Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), India’s fantasy fports self-regulatory industry body, revealed that the Indian Fantasy Sports platforms witnessed participation from over 5 million Indian sports fans between April and June 2020. In the same period, Fantasy Sports (FS) companies introduced new sports like baseball, handball and rugby, and hosted 1,000+ matches from around the world.
Due to the pandemic, major live sporting events were either postponed or cancelled to ensure the safety and well-being of the players, fans and the associated staff. While the Fantasy Sports industry was impacted due to these cancellations, they were able to bring some sporting action to Indian sports fans through the introduction of new sports and tournaments from places which were free of COVID-19.
Some of the tournaments include global mainstream sporting events such as Bundesliga, La Liga and EPL, while others were from places like Austria, Caribbean Islands, Australia and Russia. Few FIFS members also helped some of these tournaments to run by becoming a sponsor, thereby contributing directly to the growth of the overall sports ecosystem.
Fantasy Sports is back and will be in full strength very soon with mainstream tournaments across football, cricket and basketball resuming. Starting July, a host of International and Domestic cricket tournaments, UEFA Champions League football, NBA basketball and many more will join the already-live tournaments like Bundesliga, LaLiga, EPL, FA Cup and Coppa Italia.
With sports resuming globally, most likely without an in-stadia audience, digital fan engagement platforms like Fantasy Sports will become crucial in driving deeper fan engagement.