In India, Fantasy sports have existed for the last twenty years but in the last two years, its growth is shockingly phenomenal. The availability of high-speed internet and affordable smartphones for the majority of people are the two major reasons for its success. Fantasy Leagues, online sports, e-sports, and online gaming are other alternative names of fantasy sports. In India, without a doubt, cricket is the most popular game so obviously, it is also leading among fantasy sports in India. As per an online gaming industry report, around 90% of online gaming platforms in India belong to cricket. Football, Kabaddi, and basketball are the other fantasy sports popular in India.
Recently concluded IPL 2020 success has helped these fantasy platforms immensely. Most fantasy sports users belong to the age group from 18 to 50 years that is a sign of its popularity among the masses. As per the gaming industry report, more than 75% of fantasy sports users play fantasy games 3 times a week.
Here are a top 5 fantasy sports platforms you must give a try:-
1. Dream 11
Dream11 is one of the oldest fantasy gaming platforms in India. It is also the only fantasy sports unicorn in India. It was founded in 2008. It supports most of the games like cricket, football, kabaddi, basketball, hockey, etc. Fans have to showcase the knowledge of the sport they love. They can make a team of real players who are going to play in upcoming matches and can win points on the basis of the player’s performance in the real match. Fans compete among themselves and finally, a winner is chosen. Dream11 won the bid for title sponsorship of IPL 2020. BCCI has signed a 3 years contract with Dream11.
Dream11 has captured around 90% of the fantasy sports market. M.S. Dhoni is the brand ambassador of this popular fantasy league. Currently, it has around 800 million users who are playing different sports’ fantasy leagues. In FY2019, this platform has generated a revenue of $103 million approximately. Dream11 has free and paid contests both. The entry fee ranges from Rs 30 to Rs 60. You have a chance to win Rs 2 Lakhs and more.
2. MPL-Mobile Premier League
MPL is one of the youngest e-sport leagues that got popular in a short span of time. It is a Bangalore based fantasy sport founded in September 2018 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra. On November 17, 2020, BCCI officially announced MPL as the kit sponsor of National Men’s, Women’s, and U-19 cricket teams. MPL also signed an official sponsorship agreement with two of the biggest teams of IPL – Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Through MPL, you can enjoy more than 40 online games that are available through its mobile app. It has 4 crores users. Since March 2019, Indian captain Virat Kohli is the brand ambassador of this newly launched popular fantasy sport.
MPL has secured $180.5 Million funding through series seed, A, B, and C rounds. Entry fee, hosting fee, advertisements, and in-app purchases are the different methods MPL gets revenue. Winning prizes on the basis of selected players, bonus on referrals to friends, and connecting with friends are some of the unique features of MPL. Within a year, MPL is having a revenue of Rs 2.87 crore for FY 2019.
3. MyTeam11
Jaipur-based MyTeam11 was founded in 2016 by two techies Vinit Godara and Sanjit Sihag. MyTeam11 did not get major success until it got the title sponsorship for the India WestIndies cricket series played in 2019. Other than that series, Pakistan Super League On Air Sponsorship, Karnataka Premier League official partner, and Pro Volleyball League Official Partner are the other noted contracts begged by this growing fantasy league. through this platform, other than IPL, users can also create T20 teams for Caribbean Premier League.
This fantasy platform has approximately 12 million users and over 15 million downloads across the platforms. Participation in the different polls conducted by MyTeam11, referrals, and active participation in fantasy playing are the key activities to engage users. This fantasy league is having a revenue of $20 million approximately in FY2019. MyTeam11 is planning to achieve a revenue of $100 Million in the next 5 years. Virendra Sehwag, Ex Indian Cricket Player, is the brand ambassador of this fantasy platform.
4. Halaplay
Halaplay is Bangalore based Daily Fantasy Sports(DFS) founded by BITS alumni Saurav, Prateek Anand, Ananya Singhal, and Aman Kesari in 2017. It deals in fantasy games related to cricket, football, and kabaddi. Users can win prizes up to 10 lakhs each day on this platform.
The latest concepts of data analytics and machine learning are being used to help users in making teams. They received $7.5 Million of funding from Nazara Technologies and other investors. Currently, it has 5 Million users more than 1700% from its user base of 500k in 2017. Halaplay’s revenue of $3.1 Million in FY 2019 is 741.9% of its revenue of $0.4 Million in 2017.
5. CricPlay
Cricplay, a fantasy sports platform totally dedicated to cricket, was founded in 2018 by Gaurav Sarin. In less than a year, the growth of approximately 500% is extraordinary. It has a user base of around 5 Million.
It is a free to play platform with a tagline AB MERE SATH INDIA KHELEGA. CricPlay ambassador is the former Indian Cricket Opener Gautam Gambhir. This fantasy league has its in-app currency named Cricplay coins. They have five major online games – Mega Contest, Super Leagues, Challenger Leagues, Star Contest, and Daily Predictions.
One of the major challenges with these fantasy sports is whether it’s legal in India or not. If a game is dependent on skill then it fulfills the legality clause and if the game is declaring winner by chance then it is illegal. However, the esports platform has shown exponential growth in FY 2020 with a gross revenue of Rs 2400 crore compared to FY 2019 revenue of Rs 920 crore.
