Fantasy sports platforms made gross gaming revenue of Rs 2,800 crore during IPL 2023—up from Rs 2,200 crore in last year’s season. The earnings came on the back of nearly 61 million users participating in activities on these platforms this season, according to a report by Redseer.
The recently-concluded IPL season saw a huge influx of first-time paying players entering the gaming platforms. As per the report, nearly 35% of users who made transactions in fantasy games this season were first-time players.
The IPL season saw an 11% increase in the number of cash users—i.e. active users who make transactions during the IPL season—from the previous year when these platforms recorded 55 million paying users.
“IPL season not only sees an influx of first-time users but also a number of reactivation of users who begin playing the platform during the two months of IPL,” Saurav Chanchan, Director at Redseer told YourStory. “This makes it a very important event not just for user acquisition but also to ensure reactivation of activity on your platform.”
“The top three platforms captured ~96% of the market share during the IPL 2023, and had an average revenue of Rs 458 per user for the season,” Ujjwal Chaudhary, Partner at Redseer, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, about Rs 10,000 crore was spent on advertisements during the latest IPL season in which BCCI, franchises, and broadcasters earned 65% of the total spend as direct revenue.
Role of fantasy sports
As per the Federation of India Fantasy Sports, fantasy sports platforms have a critical role to play in promoting non-cricket sports in India. Its survey revealed that 69.8% of users strongly agreed that they began to watch new sports and learn about new players and leagues as a result of playing fantasy sports.
The report also stated that the overall market is set to reach Rs 25,240 crore by FY27.
