Flight of fantasy

Fantasy Sports enables even a couch athlete to trade, cut and sign players, like a real sports owner. He can compete against other fantasy owners based on statistics generated by real individual players or teams of a professional sport. The phenomenon is fast gaining popularity in India and is currently a million dollar business here. But has Fantasy Sports really arrived? Has it gained a cult status like in the US or Europe or is it still a niche brand?

Fantasy games in India are still a long way to go, given the relatively low levels of internet penetration in the country. The real big fantasy sites like Second Life have very poor penetration in India compared with relatively less bandwidth hungry sites like Orkut or Facebook. I am not sure how big the Fantasy League site is, and would not want to hazard a guess on its size, but I think we are talking of two different genres here. The real fantasy game is a multi-player community game like what is offered in Second Life. That has very poor penetration in India. But the Tambola – Housie type fantasy league is a different game and if one marries offline media with mobile and online, there could be a market for that offering. Having worked across several categories, we have realised that in India, we need the offline boost to get online to deliver.
—Ambi MG Parameswaran, Executive director & CEO- Mumbai, DraftFCB + Ulka


Fantasy Sports will thrive in an environment where people are knowledgeable about the game and the players. For example if one were to look at the Champions League, most of the followers had no clue about many of the players who were representing International teams like Sussex. I remember one of these contests for a major event — probably cricket World Cup — and commentators like Harsha Bhogle, Alan Wilkins and Geoffrey Boycott were picking up their own favourites and this created a lot of excitement, but I stopped playing the game as the rules were too complex. I did not see a quick reward system in place for my efforts. I think it has a future, but a future restricted to tournaments played in India where everyone knows the key player involved. Perhaps IPL 2nd edition or the World Cup in 2011 in India will be the areas of opportunity. It is a concept that will succeed, in my opinion, only for major events but a concept worth exploring as a long-term proposition. Right now, we find major sports channels promoting this concept and as in IPL 1, some brands like McDowell’s are promoting it as well. For Fantasy Sports to have a mass following, it needs to rope in wide sections of media.
—Sridhar Ramanujam, CEO, Brand Comm


Globally, Fantasy Sports is tipped to have an economic impact of over $5 billion. Almost every major sports league today has an “official” fantasy league, and a multitude of other options available. The advent of Internet provided Fantasy Sports providers unlimited reach, and unlimited possibilities in packaging the game for the user. To the user, the internet provided the tools to carry out all the research he wanted to in order to get his bets right. In India, Fantasy Sports is still in its nascent stages with not more than two or three key players competing in this arena. But with over 36 million active internet users already in the country and the number growing rapidly, 80% of whom are potential fantasy gamers, the expectations from this genre of gaming are huge.

ESPN in the year 2001 kicked off this genre of gaming with Super Selector. With India winning the T20 World Cup and subsequent launch of IPL in 2008, cricket fever was at an all-time high. This prompted some new players to join the field, mostly focussed on cricket. Among the prominent players, only Indian Fantasy League has expanded its offering to cover sports like football, tennis, golf, Olympics and non-sport genres like stocks and elections. Over the last couple of years, we have seen major interests shown by the advertisers who are looking at innovative platforms to engage with their TG (target group).

The new-age brand manager has realised that true strength of online media can be utilised only when you interact with your core consumer group. Besides, online gaming is the third-largest consumed category after e-mail and search, with about 41% of all internet users playing online games. Fantasy Sports offers a medium to the advertiser that is highly entertaining and engaging for the user where average times spent can be as high as 8-10 minutes per user visit to the game.

The next frontier for Fantasy Sports providers in India is the mobile phone. The country already has a base of over 440 million subscribers, and adds approximately 10 million every month. Even in terms of GPRS users, 30-35 million are already in the league of internet usage. Moreover, the advent of 3G will offer much faster data transfers, enabling providers to enhance the offering dramatically. But even if one was to discount 3G since the uptake of the service will take time, if providers can figure out ways of offering Fantasy Sports over SMS or voice, the potential customer base is mammoth.
—Tarun Chaudhry, Sports marketing director, Dentsu Sport

Fantasy Sports is a new genre of entertainment in India. Users need to log in, choose players and win points as per performance of their listed players. They provide an opportunity for sports fans to get closer to the game. For some, it is a good way to unwind and relax and for others it is a chance to own star players and icons they otherwise never can in real life. Owning a Sachin Tendulkar and replacing him with another player at the touch of a button can be vicariously satisfying for a fan who could never hold a cricket bat but is in love with the game. The Indian gaming market is still very small compared with the US, Japan, Korea and China. It is on a growth path.  Advertisers in India do see potential in the gaming space. Aircel launched the online fantasy cricket game called Indian Fantasy League while Virgin mobile launched its new fantasy game titled Indian Hatke Lague.

What will drive the growth of Fantasy Sports? Will it reach its full potential? Internet penetration is growing fast and so are the mobile users. This factor, combined with the growing popularity of smart phones and social networking sites will drive the growth of Fantasy Sports. That’s when gaming will also emerge as a strong source of entertainment. Fantasy Sports will become a huge media opportunity once it comes to mobile phones.
As of now, the genre has created a niche for sports lovers to stay engaged with their favourite sport. As consumers upgrade into handsets with increased capability, the genre will become more attractive for more brands leading to larger revenues and strategic media properties.
—Ramesh K, Vice president/Communication Partner Media, R K Swamy Media Group

The Fantasy Sports market in India is still growing compared with the size of the markets in countries like the US and Canada. However, the potential that Fantasy Sports has in India is phenomenal, considering the improving internet connectivity in the country and the young age of a large percentage of the population.

Fantasy cricket is a great way for a hardcore cricket fan to demonstrate his understanding of the game. It gives him a chance to apply whatever knowledge he has regarding the game and earn a reward for it in return.

India’s cricketing calendar for the current season is hectic. Sri Lanka will visit for Tests, T20 matches and ODIs after the current series with Australia ends. That will be followed by an ODI series against South Africa, which will be followed by IPL3, which will be followed by the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Then the next season will see a lot more matches as India will prepare for the 2011 World Cup at home. So, the immediate future presents plenty of time and opportunity for fans to discover and hone their fantasy cricket skills.

Already, over 60 million people worldwide spend around 34 minutes per day, nearly 5-and- half hours each week thinking about their fantasy team. Cricket itself is in the process of winning new fans from around the world with the extent of T20. This has also thrown up opportunities in front of fantasy cricket to grow.
—Yashraj Vakil, COO, Dream11.com

Fantasy Sports allows sports followers and fans to live their dreams. The Fantasy Sports industry is definitely a business of the future in India. In developed markets like the US and Europe, the penetration and access of digital medium is higher. This gives a lot many people with a personal device the opportunity to participate. In India, the digital population is still growing. It will be only over time and with right kind of marketing that the genre will grow in India. Mobiles manufacturers today provide phones that support local languages and it’s only fair to assume that the comfort of local language application will get many more users to try out the Fantasy Sport arena.

While there is no syndicated research in India, it’s still safe to assume that most of the followers of the game are also the participants of Fantasy Sports as their involvement is far higher than the lay TV viewer or the audience in a stadium.

With “Super Selector” from ESPN and “Indian Fantasy League” having enough followers over the last few years, there is surely a growing involvement among followers, but the numbers still need to grow a lot more for Fantasy Sports to become a strong platform in the future.

Fantasy Sports is also a good platform for brand sponsorships. Evolved users will be happy to consume information that has relevance to them. However, it’s very easy to fall in trap of “advertising” on Fantasy Sports. The reason to be present in it has to be more than mere exposure and information sharing — it needs to connect with the audience. However, as the numbers for the genre grow over time, it will be an attractive proposition for the brands associated with various sports to be completing a communication loop with the audience. Fantasy Sports is slowly building itself into a qualitative platform of the future.
— Mahesh Ranka, General manager, Relay Worldwide:India