Online Fantasy games make up more than 50% of the total Gaming market in India, followed by skill based games. IPL runs for 46 days and during IPL the fantasy games industry makes 40 cr/day in revenues. Non IPL season the industry makes around 6cr/day.
This is a massive dip in revenues for the fantasy platforms as they will have to innovate by exploring other avenues like the upcoming olympics and other international sports leagues.
To adapt to this situation, advertising strategy of gaming companies will also have to change. With IPL viewership going away from Hotstar, budgets have to be redirected to traditional channels like Google, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.
The way users spend time on their screens will also change significantly this year. The rise of social influencers and content creators on TikTok type platforms like Josh has captured user attention. IPL getting banned will redirect user screen time back to these type of Platforms and they could be a big winner in terms of attracting ad budgets from gaming companies.
At Mobius, having a diverse set of game offerings on our platform allows us to scale operations as per market trends. Platforms that offer games like Rummy, Poker are going to be the biggest winners that benefit from IPL cancellation. Next big opportunity is in bringing culturally relevant games into the online world. Ludo was a phenomenon last year. The popular game Mafia got revisited in AmongUS. Key to capture Indian audience is to identify games which are culturally prevalent offline and bring them online.
Worldwide, Gaming is bigger than the movies and the sports industries combined. In India, this segment is still in a nascent stage. It’s crucial to be tech and product agile to adapt to a rapidly changing market. At Mobius, we have grown at twice the expected pace during this year backed by an incredible team and cutting edge tech.
The article is authored by Prashanth Mandapalli, CEO, Mobius Development Studio.
