From becoming a title sponsor of an esports team to launching gaming bundles, telecom and mobile brands are doubling down their marketing spends amid the post-COVID gaming boom.
Over the last 3–4 years, there has been a massive shift in how smartphone and telecom brands perceive the gaming ecosystem, said Animesh Agarwal aka 8Bit Thug, Co-founder and CEO of S8UL, an esports and gaming content company.
"What started with just a handful of early adopters has now grown into a steady stream of inbound interest. Every year, the number of mobile brands and telcos investing in gaming is going up by around 20-22," he said.
Game on
Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and Managing Director, Nodwin Gaming, pointed out that more than five leading mobile brands are actively investing in esports, as of 2025, marking a clear increase from just a few years ago.
"In addition, all three major telecom operators (Airtel, Vi, Jio) have made investments in esports at various points, further signalling the growing relevance of this space."
iQOO, OnePlus, Infinix, Poco, and realme are some of the most aggressive players right now on the smartphone side, noted Rohit Agarwal, Founder & Director, Alpha Zegus. "On the telco front, Jio and Airtel are leading, with initiatives like JioGames and Airtel Xstream gaming bundles."
Brand participation in esports rose roughly by 10 percent between 2024 and 2025 alone, and an overall involvement has more than doubled since 2020 as gaming advertising spend doubled post-pandemic, noted Mikhail Bhuta, Co-Founder & Tech Lead, Dirtcube Interactive LLP, a mobile game development firm.
He added that top smartphone names like iQOO, Realme, OnePlus, Infinix, and Samsung are sponsoring major mobile esports tournaments, especially titles like BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India), Free Fire Max, and COD (Call of Duty) Mobile, while telcos such as Jio and Airtel have backed events like the Airtel India Esports Tour and offer gaming-centric data plans, focusing their investments on high-engagement mobile battle-royale and competitive games.
Most of these brands are doubling down on mobile-first competitive titles like BGMI, Free Fire, CODM, and increasingly, Valorant Mobile, which is yet to be launched, added Alpha Zegus' Agarwal.
Bigger deals
The ticket size of ad deals has at least doubled in the last 2–3 years, pointed out S8UL's Agarwal.
"Some creator or campaign-led collaborations start from Rs 50–60 lakh, but we have also seen several debut campaigns go upwards of Rs 2–3 crore, especially when it involves long-term esports team deals or tournament IPs (intellectual properties)," he added.
A college esports tour can cost Rs 20–50 lakh, while a national gaming IP or pro-level esports league might see investments ranging from Rs 2–5 crore per brand per season, highlighted Rohit Agarwal.
"In 2021, this number (investments for national games and pro-level esports leagues) used to be around Rs 50 lakh to 1 crore for major activations. That’s nearly a 4 times jump in large-format sponsorships in under 3 years," he said.
Sponsorship budgets have surged from sub-crore levels a few years ago to multi-crore commitments today, according to Bhuta, who added that since around 2020, average sponsorship amounts have at least doubled, with marquee deals like iQOO’s naming rights for top esports teams marking some of the largest multi-crore investments in Indian gaming history.
The naming rights sponsorship deal secured by esports and gaming talent management agency 8Bit Creatives with IQOO last year is described asthe biggest ever in Indian gaming history.
With more formats, games, and audiences coming in, Animesh expects the category to continue growing at 15–20 percent year-on-year (YoY). "Mobile brands currently make up the largest chunk of sponsorship revenue in gaming, contributing around 35–40 percent to the total pie."
"Every year, the number of brands entering gaming rises by roughly 15–20 percent. Among those, mobile and endemic gaming brands allocate about 20–30 percent of their total marketing budgets to gaming properties, making them the leading investors in India’s gaming sponsorship scene. FY26 is shaping up to be a growth year for gaming partnerships, not just in terms of volume, but also in terms of the quality and scale of brand involvement. Many new brands including those launching their first product in India are looking at gaming as their primary entry channel," he added.
Rohit expects the mobile category alone to contribute around Rs 400–500 crore annually to gaming sponsorships by 2026, including hybrid events, brand IPs, and cloud gaming partnerships.
Most valuable players
However, Rathee said that telecom companies like Vi, Airtel, and Jio, while involved in platform development and occasional partnerships, do not contribute heavily to sponsorship revenue. "Their role is more strategic and infrastructure-led rather than sponsorship-driven, so they don't currently rank among the top categories in terms of direct sponsorship investments."
Building on to the growing investments in gaming, Rohit pointed out that from a handful of early adopters like ASUS ROG and Jio in 2020–2021, he now has over 20 active players engaging with gaming IPs, esports teams, and digital gaming content creators.
"The acceleration really picked up, post-COVID, as the mobile gaming audience crossed 500 million users by late 2023, making it too big for consumer tech brands to ignore," he added.
Bhuta expects sponsorship revenue from this category to at least double in the next few years as brands seek to capitalise on the booming market with India’s gaming audience projected to reach around 650 million mobile gamers by 2025.
Animesh said that gamers are among the most valuable consumer cohorts today. "They are tech-forward, performance-conscious, and have influence within their peer groups and families. When a brand earns a gamer’s trust, it doesn't just gain one customer, it gains an advocate. For smartphone brands, gaming performance is a huge differentiator, especially in the mid and premium segments. For telcos, it’s about showcasing data reliability, speed, and low latency, all of which are critical for mobile gaming. Sponsoring gaming events or teams gives them authentic access to this audience and drives both recall and real impact."
Traditional marketing doesn’t work for this audience, Rathee added. "With over 40 percent of Gen Z using ad blockers, esports offers a non-intrusive, high-engagement path to their attention."
Big brand tieups
Rathee shared some examples.
"OnePlus has made a significant entry into Indian esports through a strategic partnership with us, co-hosting the OnePlus Dominate Arena tournament series. The brand strengthened its presence in 2025 by partnering with top-tier teams such as Gods Reign, K9, and Cincinnati Kids. Realme has undertaken high-visibility campaigns, sponsoring both BGIS (Battlegrounds Mobile India Series) and BMPS (Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series) 2025, and providing top-tier gaming devices to elevate the competition."
He also listed down Infinix which has made its formal entry into the Indian esports scene by partnering with an esports Team True Rippers.
iQOO has established a strong presence in the Indian esports ecosystem by sponsoring several top-tier Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) teams including iQOO Soul, iQOO Orangutan, iQOO RGE, iQOO 8Bit, Team Tamilas, and Team S8ul.
"Airtel was an early mover partnering with us in 2020 to launch the Airtel India Esports Tour. Reliance Jio, through Rise and its joint venture with BLAST, is planning large-scale esports productions in 2025. Vi, meanwhile, has tied up with Team Vitality and is running tournaments across titles like Free Fire Max and Call of Duty: Mobile. Metrics like latency, frame rate, and battery performance matter more than megapixels."
Category expansion
Other categories are also showing more interest in gaming. "Apart from mobile brands and telcos, consumer electronics, automotive brands, and streaming platforms are major categories actively investing. Companies like OMEN by HP, Qualcomm, Android, and Philips are making substantial contributions by sponsoring tournaments, providing high-performance gear, and supporting event production.
Gaming hardware/peripherals account for about 15–20 percent, food & beverage brands (snacks and energy drinks) around 10–15 percent, fintech/online services roughly 10 percent, with automakers and other lifestyle or education brands making up the remaining 5–10 percent, reflecting growing but still smaller investments compared to endemic tech and telecom sponsors, said Bhuta.
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