Gaming brands to up ad spends 50-60% this IPL over last edition

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a goldmine for gaming and fantasy sports brands, with the latest edition bagging a chunk of investments. With cricket at their core, brands like Dream11 and My11Circle tap into IPL’s massive reach for full-funnel campaigns when the league is on.

They extend these efforts year-round through targeted promotions and ongoing user engagement campaigns. By sustaining IPL-driven momentum throughout the year, they keep users engaged with interactive content, driving stickiness and long-term retention — until the next edition.

This year, overall ad spends will surge by 50-60% compared to last season, with industry giants like Dream11 and My11Circle dominating sponsorships across TV and digital platforms, say industry observers. New entrants like Zupee and PokerBaazi will further drive investments, ensuring an all-encompassing presence across IPL touchpoints.

According to exclusive TAM Sports data, top advertisers under the E-Comm-Gaming category during IPL 16 in 2023 included Dream11, My11Circle, Ace2Three, Winzo Games and MyTeam11. The top advertisers for IPL 17 in 2024 were Dream11, My11Circle, Zupee and Winzo Games. In 2023, the top advertiser, Dream11, had a 10% share of ad duration on television. In 2024, Dream11’s share went down to 7%. Other brands had a share of less than 3% of ad duration across both years.

Dream11’s promotional expenses increased from Rs 2,158 Crore in FY 2022 to Rs 2,964 Crore in FY 2023. According to data sourced from Tofler, it’s a year-on-year increase of 37.3% growth in ad spends. Further, the expenses centric to advertisements and sponsorships stood at Rs 1,798 Crore in FY 2022, increasing by 31% in FY 2023 to Rs 2356 Crore. For Games24x7, the advertising and business promotion expenses reportedly surged by 61.7% to Rs 1,421 Crore in FY23 from Rs 879 Crore in FY22.

“Gaming and fantasy gaming brands not only spend on advertising on IPL, both on-air television and online, but are also aggressive in their bids for on-ground sponsorships. To top it all, they associate with the teams to ensure they have an all-round presence across touchpoints for IPL,” says Srinivas Rao, Chief Investment Officer, Wavemaker India, explaining how the league’s massive reach and fandoms make it a crucial platform for sustained brand visibility and engagement for gaming brands.

Diving deep into the core bottom-of-the-funnel objectives of the brands investing big on ads during IPL, Rao explains, “For fantasy gaming brands, IPL serves the purpose of both customer acquisition and customer retention. Since their business revolves around creating teams every day, depending on that day’s match, it helps in customer retention, and with IPL’s scale, the objective of broad-basing the audience works out easily with its sheer reach. For other gaming brands, IPL major helps in customer acquisition.”

Rao further says, “We have observed that most of the large brands look at new customer acquisitions as the main objective, with retaining the existing customers being secondary.”

For Dream11, it’s all about striking a balance between acquisition and retention, especially during IPL. “While brand awareness is high, acquisition still requires strategic effort. In a competitive market, we focus on differentiation, ensuring new users see Dream11 as the most engaging fantasy sports platform,” says Vikrant Mudaliar, CMO, Dream11.

“Retention is equally crucial. Our goal isn’t just to onboard users for one match but to keep them engaged season after season. We achieve this through tailored promotions, personalised engagement initiatives, and consistently delivering the best second-screen experience for sports fans,” he added.

Sharing insights into the dynamics of fantasy sports, he emphasises that they are inherently social. “Fantasy sports are about competing with friends, creating dream teams, and earning bragging rights,” Mudaliar explains. During a high-impact property like the IPL, this sentiment grows manifold — and Dream11 maximises its potential to the fullest.

For this year’s IPL, Dream11 has launched a banter-filled campaign, ‘Aapki Team Mein Kaun?’. It features actors Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor and cricketing icons Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and R. Ashwin. The first ad film sets the stage for a star-studded, unpredictable showdown as they challenge each other to a game on the field. Many more byte-sized ad films are expected to follow, driving the campaign’s narrative.

My11Circle is also rolling out a comprehensive 360-degree marketing strategy to capitalise on this year’s IPL, leveraging a mix of on-air, digital, and on-ground activations to maximise reach and engagement. The strategy has been designed to amplify the brand and enhance user engagement throughout — and beyond — the IPL.

The brand has launched the ‘Circle Mein Aaja’ campaign for this edition of IPL. With this campaign, My11Circle aims to redefine user engagement with an immersive experience, inviting players to be at the heart of the action. The campaign features brand ambassadors and cricket sensations such as Sourav Ganguly, Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rinku Singh, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Sharing a glimpse into the strategy, Saroj Panigrahi, Chief Operating Officer, Games24x7, highlights, “We prioritise strategic investments that drive meaningful engagement with our users. Last year, we saw remarkable growth, with over 50% more teams created in the first two weeks and a 50% increase in mega-prize winners.” The brand aims to build on that momentum, further strengthening top-of-mind recall for My11Circle, he adds.
Earlier this year, My11Circle announced its partnership with JioStar as a Co-Presenting Partner for the official digital streaming of the Tata Indian Premier League 2025. With this collaboration, My11Circle aims to amplify its engagement with India’s passionate cricketing audiences, leveraging the league’s extensive reach across India. My11Circle is also the official Associate Partner of Tata IPL, which is in its second year of a five-year association with the marquee tournament.

Zupee, an online skill-based gaming platform, has also launched an IPL-themed campaign called ‘Extra Winnings’ — as an Associate Sponsor of IPL on Star Sports. Each six during a match will trigger a virtual cricket ball on the Zupee app, unlocking real-time rewards, bonuses, and prizes. By owning the ‘Super 6’ moment, Zupee will drive engagement through contextual messaging, instant in-app rewards and high-impact brand visibility. Further, Zupee has partnered with cricketing legends Harbhajan Singh and K. Srikkanth, along with sports presenter Jatin Sapru, to boost the campaign’s impact and engage fans.

Capitalising on the IPL buzz, WinZO, a social gaming and interactive entertainment platform, has unveiled the ‘Jaha Jeetega India’ campaign starring MS Dhoni. Available in seven languages, the campaign includes four films showcasing how WinZO brings winning moments to users across India.

The campaign emphasises that while challenges are part of life, winning moments are always within reach with WinZO. The 360-degree campaign is now live on JioHotstar, Star Sports, digital platforms, print, and social media.

With gaming and fantasy gaming brands increasing their IPL ad spends by 50-60% this season, the league continues to be the biggest battleground for reach user acquisition, retention and engagement. From high-impact sponsorships and high-profile campaigns to year-round retention strategies, brands like Dream11, My11Circle, Zupee, PokerBaazi, WinZo and more are leveraging IPL’s unparalleled reach to drive growth.

As competition intensifies, the fantasy and gaming space will see even more innovative marketing plays, ensuring IPL remains a key part of their promotional efforts.