Last week, India’s $12 Bn real money gaming (RMG) industry was dismantled overnight after a ban on many formats of online games. Within three days, the once-booming sector was reduced to rubble.

The hardest hit was Dream11, the country’s most prominent RMG startup, valued at $8 Bn. Along with rivals MPL and WinZo, Dream11 was forced to shut down its fantasy sports app immediately.

Unlike some peers who signalled their intent to lobby against the government’s decision by planning to move to court, Dream11 cofounder Harsh Jain made it clear that the startup would not contest the government’s stance. Instead, the company is now attempting to redirect focus toward its wider sports tech ecosystem.

The lynchpin in that strategy is FanCode, Dream Sports’ sport streaming and fan engagement platform. While once considered an ancillary offering, FanCode is now expected to carry a significant revenue burden shouldered by real money gaming and fantasy sports.

While the monetisation intensity of RMG is difficult to replicate in streaming, FanCode has a differentiated strategy thanks to its focus squarely on sports streaming. And with a lifetime user base of over 160 Mn and more than 50 Mn app downloads, FanCode could turn into a weapon in Dream 11 parent Dream Sports’ arsenal.

FanCode’s Moat: Niche Sports, Sachet Subscriptions

FanCode’s road into the sports streaming market was never going to be easy. Launched in 2019, it was directly competing against Hotstar (before the Jio acquisition) and SonyLIV in the live sports segment, with the latter two having a huge lead.

But things changed rather quickly, especially as Reliance Jio was preparing to acquire Hotstar as the Viacom-Disney deal was in the works. FanCode sharpened its focus on properties that the incumbents didn’t have.

This was key in getting Indian users to pay for subscriptions for yet another OTT app. If anything, FanCode decided to ignore cricket to a certain extent and went with sports and events that had a strong loyal audience in India but which no other platform wanted to spend on in terms of buying rights.

To stand out further, FanCode flipped the traditional subscription model playbook. Instead of locking fans into rigid monthly or annual bundles, it brought in a pay-per-match model, a move that quickly became its key differentiator.

Indians were familiar with........

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