IPL 14 retires hurt for now, but why are fantasy sports platforms not feeling any pain?

The first quarter of FY21 has turned out to be a depressed period for online fantasy sports players due to the postponement of major sporting events.

Unlike last year, the comeback of live sports this year has kept fantasy sports platforms upbeat despite the suspension of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a property which generates around 30-40 percent of revenues for fantasy sports platforms.

“Though a sudden halt to the IPL did lead to a dip in the number of users for us in May, we have to remember that the sport of cricket didn’t see a stoppage. And June brought in the resumption of international cricket with the New Zealand tour of England, the World Test Championship Final, the Pakistan Super League, Indian Women’s tour of England and many more across the globe. So as long as cricket is there, fans in India keep on engaging with the OFS platforms,” Vinit Godara, Co-Founder and CEO, MyTeam11, told Moneycontrol.

MyTeam11, which has over 18 million users, is seeing a steady engagement during the IPL break period.

“We have to be cognizant of the fact that IPL is always a seasonal affair. While it does draw in a sudden jump in user engagement, that is only for a couple of months. For the rest of the year, the platform is dependent on other international events to keep the users engaged,” said Godara.

This year, while the IPL was postponed, many international events saw the light of the day across all sports categories. And it is not just cricket that is keeping these platforms upbeat.

Beyond cricket

Fantasy sports platform PlayerzPot, which saw 2.1x growth in monthly active users (MAU), an 81 percent rise in the gameplay all during the IPL event, has been able to sustain this growth even during the IPL break period, thanks to cricket and football properties.

“We are seeing an uptick in the adoption of various lesser known tournaments and sports. We saw good engagement in Euro Cup and PSL (Pakistan Super League) which helped us in (user) retention,” said Sunil Yadav, CEO, PlayerzPot.

The platform currently has over 2 million monthly active users. While cricket occupies roughly 90 percent of the fantasy sports market, other sports adoption is growing considerably, said players in the fantasy sports space.

Even on TV, the Euro Cup saw huge traction from Indian viewers.

For the first 20 matches between June 12 and 18, UEFA Euro 2020 recorded 25 million viewers on TV, according to data shared by Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), a television audience measurement service. And Euro 2020's total viewing minutes was 173 percent higher, as compared to the 2016 league.

Blitzpools, which had rebranded itself ahead of IPL 14, which started on April 9, but was suspended on May 4 while was betting big on IPL, saw huge traction from football users after IPL 14 was suspended.

Founder Vickram Assomull noted that the platform saw a 300 percent jump in football users and this is why post IPL 14's suspension, football has been the focus for the platform.

While last year was tough, this year has been far better, thanks to live sports coming back, he said.

2021 faring better for fantasy sports

Adding to this, PlayerzPot’s Yadav said that the build-up to the remainder of IPL looks good, with India touring England and Sri Lanka, respectively.

"The India tour of Sri Lanka this month will come up as a booster for fantasy gaming players as their favourite IPL players will be in action in blue. Then India’s tour of England for a five-match test series starting from August till September will keep the fantasy players busy. Additionally, the English Premier League and other European football leagues like the La Liga, Serie A will commence from August onwards and are expected to lead to an increased user engagement,” said Roland Landers, CEO of All India Gaming Federation.

Apart from these, there are 100 ball cricket, T20 leagues like T20 blast, TNPL (Tamil Nadu Premier League), noted Yadav.

This is why Godara said, “I am confident that the engagement rates will only speed up further, as we approach the resumption of IPL.”