“In terms of users, we’ve grown 40% this year,” says Saroj Panigrahi, senior vice president of My11Circle, a fantasy cricket gaming app.
Just a day after Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were eliminated from the T20 league after losing their playoff game to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The team’s debut performance in the tournament was praised by the senior vice president, who was disappointed with the outcome.
It’s difficult to get your brand noticed in a crowded market. The Indian Fantasy Sports (FS) Industry, according to a FIFS-Deloitte analysis dated February 2022, has a market value of over Rs 34,000 crore and caters to over 13 lakh registered users, with a market growth prediction of Rs 1,65,000 crore by FY25. In this market, My11Circle competes against Dream11, Winzo, Gamezy, and MPL, among others.
LSG’s title sponsor is My11Circle, whose logo is prominently displayed on the team’s blue shirt. The app chose to sponsor a new team that had to construct everything from start, according to the Economic Times, whose parent business Games 24×7 acquired $75 million in funding in March 2022 at a company valuation of $2.5 billion, putting it in the unicorn club.
Panigrahi claims that their fantasy cricket app, which debuted just three years ago, is now India’s second largest, and that because they’ve come so far, “we don’t have any fears of associating with a new team.”
“We believed it could be a fantastic opportunity to identify with Lucknow and serve central India’s cricket fans,” he says, referring to the fact that India’s centre region lacked an IPL franchise until recently.
When asked where their users come from, he answers the fans come from all over the world since they follow the LSG players, who are from all over the world. “A fandom arose as a result of the team’s success, and we reaped the benefits.”
My11Circle’s relationship with cricket did not end with the LSG’s final match; since 2018, it has been the title sponsor of the Women’s T20 Challenge, a franchise-based women’s T20 league conducted in India.
“We as a brand, have always stood for gender equality and because of this, we thought this would be a great opportunity to be the sponsors of the women’s T20 challenge,” says the senior vice president. “We as a brand, have always stood for gender equality and because of this, we thought this would be a great opportunity to be the sponsors of the women’s T20 challenge.”
Follow and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter
