Fantasy gaming: Fast-growing industry opening new opportunities for sports fans

Fantasy gaming is the new buzzword in India’s fast-evolving sports industry and its growth has been nothing short of meteoric.

From being just a pastime for a few hobbyists just a decade ago to a multi-billion-dollar industry today, fantasy gaming has truly tapped the potential of the sports-obsessed Indian fans, reaching every nook and corner of the country.

The fantasy sports industry currently boasts a market size of INR 35,000 crore and a user base of over 13 crores, according to a report by Deloitte and the Federation of Fantasy Sports in India (FIFS). The market size is expected to grow to a whopping 1,65,000 crore in 2025.

As astonishing as these numbers might sound, the beginnings of fantasy gaming in India were quite humble.

Super Selector – the super initiator

If you are an old school cricket fan like me, you would remember the Super Selector game run by the erstwhile ESPN Star Sports channel back in 2001. It was the first introduction of fantasy gaming in India.

The rules of Super Selector were simple and very similar to today’s model. Fans could pick their own playing eleven from a list of available cricketers within a fixed budget.

Points were awarded based on actual performances by the players on the field, giving fans a chance to be on a leaderboard and earn bragging rights and even mega prizes like being flown to South Africa to be in the commentary box alongside Sunil Gavaskar, Geoffrey Boycott and Harsha Bhogle.

The best news though was the sheer number of entries that flooded in. A whopping 1,18,000 fans registered to play the online sensation in just nine days and that ushered in a new era in the Indian sports fan universe.

This was pretty phenomenal given that India was still in the dial-up internet and internet café era.

Fast forward to today and Dream11, which is the largest fantasy sports platform in the country, handled more than 70,00,000 concurrent users during the 2022 Indian Premier League.

Becoming a unicorn

Dream11 became the first gaming unicorn from India in 2019 and two years later, Mobile Premier League (MPL) joined the Mumbai-based startup in the elite billion-dollar valuation list. It is not just Dream11 and MPL that have witnessed this sort of staggering numbers. Even the smaller platforms have been able to enjoy a big share of the pie, raking in millions of users every season.

The growth of these platforms can be attributed to a number of factors, including mushrooming smartphone penetration, increased internet connectivity and the tech-friendly young population.

Statistically, 50 per cent of transactions on fantasy gaming platforms are now initiated from tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

All these factors have combined to give rise to an industry that attracts eyeballs from not just consumers and investors but also from other industries that want to tap into the burgeoning market of fantasy sports.

For instance, news channels these days run special programs that cater to the fantasy gaming audience, giving them tips on building the best fantasy team.

Digital publications also churn out fantasy prediction articles day in and day out and most of the time, these are some of the best performing pieces on any website, hence proving the massive interest of the audience in fantasy gaming.

Apart from fantasy gaming platforms, aggregators like Fantasy Gully, which use artificial intelligence to provide users with the best possible playing 11, have been able to carve a niche for themselves, proving there are enough possibilities for allied businesses as well.
Smaller leagues, bigger interest

Although the Cricket World Cup was the driving factor for fantasy gaming in the early days and still remains the biggest contributor, other sports and smaller tournaments have also found many takers.

Sports like football, kabaddi, hockey, basketball, baseball and even NFL attract significant traffic on fantasy gaming platforms. Moreover, smaller tournaments like the European Cricket Series and Vincy Premier League, which happen on the other side of the globe, have also become popular avenues for enthusiasts.

This goes on to show that users are open to newer opportunities in the field and are ready to learn more about the sport in return of instant gratification. This incentive (cash or kind) can also turn a casual fan into a fanatic.

And in the bigger picture, these fantasy gamers have become a unique community of fans that engages with their favourite sport in newer ways and, in turn, build the value of the entire sporting ecosystem.

In conclusion, fantasy gaming has fulfilled a sports fan’s dream of “managing” a team or using their personal knowledge, strategy and passion to predict match outcomes while giving them an incentive for correct projections.

And as long as sports keep thriving in India, fantasy gaming will also keep on reaching newer heights.

Adrian Sequeira is currently serving as Director – Interactive Solutions at Sportz Interactive, a B2B sports data, content and technology company. He has over 14 years of experience delivering world-class fan engagement solutions across gaming, web, apps, and social media innovations for marquee sports events. 

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