently, there are over 140 online fantasy sports (OFS) operators and 90 million Indian sports fans engaging with these platforms. Fantasy sports has become so popular that Dream11, currently the biggest fantasy sports player, has become the title sponsor of IPL 2020, making it “Dream11 IPL”. It makes us wonder how it has reached the level of such growth.
According to a joint report by the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG) and KPMG Dream11 currently occupies 90 percent of the domestic fantasy sports market. Sector experts believe its success will inspire more entrepreneurs to see fantasy gaming as a scalable business proposition. This will offer monetization opportunities going ahead, even though paid players are just about 15 percent of Dream11’s overall user base of 51 million.
Traditionally, for any sports fan to engage with their favorite sports league and tournament they have to watch it mostly on TV and sometimes in a stadium. With the advent of social media platforms, fans got the opportunity to follow their favorite league, team, and player. However, these are some of the passive ways of engaging with sports. With the emergence of fantasy sports, sports fans can actively participate by creating their virtual teams and socially compete with fellow fans, friends, and family. When people participate in fantasy sports, they tend to watch more sports matches to track the performance of the players they picked in their fantasy sports teams. Interestingly, according to the research, fantasy sports users who engage with OFS platforms more than four times a week spend on an average 215 minutes per week watching sports in comparison to users who engage less than four times a week and spend 160-180 minutes per week watching sports. This substantiates the hypothesis that online fantasy sports engagement has a direct impact on sports viewership, and, in turn, helps foster a sporting mindset.
The industry has changed, as the market has moved from the real players to the fantasy world in which they can create their virtual teams and can be a part of this.
The sports industry is witnessing a speedy resumption after a long pause. On the other hand, real-life sports are making a promising return, particularly ‘Dream11 IPL’ and MPL Indian sports fans are in for non-stop sporting action. Fantasy sports are also back and will be in full strength very soon with mainstream tournaments across the sports like football, cricket, and basketball resuming. Soon, as most sporting events are expected to take place with either limited or no stadium audience, digital sports fan engagement platforms like fantasy sports will play a pivotal role in driving fan engagement.
At last, it should be said that both Dream11 and MPL are changing the market trends and are adopting new ways to sustain in the market and creating and uphold strategies for the players and for the app which makes it the global leader in the online fantasy sports world.
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