MUMBAI: Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) season five is just around the corner and Dream11 being the official fantasy football partner and home to more than four crore fantasy sports fans is looking to capitalise on the championship's buzz to expand its user base.
Looking at the increase in the number of users playing fantasy football on the platform, the company felt partnering with the Hero ISL was an ideal opportunity to deepen fan engagement
The fifth edition of the Hero ISL is set to kick off on 29 September 2018 with broadcast in six different languages English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Kannada. On the digital front, the league will also be live streamed on Hotstar and Jio TV.
Dream11 CMO Vikrant Mudaliar said, “Fantasy sports enjoys a symbiotic relationship with real-life sports and we firmly believe in growing with sports leagues by partnering with them. Globally, almost all major sports leagues are using fantasy sports as their primary tool of fan engagement and in India we have taken the lead to partner with some of the sports leagues like Hero ISL to provide great fan experience.”
According to Mudaliar, Hero ISL has helped bring football to the mainstream and aided the popularity of the sport at the grassroots level. It is good to see another sport taking the lead for a change in a cricket focused country.
Mudaliar believes that the whole experience of consuming the sport can be made more enriching by offering fans experiences which cater to their lifestyle and living experiences. Right from the commute to the stadium to the food delivery at home to the sports merchandise being bought by the ardent fans - it is all a part of the overall sports experience.
These are all opportunities and touch point for brands to get involved in a sports fan’s life and provide them with an enriching, immersive experience. He also believes in working with sports leagues to drive sports promotion and awareness.
For Dream11, associating and partnering with sports leagues and platforms is a natural fitment. It enjoys a close relationship with real-life sports and therefore sports leagues become the natural choice for association. It also provides sports leagues an opportunity to deepen their fans’ engagement with the sport.
“We can together dip into each other’s expertise offering a great product + market fit to cater to a loyal fan base and provide incremental connect for the users,” he concluded.
