The coronavirus has brought about a sea change the world over, in all aspects of life. For a few months the entire world came to a standstill with the enforcement of lockdown everywhere. Gradually, things are beginning to normalise but certain things have come to stay and will continue, like the rise of players in the digital space. There has virtually been no entertainment, with cinemas and malls being closed. Sport has also suffered, leaving millions of fans starved. The IPL seemed to be a doubtful starter, but with the herculean efforts of the BCCI, it is no longer a dream but a reality.
On 19 August 2020, BCCI announced Dream11 as the new title sponsor of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League. Gaming unicorn Dream11, a market leader in the fantasy gaming space, swooped in on the title sponsorship for Rs222 crore – half of what Vivo paid in 2019. In 2019, Dream11 became a unicorn – a start-up valued at a billion dollars or more – when it raised $60 million in a funding round led by hedge fund Steadview Capital.
With over 90 million users, the fantasy league attracts over 33 per cent of the fan engagement of the game. It has managed 60 million requests per minute after it experienced a surge of 44.4 per cent traffic volume in the IPL 2020 opener against the final match of IPL 2019. It witnessed above 8,000 contest joins per second. There were more than 18 million contest joins in a single match, above 20,000 team updates per second and about 7.9 million entries in a single contest. In addition to the sponsorship deal, Dream11 will shell out at least Rs50 crore of advertising inventory.
Interestingly, four of the six sponsors of the IPL are on the online platform. Edtech unicorn Unacademy and credit card payments company CRED signed up as official partners, shelling out Rs130 crore each for a three-year association. Paytm is the fourth major sponsor from the digital world while the other two in the central sponsorship pool include Tata Motors Altroz and CEAT Tyres. Post-Covid, players in the online platform have capitalised on the rise of the digital economy and have used this as an opportunity to make hay while the sun shines.
