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Covid-19 pandemic: What lies ahead for Indian fantasy sports?

The fantasy sports format has already seen significant adoption by sports fans in the global market and India has also witnessed exponential growth in the Fantasy Sports user base during the last two to three years. According to the Gameplan 2020 report Fantasy Sports user-base grew from 2 million in 2016 to 90 million in 2019. Just when the time for fantasy sports was right, the first quarter of 2020 witnessed the unforeseen impact of a global pandemic in the form of Covid-19. The novel coronavirus impacted the entire globe, postponement, and cancellation of major sporting events across the globe and especially marquee properties like the Indian Premier League (IPL) back home.

This resulted a direct and adverse impact on the businesses operating in the online fantasy sports ecosystem such as online fantasy sports operators, marketing agencies, analytics platforms and others. In the absence of real-time sports, the active users on these platforms declined sharply.

It is true that, before the pandemic, the emergence and growth in popularity of sports leagues in India, coupled with the rapid improvement in digital infrastructure and payments has led to the rise of fantasy sports. This has become in no time as an alternative means for the sports enthusiast to connect with their favourite sports, and test their skills and knowledge of the game. However, the pandemic led the online fantasy sports platforms directly affected by the temporary discontinuation of sporting leagues, as these skill-based gaming platforms run on a format that has direct dependence on the real-time sport being played.

Impact of lockdown in fantasy sports

The lock-down in India was initiated just when the entire country was gearing up for Season 13 of IPL, and the online fantasy sports operators were focusing on their strategies and investments to gear up for the season. This force majeure has created business disruptions in the short-term. Industry interactions indicated that IPL, being the most popular sporting league in India, generates ~30 to 40 per cent of the revenues for most of the online fantasy sports operators. The postponing of the event has put cash-flow pressures on the operators. The short-term revenue and customer engagement disruptions have prompted the online fantasy sports operators to innovate around their offerings to generate cash, in order to reduce the high dependency on Cricket and major leagues like the IPL.

Industry interactions indicated that the operators have been proactive in their actions to combat the challenges posted by the Covid-19 crisis.

How fantasy sports platforms tackled the crisis?

Some of the FIFS members have modified their offerings while operating under the ‘game of skill’ umbrella.

While the major sports leagues across the globe were disrupted, the leading online fantasy sports operators have moved ahead to include leagues from secondary markets, which were relatively less affected by the ongoing pandemic. Here are the things that the industry find fair to do during Covid-19 pandemic:

A long-tail of new leagues which are approved by their respective governing bodies such as Belarus Premier League (Football), Taipei T10 League (Cricket), Vanuatu T10 League (Cricket); as well as leagues in Baseball and Handball have been added by the online fantasy sports operators as a part of their offerings. While these offerings are relatively new to the Indian audience, industry interactions indicate that there has been some uptake seen in terms of engagement with these leagues, albeit not at the scale of Indian leagues.
Streaming sporting action on associated sports content platformsDream11 along with FanCode actively worked towards bringing global sporting action which was on during the pandemic, to the Indian The platform introduced Baseball and Handball and hosted online fantasy sports matches, showcased specialised content from long-tail sports tournaments, like Vincy Premier League, Nicaragua League and many more (FanCode). Since March 2020, FanCode has live-streamed over 150 matches across 10+ leagues.
MyTeam11 has acquired exclusive Global Streaming rights for Taipei T10 league and non-exclusive streaming rights of Vanuatu T10 League under its SportsTiger platform. The platform has been investing heavily in generating content. An interview series called “Off the field” has been started by the platform, wherein sports stars are interviewed.
Most players have used the lean period to innovate their platform offerings to add features that would make the user experience more seamless. Dream11 focused on developing a sports social network on the platform and used the time to revisit the non-user focussed features that were no longer needed to reduce redundancies. In the coming few weeks, players like Faboom are looking to introduce new features such as ‘Responsible Gaming’ which would provide its users features such as ‘self-determined’ exclusion tenures, option to set deposit limit (daily and weekly) and contest participation limit.
An innovative move by the operators has been their foray into quizzing. Quizzing has always been a game of skill transcending ages and social groups. These quiz-based games operate on the same participation and platform fee format as the online fantasy sports; each quizzing cohort has 4-5 users and the quiz-topics are spread across The user who correctly answers the maximum questions wins the pool. It is worth noting that the introduction of quizzing expands the addressable market beyond fans of a specific sport. This in turn helps address one of the pre Covid-19 challenges of the industry, which was to increase the participation of female users on the platform. Some operators are thus looking at integrating quizzing as an integral part of the platform in the long run.

Through these initiatives the platforms have helped recover some of the user- engagement that had seen a sharp dip amidst the pandemic and provided sports-based content for the fans who were devoid of any engagement opportunity with sports at large, be it watching or participating in online Fantasy Sports.

Going Forward
The online fantasy sports firms are optimistic that this is just a small blip in the industry’s growth trajectory. Once the overseas and domestic leagues start commencing, industry players expect a ~20 to 25 per cent jump in the revenues of Q3 FY21 over the planned revenue. The stakeholders are also of the opinion that once things return towards normalcy, a sharp recovery is expected with the leagues restarting. Companies like Dream11 have factored this into their hiring strategies with plans to add ~250 members in the near term to its existing team, MyTeam11 has also added 20 new members to it company during the lockdown and is looking forward to going ahead with hiring plans as it expands.

Platforms like FanCode and SportsTiger are also likely to broaden their array of offerings to increase engagement and improve customer experience by educating them about sports that would in turn compliment their sister platform’s online fantasy sports offerings.

The norms of social distancing have called for revisiting the reliance on call-centres for customer support making a systematic push towards automation using chatbots and IVR. This would also benefit users through more real- time assistance, while reducing costs for the online fantasy sports operators.

Most operators have indicated that the next ~6 to 8 months post the lock-down would be focused on targeted marketing to regain users who might have migrated to other real-money game platforms or other forms of entertainment.

As India strives to overcome this crisis, it would be premature to comment on when the domestic sports leagues will resume. Though the overseas leagues including the widely popular English Premier League will help user engagement on the online fantasy sports platforms; IPL drives ~35 to 40 per cent of the online fantasy sports market’s revenues. If IPL indeed takes place around October – November 2020, the Indian sports fans are likely to have access to sporting leaguesand tournaments non-stop for eight to nine months spanning between October 2020 and May to June 2021. This would help partially offset some revenue loss due to the postponement and cancellation of sporting events in Q1 of 2020.

Online fantasy sports revenue in India to race ahead to Rs 2,470 crore in FY20: Gameplan 2020

The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), today unveiled the findings of a report titled ‘Business of Fantasy Sports’ in collaboration with KPMG, at the third edition of FIFS GamePlan 2020. According to the FIFS-KPMG report, online fantasy sports operators’ gross revenues stood at Rs 2,470 crore for FY20 as compared to Rs 920+ crore in FY19 an increase of almost 3X over a period of 12 months.

KPMG India head of media and entertainment and partner Girish Menon added, “Online fantasy sports in India has seen rapid growth, reaching a revenue size of Rs 2,470 crore in FY20. This growth has also contributed immensely to the overall ecosystem around fantasy sports including online payment platforms, tech vendors, data analytics, and more. and has had a positive impact on the consumption and growth of the overall sports landscape in India. While COVID-19 may result in a temporary blip in the upward trajectory of the fantasy sports segment, the medium to long term growth prospects of the segment remain robust, with the gradual return of international sport. Further, in a post COVID world, with social distancing measures in place, fantasy sports is likely to play an increasingly important role in connecting fans to their favourite sports and increasing fan engagement.”

KPMG has conducted the survey among 750 respondents where 253 were online fantasy sports users (which is have played a fantasy sports game online in the last one year) and the remaining were not online fantasy sports users. Here are the Findings:

Indian online fantasy sports platforms have shown a rapid increase in their user-base YoY, growing from 2 million in 2016 to 90 million in 2019. Similarly, the number of online fantasy sports platforms in India has increased from less than 10 operators in 2016 to 140+ operators by the end of 2019.
Following the lead of players like Dream11, major business houses like Times Internet, Bigtree Entertainment (through BookMyShow), Living Media Group (through Aaj Tak) and Paytm, have also entered the fray with their multi-sport online fantasy sports.
Increasing competition, high customer acquisition costs, innovative offerings by the well-funded market leaders to acquire and retain their users, coupled with the business impact of COVID-19; is likely to result in a certain degree of market consolidation in the near to medium term.

The top four to five players currently account for ~95 percent of the market share of the industry.
For 55 per cent of the respondents, their engagement with sports increased once they started engaging with fantasy sports
32 per cent of all fantasy sports users, engaged with more than one sport on the platform
Over 65 per cent of these respondents indicated that there is a direct increase in the time spent in analysing, watching and reading about the sport once they start participating on fantasy sports online
Fantasy Sports users who engaged with online fantasy sports platforms more than four times a week spent an average ~215 minutes/week watching sports in comparison to users who engaged less than four times a week and spent ~160-180 minutes/week watching sports
16 per cent of the online fantasy sports users categorically mentioned that the key motive of watching the sports leagues is to track the performance of their online fantasy sports teams
77 per cent of fantasy sports users are engaged in cricket contests followed by Football at 47 per cent and Kabaddi at 9 per cent
~15-20 per cent of the active users on online fantasy sports platforms are paid-users, which is significant given the relatively younger vintage of the industry as compared to other digital businesses.
50 per cent of transactions on online fantasy sports platforms in 2019 were initiated from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, thereby promoting digital payments literacy and adoption.
Besides increasing sports consumption among sports fans, fantasy sports also supports the sports ecosystem by sponsoring live-sporting events, across Cricket, Football, Basketball, Volleyball and so on., by partnering with sporting personalities and giving back to sports via philanthropic initiatives.
Due to the rapid growth of online fantasy sports, a new segment of the fantasy research ecosystem is also fast emerging across different digital platforms.
Dream11 was found to be the most popular platform across online fantasy sports operators, with ~94 per cent of the respondents alluding to Dream11 as their preferred platform. MyTeam11 and My11circle were the second and third most preferred platforms with ~42 per cent and ~26 per cent of the respondents engaging with these platforms respectively.
The online fantasy sports operators currently pay 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is applicable on the platform fee charged by the OFS operators. Industry estimates indicate that the OFS operators cumulatively paid GST to the tune of ~Rs 166 Crore in FY19 and the same increased to Rs 445 Crore by FY20.
TDS of 31.2 percent is applicable on winnings above ~ Rs 10,000. In FY19 alone TDS on winnings was to the tune of Rs 93 Crore, increasing to Rs 250 Crore by FY20.
Salaries earned by the employees of the OFS platforms are subject to income tax. In FY19, the cumulative income tax outlay due to the direct employment wages was to the tune of Rs 43 Crore, doubling to Rs 81 crore by FY20.
The online fantasy sports market had a contest entry amount(CEA) of over Rs 6,000 crore in FY19 and more than doubled to Rs ~16,500 crore in FY20, at a growth rate of 167 per cent over FY19-FY20. The growth in FY20 is despite COVID-19’s impact on loss of CEA and revenues for the last 15 days of March.
User preferences complemented by the expansion of sports coverage by the online fantasy sports operators has been instrumental in changing the CEA split across sports. Though Cricket continue to dominate, its share has reduced from 95+ per cent in 2016 to ~85 per cent in 2019, though the actual value of CEA contribution of Cricket continues to rise.
32 percent of all respondents who have played fantasy Sports in the last one year, were engaged with more than one sport on the platform. The same is encouraging for the industry and indicates a widening interest of users as far as type of sports is concerned

What has been driving the growth of online fantasy sports ?

Here are the factors that are driving the growth of online fantasy sports platform:

Digital Infrastructure – Internet and Smartphone Penetration:
Smartphones have become the primary medium for users to participate in fantasy sports in India. The growth of smartphones in India and mobile broadband internet in tandem, expedited by the launch of Jio’s affordable data plans in 2016 coupled with the launch of smart feature phones by Jio and other players10, have emerged as major enablers for the growth of online fantasy sports in India. Smartphone penetration in India has been growing at ~13 per cent CAGR from 2017 and its user base is expected to reach ~850 million by 2020. While the rural internet penetration has reached 27.5 per cent by Sep-19, the same still has significant scope for growth. The number of broadband internet subscribers in India grew from~482 million in September 2018 to ~625 million in September 2019, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~8-10 percent to reach 840 million by 2022.

Increase in digital transactions via Payment wallets and UPI

The increasing user adoption of digital payments and introduction of user-friendly payment modes such as payment wallets and UPI have also contributed to the growth of paid users of OFS in India. The transaction volume on UPI and digital wallets has grown at a CAGR of 469 per cent over FY17-FY19, helping OFS users transact seamlessly on the platforms.

Advent of T20 format

Growing popularity of Sports leagues Historically India has been a Cricket-centric country, and both the core formats (Tests and ODIs) have received strong viewership. The advent of the T20 format, and introduction of Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 revamped the sports league landscape in India. IPL follows an innovative city-based franchisee format, which not only pulls people to stadiums to watch their favourite players battle it out, but also unites residents of a city to come together and support their city franchisee and in turn drive viewership across channels. As per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, IPL clocked ~462 Million viewers in 2019 on Television and around 300 Million viewers on Hotstar.

Surge in growth of sponsorship, participation

With sponsor support, participation of international sportsmen, celebrity endorsements and demand of viewers, these new leagues have gained increasing traction, and fantasy sports operators have expanded their offerings to include these leagues in order to ensure continued user engagement on their platforms. In addition to that formalisation of different sports in League format and marketing initiatives by the promoters and broadcasters has increased the popularity of erstwhile recreational and non-mainstream sports among a national audience. While sports like Hockey and Football have been the next most popular after Cricket, the tournaments were mostly regional with select representation of Hockey in Olympics and World Cup. Other sports like Volleyball, Basketball and Kabaddi though omnipresent in the country had never garnered notable traction at a national level. Incorporation of these team-based sports in a league format has increased the mass appeal of these sports.

Investments in data engineering and data sciences infrastructure

Fantasy Sports operators are leveraging technology to provide a seamless product experience to users through continuous investments in technological innovation and upgradation of the platform, and partnering with technology solution providers, analytics platforms and more. For instance, Dream11 is hosted 100 per cent in the Amazon cloud, giving the operator an infinitely scalable platform to build on.Its backend is built on micro-services architecture backed by distributed computing and in-memory databases to develop infinitely scalable systems. Being highly data-driven, the online fantasy sports operators are investing heavily in data engineering and data sciences infrastructure to run machine learning algorithms at scale to support their product offerings. To enable these tech- advancements at a targeted speed, players like Dream11 and MyTeam11 are moving towards a continuous deployment model,

a completely automated testing framework and technological advancements in partnership with the likes of AWS. These technological investments improve the user engagement on the platform.

Content platform partnerships

The fantasy sports platforms are partnering with content platforms to offer insights and research avenues to users. They are increasingly launching solutions like group chats, clone team features, player statistics, and more to develop meaningful ways for users to engage. For instance, Cricwars is differentiating its offering by introducing an ‘Auction’ format which enables user to build a team by participating in a live auction sale held on the application before the start of every series. This interactive participation increases the user engagement even before the game starts. Users then earn points basis their team’s performance in the entire series, and winner of the fantasy sports contest is decided accordingly

Fantasy sports is legal in India

Reaffirmation of the legality of the fantasy sports format in IndiaJudicial precedents in India have found a certain format of fantasy sports offered on online fantasy sports platforms has a preponderance of skill over chance and therefore ruled that this format qualifies as ‘games of skill’. The courts have further clarified that the format offered by OFS platforms in India do not fall under the ambit of the Indian Public Gambling Act of 1867. Further, courts have specifically accorded the protection to the right to free trade and commerce guaranteed under Article 19(1) (g) of the constitution of India. The recognition of Dream11 format of online fantasy sports contests as ‘games of skill’ by multiple High Courts outlines the judicial position on fantasy sports and the dismissal of special leave petitions concerned with the issue by the Supreme Court on multiple occasions lends additional strength to the legal position that online fantasy sports contests are games of skill.

Talking about the growth of the fantasy sports industry in India in his speech at GamePlan 2020, NITI Aayog, CEO, Amitabh Kant, said, “I have very keenly followed the growth of Indian fantasy sports industry as a supporter of technology and good governance. I am a long term believer that India must become a global champion of the fantasy sports industry. Sports across all facets, including fantasy sports, could well be a game-changer for employment and career opportunities. Given our Government’s initiatives like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Startup India’, I believe that we can harness the power of fantasy sports and create a robust sports ecosystem to boost its growth in the next few years. Post pandemic I am confident that the industry will not just rebound but will lead the way for sustainable technology-enabled growth secured by good governance.”

Commenting on the report findings, FIFS, chairman John Loffhagen, said, “The COVID-19 impacted the Indian online fantasy sports industry in FY21 with sports matches across the globe cancelled to ensure player and staff safety. Specific to India, with IPL getting postponed, ~30-40 per cent of the revenues for most of the online fantasy sports operators were impacted for the quarter. As real-life sports is making a promising return, Indian sports fans are in for a non-stop sporting action for 8-9 months. As most of these matches will be held without an in-stadia audience, we are sure that fantasy sports being a highly immersive fan engagement platform will experience a strong surge in demand by the Indian sports fans.”

Earlier the Gameplan 2020 was scheduled for 5March 2020 by but due to the Covid -19 pandemic the event was postponed. Today, adapting the new normal of digital age, Gameplan 2020 finally went live on an eye-grabbing virtual event envionment.

‘Good for Sports, Good for India’ – GamePlan 2020, India’s annual fantasy sports conference goes virtual

The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), India’s self-regulatory industry body for fantasy sports (FS), is back with the third edition of its Annual Conference – GamePlan 2020. Themed as ‘Good for Sports, Good for India’, this year the conference will be held virtually on 9July, 2020. GamePlan 2020 provides a common platform to discuss and deliberate on the impact of fantasy sports on the sports ecosystem and the Indian economy.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, will be gracing this event as the chief guest. The other dignitaries include AWS worldwide technical leader games Nari Gopala , Dream Sports, and Dream11 co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain, MyTeam11 co founder and COO Sanjit Sihag , Delhi Capitals CEO Dhiraj Malhotra, Rotowire co-founder and president Peter Schoenke, and LaLiga India MD José Antonio Cachaza Pereiro . The conference will also see participation from stakeholders across the fantasy sports fraternity and sports leagues.

The third edition of GamePlan will witness two highly engaging panel discussions – “Fantasy Sports Fuels Sports Growth” and “Rapid Growth of the Fantasy Sports Ecosystem”. FIFS, in collaboration with KPMG, will launch a report on ‘Business of Fantasy Sports’ that will elaborate on FS industry’s growth, impact and future. Further, FIFS will host India’s first Fantasy Sports Awards that will recognise the outstanding work done in the fantasy sports industry.

Talking about GamePlan 2020, FIFS chairman John Loffhagen said, “We are delighted to announce the third edition of our Annual Fantasy Sports Conference, GamePlan 2020, in a virtual avatar. The Conference will focus on the current landscape of fantasy sports in India, its impact on sports and Indian economy, and the future outlook. We are also excited to launch India’s first Fantasy Sports Awards and celebrate the industry’s best. While the last few months have been tough, luckily we are one of the few industries with the potential to quickly bounce back. Sports is resuming gradually, and we look forward to delivering an engaging experience to sports fans after the break from major leagues.”

GamePlan 2020 has garnered attention and support from some of the best brands in the industry. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the ‘Title Sponsor’. FSS and Dream11 have joined as the Gold Sponsors; MyTeam11 is the Silver Sponsor and SBI General, TransUnion are the Bronze Sponsors.

The last two editions of GamePlan were held in Mumbai and witnessed attendance by 450+ delegates. Attendees for the event included leaders from organisations like technology platforms, game developers, fantasy sports operators, financial institutions, payment gateways, consulting firms, media agencies, sports leagues, and legal advisory firms.

Breaking: FIFS Gameplan 2020 postponed due to spike in coronavirus affected people

Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), India’s first and only self-regulatory industry body for Fantasy Sports has revealed that the Game Plan 2020 has been postponed due to coronavirus outbreak a day before the event.

“GamePlan 2020 which was scheduled on 5 March 2020 at Le Meridien, Delhi. Due to the recent developments with regards to Coronavirus, Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) have decided to postpone the conference. We shall get back to you within a week with rescheduled dates for GamePlan 2020,” says the official mail.

This year’s event is themed as ‘Good for Sports, Good for India’, and is scheduled to take place at Le Meridien, New Delhi on 5 March 2020. However, the event has been postponed owing to the immediate spike in the number of coronavirus cases from five to 28.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan announced that out of 21 Italian nationals, 16 of them have been found positive for coronavirus. They have been sent to Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s (ITBP) quarantine facility in Chhawla.

Besides, six family members of the Delhi man who was infected with coronavirus have also tested positive for the virus. “On conducting contact tracing of the person tested positive in Delhi, we came to know that he infected six members of his family who are in Agra. All six members tested positive for coronavirus,” Vardhan said.

Out of the 28 positive coronavirus cases in India, 16 are Italians. A 69-year-old Italian tourist was found infected in Jaipur yesterday and now his wife and 14 other tourists and an Indian driver who travelled with them have also been found positive. Their samples were sent to National Institute of Immunology (NIV), Pune.

Analysing the spike rate in coronavirus affected people, FIFS has decided to take the step to temporarily postponed the event as the official mail further expressed that “…we will update you on the revised date very soon.”

With over 250 attendees, GamePlan 2020 was supposed to witness the presence of several industry stalwarts, who aimed to deliberate on the impact of Fantasy Sports on real-life sports and the Indian economy.

GamePlan 2020 theme: ‘Good for Sports, Good for India’

The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), India’s first and only self-regulatory industry body for Fantasy Sports (FS), is back with the third edition of its Annual Conference – GamePlan 2020. This year’s event is themed as ‘Good for Sports, Good for India’, and is scheduled to take place at Le Meridien, New Delhi on March 5, 2020.

GamePlan 2020 will witness two highly engaging panel discussions – a) “How FS is supporting the growing sports ecosystem in India” and b) “Growth Triggers – How FS growth is fuelling the growth of supporting businesses and vice versa”. Further, FIFS will launch a report in collaboration with KPMG on ‘Business of Fantasy Sports’. The report will showcase the FS industry’s growth, business and economic impact in India. This will also be the first time FIFS will host and organize India’s first and only Fantasy Sports Awards that will recognise the outstanding work done in the industry.

With over 250 attendees, GamePlan 2020 will witness the presence of several industry stalwarts, who will deliberate on the impact of Fantasy Sports on real-life sports and the Indian economy.NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant, will be gracing this event as the chief guest. India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma, will be the guest of honour. The other dignitaries include AWS worldwide technical leader – games Nari Gopala, AWS digital native director and head Navdeep Manaktala , Dream11 co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain, MyTeam11 co-founder and COO Sanjit Sihag, FIFS advisor and former executive director with commonwealth games Amrit Mathur, Delhi and ex-chief operating officer, Delhi Daredevils and FIFS advisor and former director-general of police of Maharashtra AN Roy . The conference will also see participation from stakeholders across the fantasy sports fraternity and sports leagues.

FIFS chairman John Loffhagen said, “We are thrilled to announce the third edition of our Annual Fantasy Sports Conference – GamePlan 2020. Being held in New Delhi for the first time, the discussions at the Conference will focus on sports fan engagement and the current landscape of fantasy sports in India. We look forward to launching India’s first Fantasy Sports Awards and celebrate the phenomenal growth of FS and its impact on India’s Sports industry.”

GamePlan 2020 has garnered attention and support from some of the best brands in the industry. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the ‘Title Sponsor’. PayU Payments, Dream11 and FanCode have joined as the Gold Sponsors, and MyTeam11, SBI General, TransUnion are the Bronze Sponsors.

The last two editions, held in Mumbai and attended by 450+ delegates, witnessed industry-related report launches and engaging panel discussions. Attendees for the event included leaders from organizations like technology platforms, game developers, Fantasy Sports operators, financial institutions, payment gateways, consulting firms, media agencies, sports leagues, and legal advisory firms.