Fantasy sports companies contributed biz worth Rs 3,000 Cr last year: Dream Sports CEO

Fantasy sports companies, which engage with users online, invested over Rs 3,000 crore last year across various segments, including buying media rights and sponsoring players, a top official of Dream Sports said on Tuesday.

During the IAMAI Digital Summit, Dream Sports co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain said the company is looking to invest in startups and anything that makes sports better.

"Last year, the fantasy sports industry, which consists of over 200 companies, has contributed Rs 3,000 crore in media rights, sponsoring teams, leagues, players and spending money in every single sports event," Jain added.

He said the Dream Sports Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the company, supports 6,000 athletes in India at present.

"Fantasy sports is showing that it can become one of the largest contributors in terms of engagement, viewership, and commercialisation.

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"In Dream Capital, we have put in $250 million to re-invest in sports. Our vision is just to make sports better. Anything that makes sports better is all fair game for us. Anything that makes sports better, we are interested in investing," Jain said.

He added that Indian consumers have now started paying for online products and services with an increase in per-capita GDP, disposable income in the last three to five years, but still freemium model is the best way to do business in the country.

Jain said the 5G roll-out in the country will push innovation in sports technology and enhance the role of augmented reality and virtual reality products in the sports segment.