After Vivo’s exit as a sponsor from the Indian Premier League, Dream 11 is the new title sponsor for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2020 season.
Dream11 with this deal left behind bigger names like Tata Sons, Unacademy (Rs 171 Crore), and Byjus (Rs 201 crore) from bagging the deal. Along with them, Jio Communications and Patanjali were also interested in sponsorship.IPL 2020 will now be called Dream 11 IPL. The league is supposed to take place in UAE and starts from September 19.
Coming to the reason for Vivo’s exit, due to the growing tensions across borders of China and India, people’s anger to boycott Chinese products grew, which LED to BCCI and Vivo cancelling the partnership from both the ends.
What does Dream11 Do?
For starters, Dream11 is a Mumbai-based company associated with cricket since 2008. The company’s popular Dream11 App lets users earn by crafting their own teams. A part of the fee goes to the prize pot, a part to Dream11. The winner gets a prize pot. The app from 2016 to 2018 grew forty-fold from 2 million users to 45 million.
For 2019 IPL, Dream11 signed up seven cricketers and partnered with seven Indian Premier League franchise as part of its multi-channel marketing campaign.The platform was founded by Harsh Jain and Bhavik Patel. Harsh Jain, son of Anand Jain is a close friend of Mukesh Ambani, who owns the Reliance Industries.
Is Dream11 Chinese?
People might not know about this but, Chinese giant Tencent has an estimated 11 per cent share in Dream11, which bid Rs 222 crores for sponsorship rights. Some of the other investors in the app are Kaalari Capital, Think Investments, and Multiples Equity. Now, this 11% share of Tencent isn’t too much and doesn’t entirely make Dream11 a Chinese firm.
Dream11 Brand Ambassadors
The brand ambassador of Dream11 is Ms Dhoni and the company has sponsored BCCI and ICC in various events. The company is also the official partner of the Hero Caribbean Premier League, the NBA, and the Indian Super League.
The 7 IPL teams are Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. In addition to MS Dhoni, the 7 new cricketers signed up are Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, AB de Villiers, Rashid Khan, Ajinkya Rahane and R Ashwin.
Dream11 is one of the largest fantasy cricket apps in the country and it is bound to grow even more after this sponsorship.