Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11 has agreed a four-year partnership with Twenty20 cricket competition the Indian Premier League.
The deal struck with the Board of Control for Cricket in India will cover the IPL seasons spanning 2019 to 2022.
Dream11 will power the League’s official fantasy game, while also receiving several brand integrations and on-ground activations during IPL matches.
The BCCI pointed to the “exponential” growth of the fantasy sports industry in India. According to a 2018 IFSG-AC Nielsen report, India has approximately 800 million sports fans, of which 300 million consume cricket online.
According to a 2019 IFSG – KPMG report, fantasy cricket is the most widely-played online fantasy sports game with 71 per cent of respondents stating they take part in a league.
Commenting on the partnership, Harsh Jain, chief executive and co-founder of Dream11, said: “Dream11 is deeply integrating with the IPL, which is set to grow from its 1.4 billion TV impressions and 200 million online viewers in 2018, to achieve our goal of growing from 51 million users to 100 million users in 2019.”
The BCCI’s Committee of Administrators added: “The online viewership of IPL is growing each year and it’s essential for us to engage with the fans on digital platforms as well. Partnering with the biggest fantasy sports platform in India, Dream11 will help us in further increasing the popularity of the IPL amongst cricket fans.”