Erica DSouza – Dutch Uncles

How Mobile Premier League (MPL) is Leveraging Mobile Gaming Boom in India

Erica DSouza — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 03:35:03 +0000

Who said mobile games are a waste of time? The rapid adoption of smartphones, digital payment systems and cheaper internet plans have played a significant role in the rise of the gaming services industry in India. Seeing its potential, companies in the sector have capitalised heavily, raising large amounts from investors.

According to a KPMG report, the fantasy sports industry user base grew 165.9 per cent during 2016-2020, from 2 million in June 2016 to 100 million in 2020.

Sports in India has always been in the spotlight. If not all sports, cricket stands out as a fan favourite. Now, what if you could play numerous sports from your couch, desk or while waiting in line and earn rewards? Crazy, right? Well, a powerful duo went ahead and created a business model based on this idea.

MPL Descends Into Fantasy Sports

Mobile Premier League (MPL), founded by Srinivas Kiran Garimella and Shubham Malhotra, is one of the leading players in the Indian fantasy sports market. This Bengaluru-based startup was founded in 2018. Galactus Funware Technology Private Limited, incorporated on 22 May 2018, is the parent company to MPL.

MPL is an application that provides a platform for users to participate in skill-based sports and win real rewards. Within seven to eight months, MPL was called the country’s fastest-growing e-sports platform and the fastest-growing application in the country.

In February 2021, the online gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) was valued at $945 million.

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A platform for users to participate in skill-based sports and win real rewards.

Satisfying the Gamer Within

The co-founders identified the unquenched thirst for interactive gaming. So while pro-gamers need the right equipment to get going, users on MPL need just three things- a handset, data/internet and accessible modes of payment.

The MPL app is a publishing platform for other gaming firms. MPL does not develop games in-house. Instead, it hosts about 60+ games.

What Makes MPL a User Favorite?

The upside that MPL offers their users is unlimited and instant withdrawals and a simple KYC process.

Another plus point in MPL’s basket is that it offers a more diverse range of games than its competitors. MPL’s success could be attributed to this variety offered from fantasy sports to e-sports. Fantasy sports refers to participants assembling imaginary teams online to play professional sports virtually.

Srinivas Kiran Garimella, the Co-founder and CEO of Mobile Premier League, highlighted that they want to focus on distribution. MPL’s goal is to offer multiple games and formats to users on the MPL platform. It certainly helps that MPL’s design and features are easy to use, keeping a user’s spirit of playing high and free of distractions.

What makes MPL unique is that people can compete with one another. MPL already has multiple forms of monetisation. For example, ahead of the IPL T20 season, MPL sold tickets at Rs. 99 where users just needed to buy it once and could play fantasy for free for all matches. Otherwise, charges for each gaming event varied between Rs. 2 and Rs. 30. However, MPL is looking at one of these becoming a long-term source of monetisation while keeping a high level of engagement.

In 2019, MPL was recognised as the ‘Best Fantasy Sports Operator’ by the India Gaming Awards.

A Game-Changing Revenue Model

MPL charges an entry fee from the players when they participate in any game. In addition, the tournaments retain a hosting fee amounting to 20 per cent of the total raised from the participating players. MPL’s gaming apps also earn revenue through advertisements and in-app purchases.

Happy MPL Players

A large portion of MPL’s customer base comes from referrals. This could be a sign of happy customers. MPL also focuses on customer satisfaction through smoother API response and performance. Every millisecond is critical in gaming, be it Temple Run for a Quiz. To foolproof the application so that players do not experience any lag, MPL has maintained an API response time of 30 milliseconds or less since launch.

The decision to add quiz games to the array was to increase the platform’s variety and attract youngsters. Generally, gaming is either thought to be for the professionals or “timepass”. MPL changed this for its customers. MPL added a value that reflects, more than you bet, straight into your account!

MPL Ranks High on the Leaderboard

MPL launched in 2018 and successfully raised 250 crores during Series A funding. Investment firm Sequoia Capital was leading in the funding process, followed by Times Internet, GoVentures, RTP Global, BeeNext, Base Ventures, and Venture Highway. This funding certainly acted as a power-booster for the seven-month-old mobile gaming platform. In 2020, MPL sponsored two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams, namely Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.

From Fantasy Sports to On-the-Field

Just ahead of IPL 2019, Sportskeeda reported that MPL roped in Team India captain Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador in a deal valued at Rs 12 crore.

In 2020, MPL was the presenting sponsor of the hit reality television show Big Boss. The reality show’s tremendous popularity possibly elevated MPL’s reach to a wider audience.

In 2021, MPL raised $95 million in funding. The round of investments was led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures

MPL “Just Did It” Instead of Nike

2020 yet again brought about another business opportunity when the BCCI formally announced MPL Sports apparel and accessories as the official kit sponsor and merchandise partner of the National men’s and women’s teams as well as the U-19. Succeeding Nike, who had a five-year deal from 2016 to 2020 worth rupees 370 crores, MPL Sports signed a three-year agreement from November 2020 to December 2023.

MPL Sports offers a wide range of sportswear and cricket equipment with accessories like masks, wrist bands and other gear. The winning streak for MPL does not stop here. Apart from manufacturing Team India jerseys, they also sell licensed Team India merchandise.

MPL, being a startup established in 2018, dethroned a player as big as Nike, proving that entrepreneurs have the potential to emerge the winner too.

Juggling Advertising

MPL thrives on digital mode. Equipped with the knowledge that gamers and mobile users have their eyes trained on a screen, MPL advertises on television as well as digital ads to create good value. Sports sponsorships are also an avenue of advertising that MPL strongly pursues. By shooting the ball through various advertising mediums and strategies, MPL increases brand awareness and presence in the customer’s eyes.

In 2020, MPL began focusing on targeting YouTube to increase brand awareness as it recently crossed 1.2 million subscribers on its channel. Amit Bhadana happens to be one of India’s biggest Youtube stars and has also been associated with MPL, having featured the company in many of his sketches.

MPL went a step ahead and brought YouTubers Ashish Chanchlani and Elvish Yadav on board to launch marketing initiatives. After collaborating with cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Tamannaah Bhatia, MPL has been on the lookout for young digital influencers to pump presence and multiply the consumer base.

From the marketing strategies, it is evident that MPL understands where their audience is and the best way to tap their attention.

MPL: Acquisitions upon Acquisitions

Mobile Premier League (MPL) acquired Pune based Crevise Technologies in May 2019 within 8 months of starting operations. Crevise Technologies, formed in 2016, provided end-to-end product engineering consultation. A collaboration between the two has happened in the past to improve MPL platform performance and operational efficiency.

In 2021, MPL added GamingMonk to its list of acquisitions. GamingMonk hosts esports tournaments across multiple platforms that include PC, consoles and mobile phones. GameMonk creates an integrated platform where publishers and gamers come together. The acquisition could boost key national, regional and global tournament IPs and allow MPL to develop robust esports and broadcasting capabilities.

Given that MPL is a platform that hosts fantasy sports, smoother user experience, multiple game options, and the best of back-end engineering are crucial.

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Users on MPL need just three things- a handset, data/internet and accessible modes of payment.

What’s in a Game: Challenges and Competition

Since mobile gaming and fantasy sports took off in India, MPL’s biggest challenge is standing out from the competition right now, because competitors like My11Circle, BalleBaazi.com, and RummyCircle have also been actively advertising.

When MPL secured the apparel sponsorship for IPL, Dream11 replaced Vivo as the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

In April 2021, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was set to permanently ban all gaming transactions under Rs 50 on its popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI) channel. This move was said to favour banks that face processing loads but posed a major problem to real-money gaming platforms running on microtransactions. Apps that charged players as and when they played over a fixed subscription faced this challenge.

Google’s Play Store does not host games or apps that urge users to bet money towards a prize pool. This happens to be the foundation model for many fantasy games. Therefore, Indian fantasy gaming companies need users to visit their official website and download APKs (Android Application Package). MPL is not the only player operating outside the Google Play store. But by being on Google Play Store, a seal of “trust” is stamped on the hearts of users. Google Play Store allows companies to host APK links by providing good software solutions.

Gambling and money sports have also been up for debate when it comes to their legality in India. MPL app is legal in India and is certified by MasterCard and Visa as a secure platform. On MPL, players can bet and engage in a duel. It comes very close to betting and gambling. Hence, while most states allow games like rummy, poker and fantasy sports, deeming them to be games of skill, Telangana, Orissa, Assam, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh have banned these games under anti-gambling laws. If other states in India view it the same way, then MPL’s goal to gain from this model could face significant roadblocks in the long run.

Recently, real-money gaming advertisements warn customers of the risks involved through disclaimers. This could make eager players pause and rethink their choice to download and participate in fantasy sports.

Unlike online gaming, fantasy sports are linked to live sports. When major sports events are cancelled or rescheduled, the revenue stream from fantasy sports is affected. This was visible when the pandemic hit in 2019. With the Indian Premier League (IPL) suspension in 2021, sponsors face an immediate impact. The FIFS (Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports)-KPMG report reveals that due to Covid-19, fantasy sports might face a 20-22 per cent decline in GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) in FY21 compared to FY20.

What Does the Future Hold?

Sensor Tower, an application intelligence firm, revealed that India tops the list for the biggest global markets for mobile game downloads in the first nine months of 2020. This accounts for close to 17 per cent of all global downloads.

MPL has over 60 games and is a blend of content and gaming, from casual online games such as rummy and ludo to fantasy gaming, including cricket and football.

MPL crosses over numerous boundaries from online gaming, fantasy sports to possible online gambling. However, its USP includes “skill-building gaming”, which could evade pressure from regulatory frameworks.

The platform claims to have witnessed 3x-4x growth from the pre-covid period, with the user base being a melting pot of working professionals, homemakers, students and retired senior citizens. The co-founders believe that e-sports could make it to the Olympics very soon because it is already a part of the Asian Games. This could set a winning streak for online and fantasy gaming in the near future.

The post How Mobile Premier League (MPL) is Leveraging Mobile Gaming Boom in India appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

BookMyShow: The Indian Ticketing Disruptor

Erica DSouza — Sat, 15 May 2021 10:35:04 +0000

“We found peace in nature”- A common topic of discussion among people sharing their profound experiences after returning from a backpacking trip in South Africa in 1999, except for one person who “found a business idea”.

Ashish Hemrajani was enjoying peace while sitting under a tree at a beautiful location, listening to the promotion of rugby tickets on a local radio channel, when a business proposition hit his head. Little did he know that it would grow to become one of the most prominent players in the entertainment industry.

The 24-year-old entrepreneur had so much faith in his idea that without a second thought he sent the ‘I quit’ message to his boss to give himself that push of pursuing his idea. Hemrajani returned home with a business model in his head to disrupt the informal ticketing industry with the Indian market as his bull’s eye. Hence, the birth of bookmyshow.com.

Genesis of Ticket-Booking Transformation

Hemrajani soon turned his bedroom into an office space and launched his first internet venture – Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the parent company of BookMyShow – in 1999.

He roped in his friends Parikshi Dar who took the technological domain by its reins, and Rajesh Balpande who took over the finances. “The three musketeers” started the company to streamline the ticketing market. BookMyShow was initially branded as ‘Go For Ticketing’. In 2002, the company was renamed ‘India Ticketing’ before ending up with the current name in 2007.

The start-up was focused on making movie ticket booking as simple as possible before diving into selling tickets across every segment in entertainment. They had it all covered from concerts, stand-up shows, open-mic, flea markets, plays, sporting events, and workshops. Planning to visit the planetarium? BookMyShow got your tickets ready in a few clicks! That was the kind of branding the start-up undertook.

Through the website and mobile application (which was launched in 2012), users were easily able to view show timings, read reviews, watch trailers, book tickets and much more.

The company’s unique selling point rested in breaking free from the traditional process of waiting in line and the disappointment of hearing the words “Sold Out” exactly when you were an inch away from the ticket counter. BookMyShow made it possible to reserve a place at an event or a movie for yourself from the comfort of your couch. We will unfold how the company’s offering and motto expanded beyond just booking tickets with ease.

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The start-up was focused on making movie ticket booking as simple as possible before diving into selling tickets across every segment in entertainment.

A Bumper Hit after a “Flop Show”

Every ticket comes at a price! When the trio launched the start-up, selling tickets online was a little too foreign to India. The reasons ranged from low internet penetration and digital transaction/banking services or general lack of awareness of digital mediums for everyday services.

On the other hand, lack of e-ticketing softwares in multiplexes was also a significant concern and added to the start-up’s woes. At one point, they did business by sending people out on bikes to deliver the tickets to customers.

Under such challenges, the business model of the start-up was losing its long term stability and had to be called off. The company had also invested in call centres across 12 cities with around 150 employees.

This was coupled with the bloodbath of Dot-com crash in the US in 2000 which had reached the Indian shores around 2002. As the internet became a bad word, investors began backing out. BooMyShow had to close down offices, except Mumbai and Delhi, with its employee strength coming to mere 6 from 150.

Imagine if the founders had decided to shut down and take up regular jobs. They rather braved the storm and decided to stick along and continue the business. As soon as the waves came down, the founders decided to pick up the pieces and started to invest in building the infrastructure around entertainment first.

The number of multiplexes between 2002 and 2004 were also gradually developing across the country. The founders decided to cloak themselves as “programming arrangement suppliers” that provided computerised tagging programming (e-ticketing software) to multiplexes.

They soon learned that freebies, no matter how good, are not sustainable. So, they began charging for the same. Besides installing these software, the start-up also ran customer care service for the multiplexes amongst others similar offerings.

The Dot-Com crash brought in some positive transformation in the Indian market as well with better internet and visa card facilities.

It took almost five years for the start-up to reap the benefit of this strategy of building up the infrastructure while waiting for the demand to pick up to eventually build a consumer brand on top of that.

Hemrajani learned from the past mistakes and kept pushing forward. Eventually, in 2007, Network 18 made a hefty investment. This was followed by another 5 rounds till 2019 and the start-up managed to raise over $224.5 million.

The Diversification

BookMyShow gradually generated profits and was worth Rs 24.1 crores in 2007. By 2010, the company was the market leader in the online ticketing category. As more and more e-tickets were processed, the profitability kept improving. In July 2012, the company sold a record of 1 lakh tickets in a day and over 2 million tickets in a month.

It was the right time to scale up as the investors lined up. BookMyShow knew that its USP could bring more people to the cinemas and multiplexes, thus, it initiated tie-ups.

In 2013, the company signed a five-year partnership deal with PVR Cinemas, adding 250 new screens to their list.

At the time, 20% of PVR’s ticket sales were generated through its own website. With the tie-up, the multiplex aimed to capture the audience that was not present on the PVR digital platform. Hence the partnership was a perfect marriage. BookMyShow’s analytical ability to target the right content to the right users and marketing initiatives around alternative content was a key point to this partnership.

The company had expanded in over 200 cities by 2014. As investors -SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Network 18- stepped in, the company upped its targets to expand its reach and continued to develop the infrastructure around. It successfully expanded to global markets like Malaysia and New Zealand and aggressively forged new partnerships, especially in sports like Formula 1, Indian Premier League, Aircel Chennai Open, Super Fight League and Yonex Badminton Championships.

The company did not resort to traditional advertising. They reached out to the masses through digital mediums itself. They knew that’s where their audience lived and breathed.

One-Stop Shop Gateway to Entertainment

During 2016-17, the company went on an acquisition spree. The list included – Local food and restaurant recommendation engine Burrp, HD video-on-demand platform Nfusion, online movie ticketing platform MastiTickets, DIY platform Townscript, social media analytics start-up Eventifier, fan relationship management (FRM) solutions provider Fantain Sports and so on. There was a pattern. BookMyShow has started to move way beyond a hassle-free ticketing platform.

It has expanded its vision to become- one-stop destination for entertainment!

Over the years, BookMyShow has gained the advantage of having a deep insightful understanding of users or the target base of any event organiser. Hence, it was in the best possible position to expand its offering to hosting and managing events to bolster its revenue streams.

Its services started right from designing a microsite and a mobile app for an event to event marketing that includes promotions, social media marketing, database marketing to name a few. In short, they created an end-to-end ticketing solution which allowed event organisers to choose from a host of services – right from online services and exposure, on-ground services to consulting services.

Some of the biggest examples are the annual Supersonic Music Event, the Justin Briber concert, The Global Citizen India Festival, IPL, Sunburn etc.

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Over the years, BookMyShow has gained the advantage of having a deep insightful understanding of users or the target base of any event organiser.

Exclusivity Factor

While booking tickets to events on BookMyShow, there are numerous things one might notice. Right from the banners advertising the upcoming blockbusters to a cafe around the corner hosting an open mic event. BookMyShow provides a wide range of choices to customers.

From a business perspective, organisers receive numerous solutions like generating user interest and hype for the events through BookMyShow. This is in addition to the software solutions that the company provides to cinemas. BookMyShow has exclusive access to Vista ERP APIs used by cinemas and multiplexes. These APIs are integrated with the backend of its app to display the real-time availability of movie tickets.

The company makes money through ticketing revenue and non-ticketing revenue. Ticketing revenue includes internet handling fees and commissions on ticket booking. The company charges a convenience fee on the price of the tickets and retains the difference.

If it is a non-movie event, BookMyShow gets a commission from selling tickets to such events. Non-ticketing revenue refers to money made by promotion of a company’s artwork (not restricted to films and short films) for “interest creation”. The company collaborates with BookMyShow and takes advantage of the massive page views to promote new artists and their offerings.

Consumers like anything which is easy-to-use, not too technical and yet appealing. BookMyShow, since the beginning, has maintained a simple user interface, making it easy to navigate. The events are properly categorised with filter options. Their alliance with various payment gateways is a win-win proposition as users are able to avail discounts, offers and reward points. It also cashes on the advantage of selling tickets in various languages, attracting a wider audience.

Survival of the ‘Tickets’: Going OTT Way

When the Dot-Com came crashing down in 2002, BookMyShow stood its ground. When investors pulled out and Hemrajani had to switch to offering software solutions, the business did not close down. The company has refused to bow down time and again against every blow that has come their way.

Now they are facing yet another punch – Covid-19 pandemic. The entertainment industry has been hit hard, with many forced or mulling over to bring the shutters down as the lockdown diaries continue.

The financial reports of the company weigh heavy on them. In 2020, BookMyShow reportedly laid off or furloughed 270 employees in view of the pandemic. Even to date, the company has been renegotiating with vendors, partners and landlords and implementing as many cost-saving measures.

Tough times call for ‘creative’ measures. It noticed a shift in user’s consumption habits for entertainment during the lockdown and implemented agile strategies to keep up. They introduced virtual in-home entertainment offerings in India and other global markets. BookMyShow recently started a pay-per-view model. Users will be able to pay for content from the BookMyShowlibrary, offering over 600 movie titles. The service is called BookMyShow Stream.

The platform will now compete with many other players like Apple TV and Google Play for streaming theatrical releases in India, in addition to OTT players like Netflix, Disney Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video.

In April 2020, the company engaged almost four million people with streaming events online and a lot were free. The platform had opened pre-booking for Zack Snyder’s Justice League from March 6 and sold over 31,000 streams in pre-bookings. Within three days of launch it made history in India on the channel. The numbers show crossed over 100,000 streams in just three days.

BookMyShow Stream became the fastest Transactional-Video-On-Demand (TVOD) platform in India to cross 100,000 streams sold within just one and a half month since its launch.

BookMyShow is agile in its approach and response to customer needs and this is one of the greatest reasons why it has made it as a successful player in the industry so far even after numerous knockdowns.

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