Sachin Tendulkar is now Paytm First Games’ brand ambassador – with a ₹300 crore marketing spend, the app aims to garner 100 million users during IPL

• Paytm’s gaming arm Paytm First Games has announced its brand ambassador – the ‘God of cricket’ Sachin Tendulkar.
• Paytm First Games is a fantasy gaming platform for sports like cricket, kabaddi, football, and basketball.
• The app has planned over 200 live events on the platform over the next six months.

Paytm’s gaming arm Paytm First Games has announced its brand ambassador – the ‘God of cricket’ Sachin Tendulkar. Paytm First Games is a fantasy gaming platform for sports like cricket, kabaddi, football, and basketball.

“Cricket is an engaging sport, and we all tend to have opinions about the game – right from player selection to playing strategies. Paytm First Games will give fans the opportunity to don their thinking hats and experience the thrill of making the correct choices and getting their teams to win,” said Sachin Tendulkar.

With Tendulkar on board, Paytm First Games has an elaborate plan to establish its stronghold in the fantasy gaming market. The app aims to get over 100 million users during the upcoming Indian Premier League and has planned over 200 live events on the platform over the next six months.

And to do so, the subsidiary of Paytm has also set aside a war chest of ₹300 crore for marketing alone. “As India’s homegrown gaming platform, our vision is to get the sports fans closer to the action with fantasy sports,” said Sudhanshu Gupta, COO Paytm First Games.

The fantasy gaming market had also seen a slowdown in the first half of the year as no live on-ground events were scheduled. But with the IPL, all fantasy gaming apps are betting on a surge in demand. From Paytm First Games to Dream11 to Mobile Premier League, all major fantasy sports operators have also associated with the IPL in terms of sponsorship for more visibility.

Dream11, a leading player in the segment, has always bet on IPL to increase its user base and is also getting ready for the cricketing league. Its parent company Dream Sports has also just raised $225 million in funding.

According to a KPMG and Indian Federation of Sports Gaming, the number of fantasy sports operators has increased by seven times (~7x) over 2016-2018, while the number of users has grown by over twenty-five times (~25x) from June 2016 to Feb 2019.

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