IPL, The Unvanquished
With unmatched viewership numbers, the Indian Premier League (IPL) stands as an undisputed sporting entertainment property in India, drawing in millions of avid spectators. The league has shown exponential growth since its inception in 2008, with its value soaring by 433% to reach INR 89232cr. Expectedly, the cricketing extravaganza has become a hotspot for advertisers looking to make big bucks. Fantasy gaming platforms, especially, have a close connection with the IPL, consistently ranking among its top five advertisers. The top two fantasy gaming players, as per industry estimates, should be spending upwards of 250cr. on IPL 2024 cumulatively. They rely heavily on the IPL for their income, with Redseer estimates suggesting that the league contributes between 35% and 50% to their earnings. However, this year, there was concern that these platforms would cut back on their IPL ad spending due to new GST rules imposing a 28% tax on online gaming, specifically, on the full value of bets. So, what is the future of these heavy ad spenders on the IPL? The answer is a bit surprising. Cannot Miss The IPL Smaller Players Missing the Season
While the revised GST rules have certainly strained the resources of fantasy gaming platforms, with many trying to cut costs by laying off employees and calibrating marketing spends, their marriage with IPL remains unfazed. The e-comm-gaming category, which includes fantasy gaming platforms along with real-money gaming and e-gaming players, has a share of 16% among overall advertisers in the first thirty-nine matches, TAM data shares. Further, Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd, the parent company of Dream11 remained the top advertiser during the first seven matches of the IPL, contributing a significant 11 percent to the total ad volume.
Even though the majority of big players, including Dream11, Myteam11, My11Circle, and Trade Fantasy Gaming, are maintaining their spends on IPL, it is the smaller players who are suffering. An industry insider, on condition of anonymity, tells IMPACT, “While the bigger players are spending large sums during the league, the smaller ones continue to suffer. There are several who have already shut down their apps, and yet others who are struggling to maintain the cash flow. Even the bigger players are spending out of their pockets as it is not possible to run profitable games with bigger prize pools and incentives without passing on the tax-burden to users.”
The top players are maintaining their IPL spends, while some are even increasing, indicating that the industry is quite confident of managing their businesses despite the GST shocker. However, it would be interesting to see if they will be able to maintain this stance in the coming days as well.
Tags : #e4m #Impact #advertising #IPL #Dream11 #cricket #IPL2024 #fantasyleagues #IndianPremierLeague #GST