Dream11 Partners With Disney Star As Co-presenter For IPL 2024
Dream11 has been enlisted as the co-presenter for IPL 2024 on Disney Star. Although the precise deal amount remains undisclosed, Disney Star airing matches on its sports channels are reportedly pursuing Rs 71 crore for co-presenting sponsorship and Rs 35 crore for associate sponsorship for HD channels. Similarly, for SD channels, Disney Star is seeking Rs 167 crore and Rs 83 crore for co-presenting and associate sponsorships, respectively.
Dream11 has also extended sponsorship to eight Indian Premier League (IPL) teams and continues to grow by adding a whopping 55 million new users in 2023 despite a harsh tax regime introduced last October, says Harsh Jain, CEO & Co-Founder, Dream11.
“Over 55 million new users is roughly 25 per cent of our overall user numbers, which is 200 million. This exponential growth is largely driven by female fantasy sports users, a community which is growing 80% year-over-year thanks to the Women’s Premier League, which has emerged as an inspiration for women gamers,” said Jain, hailing the proliferation of cricket across the world through IPL and WPL, including the US which is going host the World Cup this year.
Earlier this year, My11Circle secured the official partnership of the IPL, surpassing the previous incumbent Dream11.
Dream11 maintains the lead sponsorship rights for the Team India jersey from 2023 to 2027.
Speaking about the government’s retrospective GST regime imposed on the gaming sector in 2023, Jain said, “Every disruptive industry when it grows large enough, the government has to come up with regulation. We welcome regulations that will clean up the space and make it clear in black and white what you can and what you cannot do. The taxes have gone up 3X, but it's good that we have clarity, which is important. Retrospective tax was tremendous though.”
Jain also stated that his company covered all tax burdens at the expense of its margins without imposing any additional burden on its users.
On a question about his marketing spends, he said, “Margins have taken substantial hits but marketing hasn't changed as much. We're just people with much more efficient unit economics to match the new unit economics.”
He observed that smaller players experiencing challenges in achieving profitability and growth were impacted by the new tax regulations.
Jain also insisted that Dream11 is not just a fantasy sports platform but their flagship product: "We are actually a sports content company with brands including Fancode (OTT), FC Shop (merchandise), Dream Game Studio and DreamSetGo (Travel)."
In October 2023, the Indian government revealed a retrospective 20 per cent GST on Real-Money Gaming (RMG), leading to a decline in user traffic on gaming platforms. The crisis intensified when the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) issued tax demand notices totalling Rs 45,000 crore to several gaming startups. This resulted in widespread layoffs and some startups closing down altogether. The tax regulations were considered a major setback for the country's growing gaming sector, which had been actively involved in advertising and sponsoring sports tournaments. However, EY's latest report on the media and entertainment sector unveiled on Tuesday in Mumbai, indicates that the industry not only recovered from the tax shock but rebounded within months.
EY's #Reinvent report reveals that transaction-based game revenues surged by 21 per cent in 2023, reaching Rs 18,200 crore, indicating a rise in engagement and expenditure on gaming platforms.
