MAM
Dream11’s Harsh Jain-speak on the fantasy games leap
NEW DELHI: Fantasy sports platform Dream11 hit the headlines in early August when its bid of Rs 220 crore for the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 came out tops, beating back the offers from larger firms. And it polevaulted its founders Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth into the limelight once again.
Set up by the duo in 2008, the Mumbai-based company has more than 80 million users and is the first gaming startup from India to attain unicorn status, an industry term for startups valued above Rs 6,500 crore ($1 billion).
With an array of top-notch investment firms across the globe, including Kalaari Capital, Multiples Equity, Tencent Holdings and Steadview Capital Management, Dream11 is one of the most stable and thriving start-up ecosystems. Dream11 has expanded its offerings with Fancode, DreamX, Dream Sports Investments, Dream Sports Foundation, DreamSetGo, and DreamPay.
According to various media reports, the company spent Rs 785.08 crore on advertising and promotions during FY19, as against Rs 230.30 crore in FY18.
Speaking at the Internet and Mobile Association of India’s (IAMAI’s) Marketing Conclave on 28 August, Jain explained why he chose to put Dream11’s hat in the IPL title sponsorship ring. "IPL will break all records this year as one billion people stuck at home due to pandemic will definitely watch the sporting event. Our successful associations with IPL in the past gave us courage too,” he said.
With the Dream11 brand being hammered home all through the tournament, it’s quite likely that an additional few million might chose to download the app and get engaged with the fascinating opportunity to play the skill based matches. Of course, the app would further get embedded into young and old India’s minds.
During his address, Jain highlighted the need to focus on product development more than on marketing. “I see a lot of products today which use marketing right from the start. I believe it is the wrong thing to do,” he pointed out. “First, you need to develop a product fit for the market and once it is achieved, you should then go for scaling it.”
Jain explained that in 2008 when IPL was launched in India, it did so without any fantasy games. But today most sports in India cannot be imagined without a fantasy game element. Then there were the naysayers who dissuaded Jain, whose father Anand is a close associate of ace entrepreneur Mukesh Ambani, from foraying into the space when he returned to India after his education in the US.
"All marketing pundits told us that fantasy games won’t bloom in India and it will be a complete failure, but we succeeded. It was during this time when Sheth (currently serving as a co-founder & COO) joined me in this journey," Harsh elaborated.
The initial three years were tough. The company suffered a cash crunch and other obstacles, but what kept them going was their digital agency, Red Digital, which managed social media accounts for Discovery Networks, Reliance Foundation, and Mumbai Indians to name a few. By 2012, the company had decided to go ahead with the freemium single match business.
“Indian consumers don’t like to commit long term to certain products, they like instant gratification and high engagement.Since the time we have focused on organic reach, growth hacking, and targeted digital marketing . We focused on things like virality and getting users to invite their friends,” Jain shared.
In 2014, the company reported a million registered users, which grew to 45 million in 2018. Last year, the company reported having more than a 80 million user base.
Jain admitted, "From 2017 we started partnering with leagues and signed Harsha Bhogle as our first brand ambassador. In 2018, we roped in MS Dhoni and started TV advertising for the very first time, and launched the Dimaag Se Dhoni marketing campaign during the IPL 2018 ."
Like any other brand, Dream11 faced hurdles in its growth journey, and the biggest challenge was not being available on Google Play store, a hurdle they surmounted.
“It has been a difficult journey to convince people to download our apps as an APK and answer questions about why we are not on play store. But if people find value, they will find it," Jain said.
According to the 2019 report published by the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG) and KPMG, the number of fantasy sports operators saw 7x growth during 2016-2018, while the number of users grew by over 25x between June 2016 and February 2019.
The report also pointed out that the overall revenue of fantasy sports in India saw a three-fold growth from Rs 920 crore in FY19 to Rs 2,470 crore in FY20. As per IFSG-KPMG report, Dream11 commands 90 per cent market share.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
