With 10 million and growing subscribers, Fanfight becomes one of the top most fantasy sports apps of India. What sets it apart is its reluctance to invest on any conventional mode of marketing for growth and brand amplification. While rivals like MPL, Dream 11 and Rummy circle have invested aggressively on television advertising, celebrity endorsement, brand tie ups and newspaper advertising for growth, Fanfight has stuck entirely to digital marketing for its revenue growth, user acquisition and proliferation as a brand. Fanfight is an interesting example of how digital marketing can be a standalone growth hacking strategy for any brand using it well, without the overwhelming usage of any other form of media outlets.

2. ONLINE FANTASY SPORTS INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

3. What is Fantasy Sports?
Online fantasy sports gaming (OFSG) is a form of skill-based online sports gaming where sports fans can create their own team made up of real-life players
from upcoming matches and is widely played across cricket, football, kabaddi, basketball and other popular sports games.
The fantasy sports landscape in India has witnessed a significant transformation since its launch nearly two decades ago. ESPN-Star Sports launched its
‘Super Selector fantasy game’ in 2001, which was amongst the earliest fantasy games in the country to gain user traction. The format of the game involved
people registering their teams for free, with contest duration ranging from a month to a specific series. Over the years, other popular tournaments such as
English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, ICC events, and IPL, developed games where people could manage their teams for specific tournaments.
How it all started?
Fantasy games give a safe and secure platform to the millennials to enjoy their favourite sport at their leisure and win real cash rewards. Millennials are
getting attracted to this fantasy gaming world as it offers them a package of thrill and action, real sports experience, which is both fun and rewarding as well
as it boosts their skills level.
What makes it popular with millennials?
Popular fantasy sports apps in India

6. History of fantasy sports
1969
One of the biggest steps forward in the world of fantasy sports
is taken as the first public fantasy league is brought into
existence by the original founder of the GOPPPL, Andy
Mousalimas. This fantasy football league was open to the
patrons of the Kings X Sports Bar in Oakland.
1962
Wilfred “Bill” Winkenbach and a few others from the
Oakland Raiders Organisation draw out the basic
rules for what has now developed into fantasy
football. This all happened in the Milford Plaza Hotel
in New York City in March of 1962.
1960’s
1980’s
1980
The idea of fantasy sports grew with Rotisserie League Baseball
1987
Fantasy Football Index (annual guide) was published
1989
The book ‘Patton’s 1989 Fantasy Baseball League Price Guide’, and Fantasy Sports Magazine were published
1990’s
1995
The first fantasy hockey website called Molson
Breweries was launched.
1999
Yahoo began fantasy sports in 1999. The industry
got a push with the Dot com boom.
1998
Fantasy sports trade association was formed
2012
Dream11, India’s
first e-fantasy
Sports medium
was launched
Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS)
earlier known as the Indian Federation of
Sports Gaming IFSG, India’s first and only
Fantasy Sports self-regulatory industry
body, was established to protect consumer
interest and create standardized best
practices in the Fantasy Sports industry.
2017
2018
Fantasy sports
industry gets
valued
At INR 43.8 billion, in India

7. ● Fantasy sports and the gaming industry in India has found different ways to encourage fan
engagement in various sports across India.
● The industry is already worth INR 43.8 billion and is said to reach INR 118.8 billion by FY23 with a
growth rate of CAGR 22.1%.
● The Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG), India’s first self-regulatory industry body for the
sports gaming sector.
● Emergence of sports leagues The advent of multiple sporting leagues in India over the last few years
(e.g. football, kabaddi, badminton, basketball and volleyball) has increased opportunities for users to
engage in fantasy sports. While the Indian Premier League (IPL) remains the prime sports property
in India, both from a sporting as well as a fantasy sports point of view, the emergence of these new
leagues ensures that users can engage with multiple sports throughout the year.
Industry Overview

8. The bar graph shows the increment in the consumption pattern of gaming in India
From year 2014 and the estimated growth till year 2023
It is estimated that the fantasy online sports industry shall have
Over a 100 million users by the first quarter of 2020, which can
Be hiked owing to the lockdown and heavy usage of internet resources
2019 may have brought about an economic slowdown, pulling India’s GDP growth down to under 5%, but the domestic gaming industry was booming. The
increase in fantasy gaming, the rapid rise of skill-based real-money gaming platforms, the rise of interactive mobile gaming apps,made fantasy sports
mainstream in 2019
More than 60 percent of India’s online gamers are in the 18-24 age bracket. Young users have a higher propensity to play online games, especially on their
smartphones, leading to a surge in the downloads of gaming apps.The current growth in the industry is being driven by users from Tier II and III towns.

9. What lead to growth of Fantasy Sports in India?
Sports leagues and their advent
Indian Premier League (IPL) remains the prime
sports property in India, both from a sporting as
well as a fantasy sports point of view, the
emergence of these new leagues ensures that
users can engage with multiple sports throughout
the year. The regional/ geography based team
structures of most of the new leagues, coupled with
the presence of national and international stars,
ensures a keen following of these leagues on
fantasy sports platforms as well.
Cheap and High Speed Internet
Over the last two years, the number of internet
subscribers has grown from 368 million in
September 2016 to 560 million in September
2018, of which 86 per cent were broadband
subscribers. Growth in digital infrastructure
has led to the availability of high speed
internet in the hands of the Indian masses,
helping drive growth in fantasy sports.
More investors
With an increase in demand for
competitive games, gaming companies
are attracting substantial investments
towards developing the e-sports
ecosystem in India. Alibaba, Paytm,
Youzu,
Tencent, and Nazara recently and
heavily invested in Fantasy Sports.
Rising middle classes
India enjoys a favourable demographic for the
overall growth of online gaming due to its
young median age (27.9 years in 2019). Nearly
61 per cent of India’s population is expected
to be under the age of 35 in 2021. This
relatively young population with increasing
disposable incomes and access to digital
infrastructure rapidly contribute to growth of
fantasy sports.
Fantasy games, due to its rewarding experience, act
as a power-up for sports enthusiasts in its
way.Sports nerds spend an excessive amount of
time researching players and teams to form the best
match. Fantasy games give a safe and secure
platform to the millennials to enjoy their favourite
sport at their leisure and win real cash rewards.
Millennials are getting attracted to this fantasy
gaming world as it offers them a package of thrill
and action, real sports experience, which is both fun
and rewarding as well as it boosts their skills level.
Thrill and earnings
Well-known sports personalities like M.S. Dhoni,
Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Saurav Ganguly, are all
associated with one or the other fantasy cricket
platforms, to undo the perception that fantasy
gaming is equivalent to sports betting.
Sportspersons, as brand ambassadors, have
created a positive reputation for fantasy gaming
platforms.
Influencer endorsements

11. Legality of fantasy sports in India
Article 19(1), the colonial era Public Gambling Act, 1867
prohibits individuals or groups from engaging in ‘games
of chance’ but implicitly allows ‘skill-based’ games
involving money.This places fantasy gaming companies in
a regulatory grey area, even though the Supreme Court
has sanctioned them as legal commercial activities.
Fantasy sports platforms require users to
provide their personal information such as
PAN card and bank account details as well as
an address proof, before they can withdraw
their earnings. This provides a method of
tracking the flow/source of money
There are age restrictions on users to play on
fantasy sports platforms. Most of these platforms
do not allow minors to access their games.
Fantasy sport platforms ensure that the interests of
its players are protected. New players can start
playing in free games or practice sessions before
putting money on paid versions. A regulated
environment ensures that players have the option
of approaching a known entity in case of any
dispute.
As per the Government of India Act, 1935, betting
and gambling are listed as Entry 34 of List II of the
Seventh Schedule, allowing states to make their
own laws around betting and gambling. The
premium version of fantasy games are banned in
states like Odisha, Assam and Telangana. Nagaland
and Sikkim
Fantasy sports as a game requires the user to select a team based on
the application of their knowledge of the particular the sport, reducing
luck factor, making it a game of skill.

12. The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports was founded in
2017, with the aim of creating standardized best practises
In the industry. Every business, registered as an OFSG
(Online Fantasy Sports Gaming) has to get approvals as a
‘Game of skill’ from the innovation committee of the FIFS.
FIFS also restricts individuals below the age of 18 from
Participating in OFSGs and assess candidatures on basis
Of government issued photo identities, such as PAN and
AADHAR.
FIFS members are also required to pay GST (Goods and
Services Tax) in addition to their platform fees.

13. Who is the consumers of OFSG platforms?
To understand the psyche of investment of time and money on OFSG platforms, we conducted a survey of around 200 people in our small
group of family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and other acquaintances and the results indicated :
● 85% of our sample audience was aware of OFSG platforms and had used them
● The 15% of our sample audience who did not hear about OFSC platforms, were above 45
● The most active age group on OFSC platforms from our sample audience was 18-29
● The prime motivation for 70% of our sample audience was thrill, fun and the freedom to choose players in a real life like auction
situation, which they found empowering
● Men dominated the usage of OFSG platforms over women
● On an average, our sample audience spent around 30-50 minutes on OFSG platforms, once to thrice a week, primarily on weekends
during normal times. During IPLs or other leagues, their usage surged twice to thrice over.
Age wise distribution of acquaintance, usage, gender distribution and motivation of OFSG, according to our samples.

14. Glimpses of our Questionnaire

16. KPMG conducted an interesting survey of OFSG users and their habits in 2019 and their findings were these

18. Lockdown and the growth of fantasy gaming

19. ● The pandemic and the resultant lockdown have surged the business
of online fantasy sports games.
● According to Internet Exchange DE-CIX, the gaming traffic in India has
surged 109.4 per cent during the ongoing lockdown when compared
with the week of 24- 28 February, 2020.
● The number of its daily users is growing 40-50 per cent week-on-week
since the lockdown, as fantasy sports apps innovated various
gimmicks to gain traction.
● Companies are also onboarding countries favorite celebrities to gain
more traction.

20. ● MyTeam11 has introduced new products like
MyTeam11 Quiz and MyTeam Rummy for user
growth and engagement.
● Paytm First Games introduced ludo, rummy and
tens of other mobile games. On Google’s App store,
the app touts a ludo tournament in which users can
win upto Rs 10 lakh in Paytm cash.
● Ticketing app BookMyShow has followed a similar
path in the absence of ticketing of sporting or any
other kind of event, bringing varied options such as
Pubg mobile tournaments and Mafia – Bin Patti
Khelo Humare Saath, amongst others, for e-gamers
across the country

21. ● Rumycircle has appointed Prosenjit Chatterjee as its ambassador in
Eastern India and Kiccha Sudeepa in South India. They plan to bring all
regional icons on board for each zone.
● Cricplay has gained as many as 2,00,000 users by enabling them to play
live with Gautam Gambhir.
● MPL has roped in Virat Kohli and Tamannah Bhatia has ambassadors.
● Dream11, India’s biggest fantasy sports platform, has roped in MS Dhoni
as its ambassador
Online Fantasy Gaming Influencers

22. THE BRAND JOURNEY

23. Introduction to Fanfight
Founded
2017
Subscribers
6 million+ $6.2M Chief patron
Market share
3%
Digital presence
Brand partnerships
Founder
Akhil Suhag, Founder & CEO, FanFight, completed
Master of Business Administration in Strategy and
Leadership from Indian School of Business and did
Masters in International Business from Grenoble Ecole
de Management.With an army background, Akhil has
grown up in frontier towns and believes that this has
helped him stay grounded and patient. He has
previously worked with Infosys, Dell, and MBA Guru,
and was the founder of Contreezy.com.
A walkthrough of the Fanfight app

24. AT A GLANCE…
Vision :
● To provide a lifelike
gaming experience
through cutting edge
user experience
● Be the safest fantasy
gaming platform by
maximising chances
of winning and offer a
wide range of games
● Reach 10 million users
by 2022 and build a
500 crore revenue
Target Audience :
● Men, 18-35 across tier
1, 2, 3 cities
● Top states - Karnataka,
NCR, Telangana,
Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
● Mid value
states-Maharashtra,
UP, Rajasthan, Bengal,
Bihar
● Low value states - Goa,
Mizoram, Arunachal
Pradesh
Challenges :
● Highly competitive
market with big budget
players
● Falls in a thin line
between a game of
chance and skill, out
of store APK
● No big investors apart
from Head Digital
Works, no brand
ambassador as yet, no
exclusive deals with
top notch brands,
limited marketing
avenues
Pandemic Strategy :
● Data driven third party
investment, long term tie
up only with Phonepe,
Amazon, JIO
● More emphasis on
performance campaigns
than branding
● Greater push to
influencers
● Making the platform the
safest and promoting its
trustworthy nature
● Multilingual product
promotion across digital
mediums

25. AN OVERVIEW OF THE GROWTH OF FANFIGHT OVER THE YEARS

26. Game of chance or game of skill?
Investments
are voluntary
Every adult with valid
documents can join the app
but you need to invest, only
while contest a fixture and win
a fantasy amount
Participants are empowered to
choose their teams and it is the
performance of one’s choice that
determines their performance.
Choices not luck
Rewards disbursed
on wallets
Winning amounts are given to
winners on e-wallets which can be
opened only on registering with
government approved identity
cards
Fanfight is clearly, a game of skill not chance

27. Key Observations, IPL 2019
● Total Marketing Expenditure: 25 crores
● Marketing Strategy: Demand generation through brand awareness and
online performance campaigns
● Top performing channels -
● An average CPR of 77.5 and CPPA of 285 with 28% conversion was
generated
● Affiliates like Cricbuzz and Hotstar also created good brand impact which
led to organic user acquisition by ranking 2nd
with 16% returning user rate
● Total user traffic generated was 4.7 million with 88% New users and 12%
returning user rate. 74% of users were male from 18 to 34 age bracket.
Hindi speaking states formed the top market

28. ● Total amount marketing investment is 10cr
● Reduced the CAC of registered user by approx 40%(198
to 142)
● Increased the conversion rate by 10% from registration
to deposits (16% to ~26.5%)
● Acquired over half a million registered users spprox 6.2
lakh
● CPPA has brought down from 1203 to 462.
● Branding and performance spend ratio, to be equally
divided, with focus on user acquisition in tier 2 cities like
Pune, Vishakhapatnam through social media channels
and behavior tools like Clevertrap and rake per user into
LMH category and address them with more targeted ads
like vernacular language offers etc
● Partnerships:

29. THE
FANFIGHT
EXPERIENCE

30. What sets Fanfight apart?
A winning UI/UX
● A user friendly experience and interface
● Easy to understand and play
● Starting Line up Feature and assistance in selecting a team
● Gadget pool in selected matches
● Safe edit feature for every match
● Dedicated FAQ segment and in-app help center
● Real time experience through augmented reality technology

31. What sets Fanfight apart?
Endless rewards
● Immediate signing up bonus on each registration
● Deposit bonuses, extra cash, cash balance and daily rewards
● Interesting team combinations for greater rewards
● Withdrawals and deposits within 60 minutes through wallets
● Scope to refer and earn

32. What sets Fanfight apart?
Safety
● Only allows 18+ KFC verified individuals to play
● Legally complaint as a game of chance
● Income from the app are taxable under the IT Act 1961
● Winners are provided all TDS certificates
● Immediate disqualification in case of fairplay
discontinuation

33. What sets Fanfight apart?
Special offerings
❏ Seesaw approach
The seesaw approach of Fanfight enables users to choose the best 11
players
❏ ‘Head-to-Head' clash
The Head to Head clash option of Fanfight enables users to create a
separate groups for specific sets of users can compete.
Fanfight blog
Fanfight not only provides its users with a winning user experience and
endless rewards, but also a blog, which has news and opinion posts about
global sports issues

34. THE
FANFIGHT
WEBSITE

35. ● Since Fanfight has an out of store APK, its website is
its core digital asset, where from only customers can
download the app
● The brand is constantly on the lookout of a better
layout for the website and ideating new keywords to
push it forward in terms of search results
● The company has enlisted a total of 320+ major
keywords listed in google, of which overall 130+
keywords ranked within top 10 rank in google across
fantasy cricket, kabaddi and football
● The website is highly intuitive and adapts itself as per
device dimensions

36. - SEO | KEYWORDS SPREADS & OPPORTUNITIES
Keyword Min search volume Max search volume Competition
Competition
(indexed value)
fanfight 10,000 100,000 Low 12
fan fight 1,000 10,000 Low 12
fantasy cricket 10,000 100,000 Low 25
fantasy cricket app 10,000 100,000 Low 32
fantasy cricket tip 10,000 100,000 Low 4
ipl fantasy league 10,000 100,000 Low 1
ipl fantasy 10,000 100,000 Low 0
dream11 team 10,000 100,000 Low 4
dream11 fantasy cricket 10,000 100,000 Low 7
dream11app 10,000 100,000 Low 2
dream11 tip 10,000 100,000 Low 3
BRAND
[Default]
SEARCH
VOLUME
COMPETITOR’s
Source: google ads keyword planner tool

38. ● Needs to be installed via the
website, not on appstore
● Needs to be installed via the
website, not on appstore
● Needs to be installed via the
website, not on appstore
● Takes 5-6 seconds to be
downloaded from the website
● Takes 5-6 Seconds to be
downloaded from the website
● Hardly takes 4-5 seconds to
be downloaded and installed,
Precisely loads the fastest
● OTP verified registration ● OTP verified registration ● OTP verified registration
● No Joining Bonus ● Joining bonus provided to
encourage new players
● No joining bonus
● Fast loading, quick speed ● Fast loading, quick speed ● A little slow to load
● The face of MS Dhoni, the
brand ambassador used for
brand recall
● No ambassador to flaunt
● The face of Virat Kohli and
Tamannah Bhatia, the brand
ambassadors used for brand
recall
● Need to select players
manually, mainly focussed on
cricket, baseball, basketball
and football, in app help
● Need to select players
manually, mainly focussed on
cricket, baseball, basketball
and football, in app chat center
● Wide array of games, AI induced
player matching as per calibre,
video tutorials, LIVE shows,
stock information and more

39. BRAND CHALLENGES

40. Challenge of securing funding
Challenge of
Segmenting, Targeting and
Positioning
Challenge of a saturated market
Challenge of finding the right partners
Technological challenges

41. Challenge of securing funding
Games are a difficult enough industry to keep up with when one is embedded in it. While less creative industries may
have fairly predictable avenues for expansion and development, the combination of technological and creative
evolution makes gaming particularly hard to pin down
It is estimated that India has about 200+ OFSG games and apps, of which Dream11, Howzzat and MPL occupy the
lion’s share. Fanfight holds only 3% of the market revenue and thus, it is difficult for the company to attract
investments.
The company has a total of $6.4million in funding, which can be put into:
● Feb 28, 2017 FanFight raised $150,000 / Pre-Seed.
● Feb 5, 2018 FanFight raised $1,000,000 / Seed.
● Aug 10, 2018 FanFight raised $1,000,000 / Debt Financing.
● Mar 1, 2019 FanFight raised $4,000,000 / Series A.
Hyderabad-based Head Digital Works (HDW), which operates online rummy gaming company Ace2Three, has acquired
a majority stake and invested $1 million
SOME WAYS TO AUGMENT FUNDING PROSPECTS FOR FANFIGHT CAN BE:
1) Leveraging LinkedIn as a professional networking and thought leadership platform
2) Other options can include bootstrapping, crowdfunding, seeking angel investment, seeking venture capital
investment
3) Seeking government intervention-Government has launched ‘Bank Of Ideas and Innovations’
program.Government backed ‘Pradhan Mantri Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Limited
(MUDRA)‘ starts with an initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore to extend benefits to around 10 lakhs SMEs. You are
supposed to submit your business plan and once approved, the loan gets sanctioned.

42. Role of in securing fund
● In today’s world, Linkedin serves as a great platform for connecting with potential investors, however, Fanfight has nil
activities on Linkedin, despite having 866 followers
● Linkedin can be harnessed in the following ways:
NETWORKING THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP
COLLABORATION
Linkedin is a great way
to show the world, what
your company has been
up to, by showing your
company updates,
employee profile, vision
and mission. It is like a
company portfolio on
the web, that each
investor shall look at
before making a
decision on the
prospects of your future,
to get a return on their
investments.
With the prospect on
writing notes and
LIVE videos available
on Linkedin, the
senior management of
any firm can spread
his vision to the
world. This is a great
way to convince
prospective investors
that, their efforts shall
be worth it.
Linkedin is also an
effective tool
collaboration with
players
From the same
industry, influencers
and potential
investors
CORPORATE
SHOWCASE
Leveraging
linkedin to show
the skills,
competencies and
values of your
team is a great way
to build public
relations and
eventually reach
investors
ACQUIRING
NEW
CUSTOMERS
Linkedin is a great
reach out and lead
generation platform
for acquiring new
corporate leaders,
rolling out corporate
offers. Greater
subscribers, ensure
greater funds

43. Challenge of segmentation, targeting and positioning

44. We conducted a research of the market in our own circle of 200 people and based on our data, a divide of age group, earnings, rural urban divide are as follows:
Percentage
of players

45. Ideal online marketing expenditure divide as per data
50%
40%
10%
15%
5%
● As the business model of fantasy sports is intrinsically
related to sports leagues, the lion’s share of investments
should go to marketing during online sports leagues
such as IPL, ISL etc. This can include broadcasting
advertisements during commercial breaks on matches on
apps such as Hotstar and on screen static
advertisements. Hence, it should occupy the highest, that
is 25% of the total digital budget
● Affiliate marketing across platforms such as Hotstar,
Netflix, Voot, Spotify, Ganaa and other online mediums is
a good way to redirect customers of OTT platforms and
should occupy 20%
● Google adwords shall focus not only on microsites but
also on interest based search marketing on platforms of
choice such as other visited websites, Youtube etc and
should occupy 15%
● Social media is the fastest and most cost effective
engagement and user acquisition tool. It should have
10% of the budget
●
● Youtube ads are also a convenient way to reach out to
customers, who have interest in OFSG and thus gets 10%
of budget
●
● Coverage on popular online portals such as Pulse and
Sportzkeeda etc has immense potential of outreach,
hence 5% of the budget can be reserved for online PR
●
● Since 85% of our audience is dominant in the mobile app
mode, running suggested ads on the app stores will work
wonders in targeting interested customers, hence 5%
must be spent on it
25%
10%
20%
15%
5%
10%
10%
Social media
Public Relations
5%

46. Tier 2 and 3 cities target strategy
As indicated by data 30% of our target audience comes from Tier 2 and 3 cities of India, where people in the age group of 18-29, are not only interested in
OFSG but also have the necessary time and enthusiasm for it, forming our target group. In order to mobilize and enhance Fanfight’s penetration, into
these cities, the following strategies can be adapted :
Adopting a multi lingual interface
Effective presence on platforms
Predominant in tier 2&3 cities
and towns
Engagement with
local influencers
The user experience of
Fanfight;s gaming platform in
languages other than English
will enhance the outreach in
smaller cities and towns,
where people are comfortable
in vernacular
Apps like Tiktok, Sharechat,
Roposo, Helo need to be used by
Fanfight for increasing outreach in
Tier 2 and 3 cities. These apps shall
increase user engagement, as they
thrive upon user generated content
and can be used as a tool for both
social listening and customer
acquisition.
Local level micro influencers,
who may not be sports
personalities, but can be local
TV stars, musicians or social
media celebrities can be great
resources for greater brand
recall in smaller towns.
Tie up with local
OTT platforms
Affiliate marketing with local
OTT platforms, which people
abound for entertainment is a
great way to leverage online
customer acquisition

47. OTHER VENTURES
While other online fantasy sports games are predominantly cricket oriented, Fanfight is expanding
into other fantasy sports genres, such as basketball, baseball and football, with huge cash
bonuses. This is a company venture aimed at new client acquisition during the lockdown.

48. Challenge of saturated market
● India has more than 200 online fantasy sports applications, where Dream 11, MPL etc play market leaders
● Fanfight faces the perpetual challenge of standing out of its competitors in the red ocean market
● While players like Dream 11 and MPL have chosen the route of celebrity endorsements and aggressive multilingual
television advertisements, Fanfight wants to move with a customer centric and word of mouth approach. The core
marketing strategy of Fanfight is to convert freemium customers into premium customers using word of mouth
publicity, rewards and loyalty benefits
● Affiliate marketing with players such as JIO and Hotstar in addition to social media content and user acquisition
campaign is another territory where Fanfight aims to compete with its rivals
● In addition to cricket, Fanfight has also introduced Kabaddi, Rummy and Football into its forte for engaging a vast
number of users and breaking the monopoly of rivals, who are focussed majorly on cricket

49. Challenge of finding the right partners
Some of Fanfight’s partners
● Being a mix between technology and creative media, the gaming
business is a very unique industry. Traditional investment community doesn't
fully understand the games industry and so is reluctant to get involved in seed
Funding and Series A funding for game companies.
● Games are a difficult enough industry to keep up with when one is
embedded in it. While less creative industries may have fairly predictable
avenues for expansion and development, the combination of technological
and creative evolution makes gaming particularly hard to pin down.
● Venture capitalists are unfamiliar with the gaming industry, they can't
really contribute much beyond money. They might be able to add value when it
comes to logistical functions common to any start-up (best practices for
staffing up and the like), but they're not going to feel like they're much help
from a strategic perspective.
● Initially, finding an investor was tough for Fanfight, but the firm grew
six times every year since it launched its full-fledged product.
● In addition to receiving funding from Head Digital Works for funding
And JIO and Hotstar for affiliate marketing, Fanfight has tied up with
cricket.com

50. Challenge of Technology
● The biggest technology challenge faced by Fanfight is the
inability of a user to download the app from either of
IOS/Android. In order to download the app, one needs to visit the
website and download an APK version, which may be a difficult
process
● Appstores are full of counterfeit apps who have a similar
interface and logo and it is difficult for laymen to distinguish
between the real and fake apps
● Keeping the UX lag free owing to being used simultaneously is a
great challenge. The startup claims to have an advanced tech
stack, which ensures the shortest lag between the live game and
updates on a player’s potential wins.
● During the IPL, FanFight uses HotStar's APIs for effective
targeting as the streaming giant has a clear demarcation of its
subscribers' profiles. This has helped the startup onboard more
users onto its platform. But handling server load during the
matches and data security of user’s remains a challenge

51. Growth Strategy
● Social media user acquisition
● Search Engine Marketing
● Multilingual Television advertising
● Influencer marketing
● Affiliate marketing
● Affiliate marketing
● Public Relations

52. Social Media User Acquisition Strategy
● Fanfight uses social media as both a new user acquisition as
well as online reputation management and brand
management tool
● As a tool of brand management, Fanfight engages with its
users through creatives posts and trivia largely about cricket,
rewards and recognitions, LIVE sessions
● As a tool of customer service, Fanfight solves queries on
social media through the usage of chatbots, direct
messaging. It has indulges in through weekly text monitoring
and other social listening practises for knowing user
conversations
● To gain new users, Fanfight generates content and lead
generation campaigns preceding crucial tournaments

53. Challenges
● Reaching out to a pan national audience
Currently the highest engagement comes from Karnataka, NCR,
Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, however, lukewarm
response comes from Maharashtra, UP, Rajasthan, West Bengal etc
● Linguistic challenges
In order to tap into a wide market, Fanfight faces challenges, while their
primary language of communication on social media is English and Hindi,
they are looking for vernaculars to produce content, however, their
challenge is to identify which regional language shall be best suited for
them.
● Justifying the advertisement expenditure
Conversion ratio of expenditure to leads in 1:6 or worse
● Reaching out to the premium segment
Currently JIO users from android devices are most active on social media,
the brand needs to augment strategies to reach out to a premium customer
segment that invests more

54. ● Khel kar Dikha was Fanfight’s flagship campaign designed around a budget of 3 crores, which increased conversions by
5X
● The campaign featured both brand awareness posts as well as lead generating carousel ads and was rolled out during IPL
2019
● An average CPR of 77.5 and CPPA of 285 with 28% conversion was generated
● Of all social media platforms, Facebook has generated the highest traffic and conversions, with Facebook messenger
being an effective tool of customer engagement. Instagram has garnered the highest app download

55. #BossMove was another popular social media campaign during IPL 2019, which
gave Fanfight a great traction and conversions

56. Television Advertising Strategy

57. Fanfight on Television
● Unlike competitors like MPL, ACE2Three and Rummy circle, who are going for a strategy of aggressive
multilingual television advertising, Fanfight invests in television advertising during crucial business seasons
like the IPL and ISL
● Fanfight has primarily sticked to Hindi as a medium of expression for its television advertisements.
● As per company’s public declarations, Television advertising during IPL 2019, increased user acquisition of
freemium to premium mode by 5% and organic growth by 3 times
Television yields the highest click through rate for Fanfght advertisements

58. Some of Fanfight’s popular television advertisements

59. SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
● For a long time, Google prohibited usage of adwords
for fantasy sports, however it lifted its ban in July 2019
● Since the ban was lifted after the top business season
for Fanfight (IPL 2019) had already elapsed, the
company has been lukewarm yet focused on its
adwords strategy
● Adwords is an expenditure focused strategy, where
the bigger players in the market indeed take the larger
pieces of the cake, but despite this, using its sheer
keyword research, and behavioral monitoring, Fanfight
manages to get a whopping 12% conversion every
month, while the general industry rate, with 5X the
expenditure is 28%
● Fanfight engages in competitive keyword research,
CPC ROI Calculation, Adwords planning and bid
management very aggressively
● The usual lure for audiences to click on ads are cash
rewards, benefits and prizes
Sample Pay Per Click Banner:

60. Influencer
Marketing
● Fanfight had always made it a mandate not to be
a part of the herd and to stand out. With major
crickets being already signed by market rivals,
fanfight steered clear of a macro influencer or a
brand ambassador strategy
● However Fanfight is keen on building a network
of micro level influencers with a good social
media following who would engage prospective
customers through engaging content
● During IPL 2019, Fanfight created a network of
250 micro level sports commentators on social
media to leverage their campaign ‘Khel kar
dikhayo’, through a budget of 1.5 crores, which
gave them 50K + referral downloads
● Fanfight is keen on onboarding new influencers
as a pandemic strategy, as people tend to spend
more and more time online, during the pandemic

61. As said, to Fanfight, its core influencers are its users. Fanfight thus celebrates its
customers through customer testimonials and success stories across social media.

62. AFFILIATE MARKETING
RTB/ Programmatic Platforms with Publishers or
Large set of Inventory
- Appnext
- Adcash
- Taboola
- Adzebra
- Iron source
- Columbia Ads
- Unity Ads
- Outbrain
- Besides Google, Facebook and MSN, even Ad networks, RTB’s & Affiliate partners also have a decent market share
around 8% which are used for acquiring users
Campaign types
- CPI - Cost per Lead
- CPR - Cost per Registration
- CPM - Cost per 1000 impressions
- CPV - Cost per View
- CPD - Cost per Deposit
- CPIE - Cost per Inapp Event

63. One of Fanfight’s recent programmatic media buying efforts were
being the title sponsor for the webseries ‘Queen’, an unofficial
biography of Selvi Jayalalitha, that streamed on MX player.
Fanfight was also one of the associate sponsors of Flames, a
webseries on MX player / TVF, where it featured display ads

64. PUBLIC RELATIONS
● Fanfight looks at public relations as a way to reach out to
potential users by magnifying its brand value and for
thought leadership
● Instead of using newspapers, Fanfight is more keen on
digital outlets for its public relations strategy
● Fanfight hosts an own blog on its website for a public
relations approach and site ranking
Some of Fanfight’s public relation partners :

65. WAY AHEAD FOR FANFIGHT

66. Since fantasy sports industry possesses a huge customer
base, user experience happens to top the priority list for
all the companies in the market.Therefore Fanfight needs
to keep innovating its user journey to have an edge over
competitors.
Low competitions and growing revenues will make
fantasy sports a profitable investment avenue for
business enthusiasts and Fanfight cannot let itself be
lagging behind in the race of growth.
While the demand for online fantasy sports is increasing,
monetising has always been a challenge for online games
in India. In the US, online games are available for free but
the developer earns billions through in-app purchase. But
India has a freemium model. A majority of the developers
offer a single-match ‘Free to Play’ or ‘Pay to Play’ model
of daily fantasy sports. Converting freemium customers
to premium customers is another challenge for Fanfight.

67. 1. Leveraging Data Analysis
FanFight uses data analytics to increase the chances of players winning more.
Thus, the chance of winning on FanFight is 20x higher than other platforms.
FanFight uses data analytics on the platform by ensuring that
the users are competing against equally skilled players.
For example, FanFight identifies new users on its platform and ensures
that they play against users who also fall in the same pool.
This ensures fairness in playing fantasy cricket.
Data on user behaviour can help brands to showcase personalised
tournaments to users, boosting the engagement. Another instance is
where a user’s data helps in displaying relevant Mega Contests first.

68. 2. Using Artificial Intelligence
When it comes to fantasy sports in India, the IPL season is in terms of both
performance and customer success. A conversational AI bot can be used
by Fanfight to engage customers, answer queries and indulge them in
conversations.
AI can also be used for personalized, contextual, and timely engagement
campaigns to drive higher app monetization and retention, through
user-level behavioural insights.
AI has brought a realistic gaming experience for the users and the game
characters become more realistic and natural than ever before. AI has the
potential to improve the way game characters express and can create
something more natural and realistic.
3. Through Blockchain
Blockchain can help users own, create, trade, and monetise digital
assets like players that represent real-life sports performances.
Many fantasy sports platforms have adopted blockchain technology
in order to maintain the integrity of the game and also to prove that
the games they are offering are fair in all aspects.Fantasy
gambling on the blockchain also mitigates the risks with regards
to funding distribution including the timely transfer of your
winnings, no third-party involvement, therefore reduced fees.

69. 4. Using augmented and virtual reality
Adding a layer of real lifelike experience by adding virtual reality will make the
game appealing to a wide range of users and on the sports sponsorship side, the
app would feature patent published interactive advertising through AR and
geolocation technology that lets advertisers quantify views, interactions, and
redemption of advertising promotions. This means the app would have a dynamic
AR advertising module that will enable advertisers to target players using their
geolocation in relation to stores, restaurants, and businesses. In addition, the
system would be able to incorporate independent AR logos that, if captured, give
you coupons or promotions to advertiser brands.

70. Most of Fanfight’s users reach out to the company to settle their user engagement
disputes through social media. Using an active social listening approach which
should ideally be a mix of human interaction and technological solutions through
software and programming, Fanfight can provide a great customer service.
5. Social listening is important
6. Increasing customer engagement
User retention and acquiring new customers is not just about a great user experience
but great customer journeys. Fanfight should come up with schemes and gimmicks to
reach out to its target audience and existing user pool through new engagement
schemes, rewards, celebrity engagement and recognition.
As of now Akhil Suhag, Founder & CEO never misses a chance to interact with
players. The CEO personally distributing prizes to winners & this has build a strong
relationship between the users & the portal.FanFight distinguishes itself from other
platforms by not only offering daily cash prizes, but also enables fast cash withdrawal
and a chance to compete with one’s friends.

71. 7. Display advertisement
8. Aggressive referral schemes
The pandemic has ensured that people continue working from
homes for the longest time, which has magnified the OTT
audience. With multiplexes being shut, more and more
production houses are targeting OTT releases with major
players like Amazon Prime and Netflix releasing new content
every week. People are also keen to learn new skills on web
learning apps and portals in a volatile job market. It is the best
time to reach out to newer audiences via display advertising.
While Fanfight rewards customers who refer the app to others, it needs to
introduce new gimmicks such as celebrity meetups, campaigns and user
recognition to boost up its referral schemes.
Referral schemes and word of mouth have traditionally been the strongest
suit of Fanfight. Hence, they need the highest push.

72. 9. Celebrity and influencer engagement
10. Constantly evolving UI / UX
With the advent of short duration video apps and experiential social media like
Instagram, the role of influencers have magnified in the advertising ecosystem.
Influencers not only wield a huge impact on narrating the unique selling
propositions of a product to the target audience, but also to get a referral audience
and increase the brand outreach.
Celebrities can be the best influencers for any product owing to the massive
following they enjoy and the trust and recall they bring to a brand. Fanfight has
thus far mainly focussed on word of mouth publicity, but engaging a celebrity
brand endorser is not a bad idea.
Fanfight gained immense traction after the launch of Fanfight 2.0, a brand new
UI. Frequent upgrades in looks and styles will not only act as triggers to keep
the audience engaged and the app interesting, it will help Fanfight adapt to the
constantly changing demands of the user.
An indefinite market research is needed to come up with interesting
developments on the UI/UX

73. 11. Increase in performance marketing
12. Adding new games to the mix
In addition to reaching out to the audience that is already looking
for it through SEM, Fanfight should continue to leverage
remarketing campaigns through pixels, website visit
advertisements and display advertisements. The targeting of these
advertisements should be broadened to reach out to a wider
audience and convert them with schemes and offers.
The current targeting of Fanfight mainly features men from
Tier 1, 2, 3 cities within the age group of 18-35 and is
mainly focussed on cricket and football.
Fantasy sports apps across India, are adding newer games
like Ludo, Chausar, Golf etc. New games will appeal to
newer audiences expanding the outreach and revenues.

74. 13. Broadening the audience perception
14. Amplifying the brand identity
As already stated Fanfight mainly focuses on an urban male audience,
however, an online survey conducted by us, shows that a large number of
women are interested in fantasy sports, in order to tap into them, a chunk
of fantasy games can be added. With kitty parties and other get togethers
gone for a toss in times of the pandemic, a rebranding of the app for
women can be profitable.
The ultimate asset of the Fanfight brand is its identity. It is important for the brand
to carve a niche for itself through a combination of outreach, performance
marketing and recall using the best practises of marketing both online and offline.

75. Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 was expected to be pick up season for online fantasy sporting. But the pandemic and the
indefinite suspension of the cricket and other sports tournaments has put all major marketing and advertising plans on hold,
and forced platforms to switch tracks.
After weeks of lockdown, the world of sports is slowly restarting. The Fanfight company was
targeting to achieve 10 million subscribers by end of 2020 IPL season.
Fantasy Sports Apps are the hottest property in the otherwise stagnant sports ecosystem.
While the sports industry grows at roughly 15% per annum (according to Data POWA),
the Fantasy Sports industry saw its user base grew by a staggering 25 times within
just 3 years between June 2016 and February 2019. The Indian gaming market is
growing at an unprecedented rate with giants like Alibaba-backed Paytm, Youzu,
Tencent, and Nazara heavily investing.
In a short time, Fanfight has made a steady rise into the domain of Fantasy Sports as
one of India’s top 10 OFSG games, with its one of a kind growth strategy and
outstanding user experience and trustworthy track record. Unlike competitors,
Fanfight has refrained from any major campaign or expenditure to avoid the charade of
competition as always and hopes to be back in the business with a bang through strides in its
product and service, instead of promotion gimmicks.