Storyboard18 | Real-money games go on marketing blitz with celebs to grow base, gain credibility

(Representational image) Games that people pay to play comprise less than a fifth of the market. Industry insiders say there is a lot of room to grow.

Real-money games are spending more on marketing than ever before. Alongside creating multimedia campaigns, a huge chunk of marketing spends are going towards getting celebrity endorsers on board.

From Shah Rukh Khan to Hrithik Roshan and Virat Kohli, stars from the entertainment and sports world are endorsing real money games’ platforms, helping the brands grab eyeballs and instant credibility.

“The real push for these spends is coming from the exponential growth opportunity in the segment. Out of the approximate 450 million online gamers in India only about 12-15 percent are real-money gamers - gamers who pay to play. This creates a huge room for growth and brands in the segment are making the most of it,” says Ramsai Panchapakesan, senior vice president and national head - Integrated Media Buying, Zenith.

Panchapakesan adds that India's gaming sector has grown from 25-30 homegrown gaming studios to about 500 of them - most of these new studios have come up in the last 12 to 18 months.

Growth in gaming

Clearly, there is growing demand for the sector even in the post-lockdown phases of the pandemic and brands want to take it a notch higher by engaging celebrities to get noticed in the clutter.

According to Panchapakesan, getting celebrities on board is the safest bet for quick reach and top-of-mind awareness. He says India is at the propelling stage of all things gaming and when it comes to the ad spends from the real-money games, it is expected to triple in the next two to three years.

Talking of growing ad spends, Bhavin Pandya, co-founder and CEO of Games24x7, that runs platforms like My11Circle and RummyCircle, says, “With various associations and high-volume campaigns, our marketing spends have doubled over the last five years.”

The brand that has recently partnered with Hrithik Roshan invested in technology, data science, AI and ML to provide hyper personalized, bespoke experiences to players which are made even more pertinent by their association with influencers and brand ambassadors.

Doubling marketing spends

Like Games24x7, A23 now endorsed by SRK is also making heavy marketing spends this season. “We are literally doubling our marketing spends in 2022,” says Deepak Gullapalli, founder and CEO, Head Digital Works.

Getting SRK on board has helped the brand in improving brand reputation, grabbing more eyeballs and clicks, says Gullapalli.

Its brand presence in Google organic search has also doubled in 2022 after bringing SRK on board.

The endorsement fee of a celebrity endorser is only meagre when compared to the return on investment (RoI) in the category at the moment, according to industry executives.

As per market and consumer data experts Statista, in FY 2021, the value of the real-money gaming segment of India's online gaming market stood at Rs 49 billion. Estimated forecasts say that the value would increase by Rs 11 billion over the next four years.

Becoming household names

Contrary to popular belief, ad spends in the sector are not restricted to digital only. A combination of television, print, radio and digital is the way for most players in the segment.

Mobile Premier League (MPL), for instance, drive branding activities across mediums - digital and conventional channels - synchronously. The brand also takes up sponsorships and partnerships to create visibility, associating with popular properties like Bigg Boss and the Indian Premier League (IPL). These have helped MPL become a household name.

Alongside creating brand recall, some brands like MPL also consider category awareness a crucial part of their marketing initiatives.

Conflating gaming and gambling

Dibyojyoti Mainak, senior vice-president, policy and legal, MPL, says one of the biggest challenges this industry faces are people conflating online skill gaming with gambling.

Online gaming apps in India offer games that are classified as games of skill such as chess, carrom, archery, fantasy cricket and more. Referring to such skill gaming apps as gambling does a huge disservice to the burgeoning gaming industry and undermines its potential, says Mainak.

“To dispel this incorrect notion and to promote an industry that is truly competitive and constantly innovating to serve the Indian gaming community, it is critical to have clear regulations. This will not only bring much-needed clarity and stability, but also bring in more investments that will spur growth,” he tells Storyboard18.

While fully complying with the guidelines set by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is a priority for players in the segment, Mainak points out how it is important for the brand to also focus on educating users on ways to play safely and responsibly.