How Dream 11 Made Fantasy Cricket a Phenomenon in India?

Description: India’s sports consumer industry had always lagged when it came to reacting to tech innovations. Dream 11 changed that and became a phenomenon in a short time.

Dream 11

Dream 11’s sudden rise in the untapped sports tech segment has been nothing short of remarkable. Every field has been revolutionized since the internet and smartphones became accessible to a large majority. The Sports entertainment sector, however, has struggled to adapt. Due to the surreal nature of a sports event, somehow matching it is very difficult, making innovations in the area for consumers

This is why the arrival of Dream 11 is encouraging. After years of dormancy, Dream 11 has managed to tap into a sector that promises limitless potential due to its never-ending popularity. Nobody in India is going to be tired of cricket or sport, in general, any time soon. With the right direction and strategy, Dream 11 could go on to become one of the biggest startups in India.

Now is a great time to see how Dream 11 has managed to capture the imagination of Indian cricket fans. As other players in the market seek to replicate Dream 11’s success, it is important to consider what makes it a success. Where did Dream 11 touch a nerve where other companies failed?

The Right Time and the Right Idea

There are many times a great idea is not ready to find success. The aesthetic beauty of a Mac in 1984 made IBM computers look ugly and absurd. Yet, Apple failed to beat its competition at the time because people were still struggling to come to terms with computers. Great authors like Fitzgerald died in poverty as their novels didn’t gain traction at the time, but the ideas they espoused later gained worldwide recognition.

The idea of fantasy cricket has been discussed for a long time. Taking inspiration from other popular versions of fantasy sports in football across the US and UK, many sports entrepreneurs in India tried to bring a cricket-oriented fantasy to the Indian audience. Before smartphones became popular, games like Super Selector were popular in mainstream sports broadcasters, but they didn’t get the traction they deserved.

The idea for fantasy cricket was not wrong. It was just ahead of its time.

Dream 11 took the right idea and introduced it to the Indian audience at the right time. Having already been exposed to sports conversations and trends on social media networks, the Indian audience was much more receptive to the idea of fantasy cricket. Another aspect of helping their cause was the growth of the company in inner cities relatively untapped by other markets. Dream 11 began seeping into cities like Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bhopal, and others.

The industry is now populated by other players too. Cricnwin is Dream 11’s main rival in the market, along with other players like Funtasy 11 and Fan Fight.

Dream 11 – A Brief History

Despite being a relatively recent phenomenon, Dream 11 is actually not a new company. The company was founded in 2008 with the aim to replicate fantasy football. The first version of the product was an advertisement-based platform that included different aspects of the cricket experience such as cricket discussion threads, blogs, and a season-long fantasy cricket setup.

The model didn’t work for long as users with short-attention spans quickly lost interest in the season-long format which worked with football. Once initial funding for the project began to thin out, the founders decided to open a social media agency on the side to fund their fantasy sports vision. After recovering from the initial loss, the team at Dream 11 decided not to make previous mistakes.

In 2012, the company relaunched its platform, this time shedding the ad-based model and going with a freemium, single-match model. In this format, users were supposed to choose their team of eleven players from a pool of players about to play in a real-life game about to happen. Each player has a certain value, and the team is supposed to be chosen on a fixed budget. Furthermore, users were offered the chance to make money gains by betting on their own skills.

Its rise has been the definition of the word ‘exponential’. In 2014, Dream 11 had touched a base of 1M users, which it doubled in two years until finally reaching 45M users in 2018.

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Dream 11 – Marketing

A foremost quality of Dream 11 has been the way it has captured the entire sports tech industry. There is no rival one realistically thinks of in the space Dream 11 currently exists. This is partly down to their smart marketing campaigns that are influential and captivating in a deep way.

Some marketing points working in their favor our:

• Brand Messaging

Due to the involvement of money, many have tried to paint Dream 11 as a gambling platform. However, the company’s relentless persistence in calling its platform a skill-based game that tests the knowledge of sports fans has worked. The general perception of the company is more skill-oriented rather than being about money.

• Nostalgic Taglines

Sport is not just sport in India. People have a deep and passionate connection to the sport they follow. Any marketing campaign launched by Dream 11 focuses on invoking a nostalgic feeling about the sports people love. A good example is the #YehGameHaiMahan campaign that made people realize the role of cricket in their life, from childhood to adulthood.

• Right Personality To Promote Brand

It doesn’t take a genius to know that MS Dhoni will enhance the image of any brand he endorses. Nevertheless, Dream 11 made the decision to get the former Indian captain onboard. Dhoni and Dream 11 are a great combination, the former being the perfect personality to get Dream 11’s message to its target audience.

• Promoting Users at Every Turn

To inspire loyalty and trust with the brand, Dream 11 regularly shares pictures of users who earn large sums of money playing on the platform. This works in two ways. First, it turns the user being promoted into a mini ambassador of the brand itself. Second, it inspires people not playing Dream 11 to take note and try their hand at playing.

• Milking IPL

IPL is not merely a cricket tournament. To many cricket fans, it is a two-month cricket festival featuring the biggest names in the game. This atmosphere is perfect for a platform like Dream 11 to thrive. Dream 11 manages to get its name across to people watching IPL through targeted digital marketing campaigns and traditional TV advertising.

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Dream 11 – Funding

The founders of Dream 11, Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth were rejected many times in 2009 before someone invested in their idea. In over ten years since then, Dream 11 has managed to raise $110M in funding from big brands such as Tencent. Other investors include Steadview Capital, Kalaari Capital, Think Investments, and Multiples Equity.

Due to its user-driven monetization model, Dream 11 is not as dependent on investors for capital as other startups. While other Indian startups are also dogged by logistical issues such as Flipkart, Ola, and Swiggy, Dream 11 is uniquely placed to tap into a large market without a lot of hassle.

Dream 11 – Future Challenges

There aren’t many competitors in the field that can challenge Dream 11’s hegemony for now. Its partnership with the BCCI and ICC also puts it in a prime position to take home a large portion of people beginning to show an interest in fantasy sports.

Branching into other India-based sports such as hockey, football, kabaddi, and basketball has also been a masterstroke. The key to holding together a monopoly is being present in every niche, and offering the fantasy sports experience in areas besides cricket puts Dream 11 in a great position to dominate the sports tech world for the foreseeable future.

If everything is great, where are the challenges?

The challenge for Dream 11 is a challenge every tech company in India is facing. Tapping into the audience living in inner cities is something tech companies have been doing for a long time. Dream 11 faces a similar challenge. While it has done well to bring users from different parts of the country, it will have to shift gears eventually to reach local audiences and educate them on how Dream 11 and fantasy sport actually work.

Another big challenge in the field could be regulation from the government. Dream 11 currently operates in a unique niche the government currently does not understand. In the coming years, as it gains popularity, it won’t be surprising to see government regulations dogging Dream 11 down. Flipkart and Ola have been subject to scrutiny from the government as well.

Dream 11 has already had a taste of a legal battle. A case was filed against the company in 2017. While nothing came of the case, one can be sure that the company could face challenges from detractors.

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In Conclusion

This article covers Dream 11 and its growth over the span of the last decade. While Dream 11’s current position in sports tech is very strong, challenges in the future could pose a significant challenge.

About the Author –  Gaurav Heera is a popular digital marketing trainer and consultant with many years of experience in the field. He currently heads work at DelhiCourses.in, an institute he founded in 2008. DelhiCourses is well known for its popular digital marketing course in Delhi.