Indian Institute Of Management–Sambalpur

WAC – END-TERM PROJECT

Project report submitted in fulfillment of t h e requirement for the credit of subject

DREAM11 - STRATEGIC MARKETING COMMUNICATION

SECTION-C: GROUP - 14

ABHISHEK YADAV 2022MBA125

POLIMETLA JOEL JOY 2022PHD005

Under the esteemed guidance of

Prof. Sriparna Basu

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 Acknowledgment

First and foremost, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Prof., our project guide, for
providing us with sound guidance at the outset of the project and for having the foresight to
request that we create a project report that demonstrates a large corporation with high agility and
innovation. Working with her makes us feel really fortunate. We would want to take this
opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the success of our initiative. We also like to
thank our guide. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who provided their time,
support, and advice to us throughout the course of our project as well as to those who did so
during the project's duration.

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Introduction

With more than 7 billion users playing fantasy basketball, hockey, football, and fantasy cricket,
Dream11 is India's largest sports gaming website. It is a skill-based game that gives sports fans a
chance to show off their sports knowledge, ability to predict, and logical thinking by putting
them in the role of club owner instead of just a spectator. This gives them a deeper connection to
the sport they like and makes them more interested in it. Users or fans can assemble teams made
up of actual participants in future matches, award points based on how well they perform on the
field, and compete against other fans from around the world.

Fig: Indicating Growth Figures, Ref: (Punamiya & Banerjee, 2022)

In 2008, Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth established Dream11. Dream11 was named among the top
10 innovative firms in India by “Fast Company in 2019” and placed in the number 10 position
among India's Great Mid-Size Workplaces in the same year. Kalaari Capital, Think Investments,
Multiples Equity, Tencent, and Steadview Capital are the leading capitalists in Dream11. The
Mission is “A user-first company focusing heavily on real-time fan engagement, Dream11’s
primary aim is to provide Indian sports fans with the best, most trusted single-match fantasy
sports experience." The Vision is “Our goal is to create awareness around fantasy sports in India
and keep getting more of India’s 800 million sports fans to play fantasy sports on Dream11."
Dream11 became the first gaming firm from India to join the start-ups' "Unicorn Club" in April
2019. An investment of around $840 million on November 24, 2021, established the current
value of the Dream 11 at around $8 billion. The previous financing round, which ended on
March 24, 2021, netted $400 million, boosting the company's overall valuation to $5 billion.
According to March reports, the company's valuation has nearly doubled in just six months.
Before the pandemic started, the business was estimated to have about 75 million subscribers. Dream11
experienced severe pandemic effects, which led to match cancellations and declining income. However,
beginning in July 2020, things

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have improved, and revenue has resumed. By 2020, the corporation had 100 million users. Despite the
company's significant post-Covid growth, as of March 2021, it is still only 80% of its growth before the
pandemic.

● Served 100 million users in 2019 and joined the Indian Unicorn club
● Dream11 asserts that over the previous three years, growth increased at a CAGR of 230%.
● Although reaching a million users took three years. After that, it reached the 3 million milestones
in fewer than two months.

Out of few unicorns, Dream11 has gained a huge profit among the other Internet bases fantasy league
comapany. According to regulatory filings, Dream11 saw a $24.57 mn (Rs 180.8 cr) profit in the fiscal
year 2020, a significant increase from the $11.9 mn (Rs 87.7 crore) deficit it reported in fiscal year 2019.
In FY21, company's profit increased by about 3X. Dream11's annual profits increased significantly from
104.01 crore to 327.1 crore in FY21, or by over 214%.

Strategic marketing communication is studied here because the brand's ideal customers are 20- to
35-year-old adults who can make their own decisions. Additionally, participants between the
ages of 20 and 35 are known to make the most transactions on the site among the gamers that are
currently active. To reach its target market through various forms of communication, Dream11
employs a marketing communications plan. It includes their target, the media, and their message
(what has to be stated) (to whom your message is reaching).

The objective of the study

The main objective of our study is to analyze and understand strategic marketing
communication. How a company portrays its image in the market and the people’s
minds, and how these strategies help the company in terms of growth.

Nature of the online business

Online business refers to commercial activities carried out using the internet. Thus,there is
no face-to-face interaction between the buyer and seller.

The following are some characteristics of online business:

● Easy to set up.

● No physical border.
● It is less expensive than that of doing business as usual.

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 ● Less expensive in terms of marketing tactics.
● Physical interaction between buyer and seller is not required
● There is a transaction risk because anyone can purchase anything at any time from
anywhere.
● In the online business the transaction risk is higher compare to traditional form of
business.

Revenue got from the strategy

The total income increased by 56.39% for the fiscal year that concluded on March 31. In
contrast to last year's financial results, which were Rs 1,729.93 crore, the company recorded
Rs 2,705.56 crore this year.This was possible due the strategic marketing communication of
the company.After Vivo withdrew for the season,On August 18, Dream11 paid 222 crore
(US$29.96 million) for the sponsorship of the title dispensation for the 2020 Indian Premier
League.They keep on partner since then that eventually help the company in terms of
building more presence.

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Business Model

Dream11 doesn't monetize its business using Google or any other ad networks. Simply hosting
fantasy games on their website generates revenue for them. To give their users an easy and quick
user experience, they initially utilized Google AdSense; however, they no more using this.

This is important since it can be challenging and costly to convert a free user to a paying one.
The first private fantasy gaming app to emerge in India was Dream11. It supports all three of the
payment options used by fantasy sports participants to make money—freemium, premium, and
private.

They seek a charge that exceeds 20% of a major or minor league's overall earnings.
Commissions on other platforms, like MPL or My11Circle, are incredibly low. Even the private
contests are free to enter. Why people are preferring Dream11 over th others? Playing with
friends, it's nice to have the opportunity to design your own personalized game (you may, for
instance, create your own cricket teams). You must still pay Dream11 at least 20% in fees. As a
result, they are making money while you enjoy the game.

Source: (Jafri, 2020)

As more users sign up for Dream 11, it gets better. This is so that there will be more contestants
since more users equals more users. Additionally, greater prize sizes result from more
contestants. Dream11 is more appealing to a user than other OFS platforms due to the potential
for winning greater prize amounts. Therefore, the cost of obtaining a member will be somewhat
expensive when the platform is tiny. However, if the number of users grows, the cost of
recruiting a new user will decrease since the lucrative contests will draw enough participants.
Dream11's CAC already decreased from 5000 ($67) in 2012 to 237 ($3.2) in 2019, according to
data. And this number will continue to decline.

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The network effect will also keep customers from moving to other platforms where competitions
have lower prize money. Additionally, as Dream11 expands its user base, the majority of new
users will want to sign up for it alone (as the reward pool grows), turning Dream11 into a
winner-take-all enterprise.

Marketing Strategy
The business model for Dream11 had to be initially hard-sold to customers, employees, and
investors because it was an unfamiliar idea.

Product: The product has a user-friendly UI and is highly distinctive. It offers consumers a lot of
versatility with its variety of contest possibilities. Additionally, the brand name is intriguing and
appealing, which begs the question of what the product is actually about. There is enough to
pique interest.
Price:It is completely free to download the application, which makes it very alluring even for
people who aren't particularly interested in sports. Which contest the person chchooseso enter is
entirely up to them. Although the corporation has so far avoided using subscription-based or
usage-based pricing for the product, everything could change in the upcoming years.
Promotion - The game is being promoted all around the world thanks to a variety of alliances
and collaborations, including those with leagues like the IPL, ISL, and Pro Kabaddi League.
According to the company, there is a two-way relationship between how much a person plays the
game and how much they follow their individual leagues. Consequently, they are alliances that
aid in promoting both Dream11 and the actual leagues. In addition to serving as the official
sponsor of these high-profile competitions, the company has greatly benefited from having M.S.
Dhoni as a brand ambassador. Someone of Dhoni's status endorsing a product or service builds
trust. Along with Dhoni, Dream11 just signed nine other top athletes from around the world,
including Ben Stokes, Andre Russell, and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.
Place - To distribute its goods, a corporation needs to have access to specific channels. Through
its website, Facebook page, and TV commercials, Dream11 accomplishes this. Through the use
of social media and in-game TV advertising, it aims to connect with consumers and other
potential users. Dream11's product can be virtually downloaded through the phone's Playstore for
Android users and is also accessible for iOS users for Apple, thus it doesn't require a physical
location to be sold. As a result, it is simple to download and does not require a lot of time,
money, or effort to reach the consumers through its distribution method.

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SWOT
Here, we use SWOT analysis which is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It
mainly consists of inherent factors such as Weaknesses and strengths and external factors such as
Opportunities and Threats. They are determined here and let us understand the methodology
employed to assess a company's competitive situation and create a strategic plan.

Strengths:

1) The firm has a highly distinct business strategy for the country as of right now, which is one of
its main strengths.
2) The market for young sports fans is enormous and is worth billions. Around 90% percent of
the market is under Dream1.

Weaknesses:

1) The app only handles digital transactions. A sizable portion of the populace is still
uncomfortable and skeptical of internet payments.
2) There are no other businesses in India that it might try to imitate and borrow the best practices
from since it is essentially the first such business concept in the nation.

Opportunities:

1) A Newzo research on the gaming market estimates that the gaming market was worth $149
billion in the year 2017. Through Dream11, a couple of the most well-known sporting leagues,
like the ISL, NBA, and CPL, use fantasy sports as their main strategy or instrument for fan
interaction. According to AC Nielsen, the user base of the gaming sector, which currently has 50
million users, is anticipated to more than quadruple and reach 100 million users by 2020. When
this occurs, Dream11 will be at the forefront of the competition to entice more sports enthusiasts
to use its platform.
2) One opportunity or challenge is to convert inactive sports fans into active fantasy sports
players. Fantasy sports may not be appealing to "passive" sports enthusiasts. Giving them a cause
or a "trigger" to do more than merely watch would be the responsibility of the corporation.

Threats:

1) A lot of new "Me Too" goods and companies are appearing over time. More startups are
starting to offer the same user experience and deal in fantasy sports. In contemporary days, any
start-up can grow quickly as long as the supplied product is well received by the general public.
Dream11 can not afford to assume anything.

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The Covid-19 pandemic led team-based sports to be stopped as a result of the countries
establishing a lockdown, hurting online fantasy sports. The revenue of dream 11 got affected
along with all the other competitors, the main reason was many matchs had been cancelled due
to lockdown and countries stringent policy to curb the cornavirus.The dream 11 did not downsize
because they are very much sure of recovering all the loses after the the pandemic. The fantasy
sport industry is very big, the number of user are growing day by day, it was not that people does
not want to play the fantasy sport it just that they were unable to play. The dream has partnered
with fan code, its a platform that organize many domestic cricket matched, due to this the
number of user had grown up on dream 11 platform.

Framework of different competitors

There are many competitors in the market such as

● Hitwicket.
● My11Circle
● Fantasy Akhada.
● Mobile Premier League.
● HalaPlay.
● MPL
● MY Team11
● BalleBaazi.
● FanFight.
● Dream11
● Fandromeda.
● Ballr and many more.

To explain the objectives and understand the analysis, we did primary market research.

Q.1: How often do you play online fantasy games?

A. Responses out of 100.

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Q.2: Do you know about Dream11? If so, how did you learn about Dream11?
A. Responses out of 100.

Q.3: Which platform do you use? Why do you prefer Dream11?

A. Responses out of 100.

We are choosing the top three from among all of these competitors, which align with the
Dream11.

DREAM11 MPL MY11CIRCLE HALAPLAY

PRODUCT Put together a Offers free and The only platform It uses machine
squad of real paid now offering learning and data
players for a match tournaments in real-time match analysis to help
in the skill game 60+ board scores within the players figure out
Dream11, where games, casual app is how they play and
you compete games, puzzles, My11Circle, the how they can
against other and fantasy newest fantasy improve their skills
players' fans for sports. sports website in to get better prizes.

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 big prizes. India.

PRICE 85% goes to the MPL is also has lower entrance lower entrance cost
winners, with same pricing cost Using the Using the bonus
Dream11 keeping strategy whats bonus money, you money, discounts
15% as a "platform others have, can enter a cash offer initially to
fee." Dream11 butdue to competition by acquire the customer
generates revenue colossal paying less than base.
in this manner. funding in the required entry
marketing, they fee. Increase wins.
are providing
huge discounts.
CUSTOMER 130 million 1 million 17 million 9 million
BASE

Challenges/Bottlenecks

1) Avoiding the possible legal barrier.

2) Exclusion from the Play Store app.
3) Persuading them that playing on dream 11 is require skill, it's not gambling!
4) Beating burgeoning opposition.

The dream had came out very wisely of the challenges they had came across.Below are way
given that how dream 11 had came out of all the challenges.

1) Avoiding the possible legal barrier: Dream11 has to overcome and change the mindset of
the people as they are considering this as a gambling app. The Highcourt of Punjab and Haryana
rejected the plea of dream 11 against considering this as a non-gambling app however, later on,
they got a blessing from the Supreme court.

Legal restrictions were lifted, allowing more fantasy gaming platforms to enter the market. As a
result, there are already more than 70 players in the Indian fantasy gaming market! The Indian
Federation of Sports and Gaming (IFSG), India's first and only sports gaming self-regulatory
organisation, which went into effect in 2017, is what has allowed the number of players to
increase.

2) Exclusion from the Play Store: Google has highly strict regulations. In its early years,
"Dream11 Free" didn't have any paid competitions. Google had to remove this from the play
store because they do not allow the apps that allow or do paid competitions.

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3) Persuading them that it's a game of skill rather than chance!: To understand the
distinctions between fantasy gaming and gambling, one must have a broad perspective. It was
difficult for the company to sell its product as a "skill game" in the early going since it lacked
finance and brand ambassadors. However, there has been a significant increase in users and the
platform has also earned legitimacy as a result of the Supreme Court's and the Punjab and
Haryana High Court's historic decisions to permit the operation of the fantasy app. Dream11 is
already a well-known brand!

4) Beating the burgeoning opposition: Since 2019, a lot of fantasy gaming applications have
appeared. However, none of them have succeeded in exceeding the standard set by Dream11.
Dream11 is the only app that is as quick, strong, and user-friendly. The customer service
provided via its app and social media is excellent.

RECOMMENDATIONS

● Until Google allows Android model on the play store, the mobile website online can be
transformed into a completely modern app. The cutting-edge software can support the
full spectrum of mobile users and versions; no installation is necessary, and there are no
discovery difficulties at all.
● The language must be user-centered and compatible with their mental models. Usability
testing workshops will verify the popularity ratio of the predefined usability components.
● A multi-level navigational form can solve the two steps issue. Regarding the product
layout tool's visual display of object selection / indications.
● By concentrating on tier 2 cities, it expands the market size, adding other sports, such as
tennis, to the app.
● Partnership with additional cricket governing bodies, as cricket is where the majority of
money is made.
● To boost the number of clients, Dream11 should advertise more and more on social
media.

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Appendices

Organization structure

Source: https://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/dream11#

The structure of the organization is kind of centralized, Harsh Jain is being CEO of
the company of the company.

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 Product Portfolio

Dream 11 has offering many products under its umbrella, its allows its users to paly fantasy
matches for Cricket, American football, Baseball, football, kabaddi, basketball, Hockey,
Volleyball, and other sports.

Exhibits

Company Year Revenue

Dream 11 2021 INR 2554.4 cr
My11Circle 2021 INR 789 cr
Halaplay 2021 INR 178.8 cr
MPl 2021 INR 500 cr

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REFERENCES

Dream11 News: Dream11 latest news and Recent Dream11 Updates | The Economic Times.
(n.d.). The Economic Times. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/dream11

Gupta, A., Khandelwal, Y., Singh, M. K., & Singla, A. (2022). Do fantasy sports players' actions
influence their performance in Dream11 contests? Adding data to the debate on skill vs chance
(No. 17).

Krishna, V. (2018, October 11). Dream11 emerges from a legal wrangle to build India’s leading
fantasy sports platform. YourStory.com. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from
https://yourstory.com/2018/10/dream11-emerges-from-legal-wrangle-indias-leading-fantasy-spor
ts-platform

Punamiya, & Banerjee. (2022, May 2). Dream11 Company | Founders | Business Model |
Success Story. StartupTalky. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from
https://startuptalky.com/dream11-biggest-fantasy-game-india/

Raza, M. R., Shekhar, R., & Singh, U. (2020). Gaming and Gambling: The Era of Dream11 and
Crashing Dreams. Glob. Sports Pol'y Rev., 1, 42.

Raza, M. R., Shekhar, R., & Singh, U. (2020). Gaming and Gambling: The Era of Dream11 and
Crashing Dreams. Glob. Sports Pol'y Rev., 1, 42.

The rise & rise of Dream11, and fantasy sports gaming in India - Times of India. (n.d.). The
Times of India. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/startups/companies/the-rise-rise-of-dream11-and-fa
ntasy-sports-gaming-in-india/articleshow/68543816.cms

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