IPL 2020: BalleBaazi.com ensures an immersive experience to fans this season, says CEO Saurabh Chopra

New Delhi, September 22: The novel coronavirus pandemic has affected the sporting world the most while the action is slowly coming to the terms with the new normal as fans are still not getting a chance to enter the stadium.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 has started in the UAE and the fans are forced to watch their favourite cricketers confined in their homes. However, fantasy sports are the way the fans could enjoy sports and even earn some money.

In an exclusive conversation with Mykhel, Saurabh Chopra - the CEO of BalleBaazi.com - narrated how the fantasy sports sector is blooming in the country and how Baazi Games aim to improve the gaming experience for its users, and how its achievements make it a desirable gaming platform during the IPL.

For FY19-20, Baazi Games ended the year with a growth rate of 50-60% CAGR from operations at the group level. They have gradually gained momentum and have cemented their foothold within the industry.

Additionally, they are also projecting similar growth numbers for the FY20-21 as well. The growth in their user base from 1 Million in FY19 skyrocketed to over 5 Million in FY20, is another testament to their success. Mr Chopra, ever since he started his endeavour with the brand has scaled the operations of the brand to great heights, also revealed how they are also eyeing massive growth in the year 2020-21.

Here are the excerpts:

MyKhel: How are you looking at the current economic situation in the country? Do you think during the time of this economic slowdown people are going to invest their money in online gaming?

Saurabh Chopra: The economic slowdown is a challenging phase, which has affected brands across the globe. On the contrary, online gaming platforms have seen a surge in popularity during this lockdown, as people find it the best way to connect to their beloved sports and be involved in it, even though they have to resort to watching it from the confines of their homes. India is among the top five mobile gaming markets in the world with around 300 million gamers. The popularity of real money gaming is on the rise as well. The reason why we are able to cut through the clutter, retain and acquire audiences is because of our nominal buy-ins. We offer maximum value to the users on the amounts they deposit through special bonuses, free entry leagues and micro leagues. Moreover, it's our maximum guarantees on minimum deposits that ensure that people continue investing, playing and winning on our platform.

MK: What was the response of the users during the COVID-19 lockdown? Did you guys witness a rise in your user base?

SC: BalleBaazi.com boasts of a strong user base of 40 Lakh people and even witnessed an increase in CAGR of 100% in the fiscal year of 2019 -2020. While Baazi Games' other platforms - PokerBaazi.com and RummyBaazi.com - saw a rise in participation, BalleBaazi.com which is solely dependent on live sporting events saw slow growth during this period. However, we kept our fans engaged via Virtual Fantasy Leagues, which enhanced their knowledge and eventually their skill & knowledge about respective sports by partnering with FanBlaze- YouTube channel. We enticed our dedicated fans through our other gaming arms that led to gamers visiting the platform, resulting in a rise on our Rummy-based and Poker-based platforms. These applications aim at providing a favourable user experience and aims to expand its user base in 2021 whilst adapting to the market rapidly.

MK: What is the future of online gaming in a country like India where people misjudge online game with gambling? How do you plan to eradicate this social stigma?

SC: India has a huge potential for Fantasy Sports as internet access has expanded to various regions of the country. According to a report published by the governing body of Fantasy Sports in India - The Federation of India Fantasy Sports (FFIS) - 2019 saw an overall turnover of INR 920+ Crore and due to work from home being adapted during the pandemic, it has even predicted the revenues to grow threefold as it may touch INR 2,400+ Crore in 2020.

It also showed a rapid increase in the user base of Online Fantasy Platforms as the participants increased from 2 million in 2016 to 9 Million in 2019. The industry has also seen more players emerging as it increased from 10 operators in 2016 to 140+ operators by the end of 2019. With the increasing number of users, the Contest Entry Amount (CEA) also shot up as it registered a total of INR 16,500 crore in FY20 in comparison to INR 6,000 crore in FY19.

These stats highlight the Indian market's appetite for OFS platforms and the rise for BalleBaazi.com as well. Additionally, we have mapped BalleBaazi.com posting a D-30 retention of 40% for its newly acquired users, which is significantly higher than the industry standard. This has been achieved after adopting a very data-driven approach to prepare product roadmaps and ML-powered planning for activation & engagement campaigns.

The Indian OFS industry features skill-based games that put emphasis on the ability and skills of a player to achieve real cash-driven rewards, based on the diligent decisions made while gaming. For a country which worships Cricket and its players, BalleBaazi.com offers a safe and authentic platform for users to apply their understanding of the sport that they follow religiously and use their expertise to create a team, make suitable combinations and analyse each and every player's performance basis their understanding, which makes for a well-informed decision eventually.

Fantasy Sports is reaching newer heights with each passing day and the responsibility lies on our shoulders, an indigenous brand, to change the perception. We've been successful in breaking the myth to a certain extent and have started seeing mass participation from all across the country. Over the years, we've associated with several colleges such as IIT, to further spread awareness.

MK: How do you sensitise your users so that they are not duped by frauds?

SC: Our app has various SSL protocols that make BalleBaazi.com, one of the most secure sports platforms as users' money is safely transacted through deposits and withdrawals. Having said that, we ensure our platform is updated with the latest security systems certifications and also keeping in mind how dynamic the space is, we consult ethical hackers to find bugs and loopholes. Also, we conduct continuous checks so that there are no imposter applications sneaking in through our firewall, further ensuring that every transaction is safe for our loyal consumers.

MK: You have fixed a target to expand the user base from 5 Million to 50 Million in the next 24-36 months. How are you going to achieve it, any specific plans that you'd like to share with us?

SC: Baazi Games is on track to achieve the proposed expansion in user base from 5 Million to 50 Million in the next 24-36 months. Additionally, we have expanded our product portfolio to cater to various customers. Besides this, BalleBaazi.com caters to various sports apart from Cricket, like Football, Basketball, Baseball, Kabaddi among others, which will enhance the consumers' outlook and widen their perspective in terms of sports and will help us achieve that target. Also, taking our community feedback into consideration, we are continuously working towards revamping the Machine Learning based AI for real-time matches, enhancing the UI UX to be gamified with a minimalistic design philosophy.

MK: With all the expansion plans in place, how do you intend to expand your business? Does the brand have any acquisitions already in place?

SC: RummyBaazi.com had raised a total of $2 million in seed funding from Udtara Ventures last month itself which will enable us to expand, as the market experiences change rapidly. To further amplify the approach, Baazi Games the parent organisation has set aside another $1 million for RummyBaazi.com. Besides this, the Baazi Games team is already in touch with leading conglomerates in their industries, as we intend to expand our portfolio for BalleBaazi.com as well. In line with our expansion plans of broadening our user base, BalleBaazi.com's CAGR has also grown at a rate of 100% in the last financial year and we are expecting a similar growth rate for the next three years as well. Year after year, we've shown results to our investors. Even during the pandemic, we had managed to entertain our users by introducing new features on our platform. We wish to keep at it when it comes to innovation and proving our worth. Now would be the time to jump onto the bandwagon and reap huge profits by investing in the growing sector of fantasy sports and BalleBaazi.com that's destined to become India's go-to fantasy sports platform.

Across our platforms, we have now partnered with various industry leaders to conduct cross-value partnerships to maximise our outreach and give the users various options to choose from. Our focus remains at optimising our CAC and focus on driving organic growth.

MK: Any special plans for the upcoming IPL 2020 for it will be only watched on TV and smartphones?

SC: Even though this year, the country's most coveted T20 tournament will be watched from the comfort of everyone's home, BalleBaazi.com will ensure that all our fans have an immersive experience of being as close to the action as possible. To increase the hype and engagement during the IPL we have partnered with various brands like MobiKwik and Gaana.com and introduced various offers to entice consumers.

Along with this, we will introduce a video detailing their journey to engage with and attract consumers to fantasy cricket. This will help BalleBaazi.com gain more traction along with consumers understanding the journey and downloading the application. Recently, Yuvraj Singh participated in the #BallaHallaChallenge and encouraged people to do the same with the element of relatability. Besides this, we will also help consumers stay connected to smartphones and the IPL simultaneously, as their experience is parallel and corresponds to the thrill in the IPL.

This season, BalleBaazi.com has introduced BB Fantasy Festival which has huge discounts on the BB reward store as the concept of BB coins has been appreciated; encouraging consumers to repeatedly indulge in this game to win and redeem those coins to unlock merchandise and brands from the reward store. The partnership programme has expanded and improved to its best with bonus cash and exciting rewards that increase as you invite more users on the platform.

Freerolls and gadget leagues will enhance the user's experience as the latest smartphones and headsets and much more will be rewarded to consumers. The opportunity to top the leader board and win real cash without physical effort ranging from Rs. 1 Lakh to 25 Lakh, will entice existing and potential consumers to monitor the IPL and use this app to their benefit.