The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and its economy is expected to see huge growth this year, according to a recent report.

The report from consultancy firm Redseer titled ‘IPL Report 2023’ suggests that the gross gaming revenue of fantasy sports during the IPL is also expected to grow by 30-35 percent. The figure is estimated to be between Rs 2,900-3,100 crore in 2023, which is three times that of 2019, when it was Rs 990 crore.

The highest increment happened in 2022, up 55 percent from 2021 — from Rs 1,460 crore to Rs 2,260 crore.

“IPL Market Size is expected to grow for varied reasons in 2023 as it is a cricketing year with a lot of sporting events lined up that will give a boost to the IPL Economy,” the report said.

One of the main reasons for this growth, as per the report, is the efforts made by fantasy platforms to offer different types of tournaments and table sizes to attract all types of users and promote them to spend more.

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Additionally, the platforms have also increased their efforts to make the platforms more secure and reliable for users, with measures such as RNG certification, secure payment gateways, and fraud security.

According to Redseer, the average spending per user on fantasy gaming platforms is expected to grow by 5-10 percent from Rs 410 per user in IPL 2022 to Rs 440 per user in IPL 2023.

The report also suggests that users feel more confident and secure in spending higher amounts on gaming platforms once trust is built by the platforms. “For example, Dream11 offered Audi Cars during IPL 2022 and My11Circle offered Mahindra Thar during T20 World Cup 2022,” Redseer added.

Dream11, a fantasy gaming platform, is also one of the sponsors for IPL 2023. It was also the title sponsor of the series in 2020. In an interview with Storyboard18, Vikrant Mudaliar, Chief Marketing Officer at Dream Sports, said, "Five to six years ago, this user base was just a fraction of what it is today, and every year, we have seen significant growth, not just in terms of the number of users but also actively engaged users across 12-13 different sports, in addition to cricket."

The report also suggests that the number of transacting users during IPL season is expected to grow by 25-30 percent in 2023, with about 80 percent of users from tier 2 and beyond, cities. This is due to the increasing internet accessibility and penetration, making it easier for the masses to be able to use gaming platforms thus providing a push to the industry.

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The awareness about fantasy gaming platforms is rapidly increasing with more platforms offering easy access to the game type.

In terms of his expectations from the current season of the IPL, he said, “Our expectation is that this probably will be one of the biggest IPLs that we have seen. The point about right now in terms of streaming being available on Jio Cinema versus the matches being available on Star Sports means that overall we would like to believe there is an incremental reach that happens in expanding the viewership for the tournament.”

Google has allowed Fantasy platforms to be available on Google Play Store under a pilot programme. This, Redseer believes, will further increase the number of transacting users during IPL 2023. The government has also formalised rules and regulations regarding GST for Real-money Gaming (RMG) platforms, providing a positive push to users.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, IPL viewership on TV dropped by 10 percent from 2019 to 2020. In 2021, the report says, overall OTT Viewership increased due to wider accessibility of the internet across the country.

IPL 2023 is available to stream for free on JioCinema which is expected to further increase OTT as well as overall viewership.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)