Dream Sports-backed Fancode aims to double user base with India tour of West Indies

Fancode, a digital sports platform backed by Dream11 parent Dream Sports, will stream this year its first India cricket property — India’s tour of West Indies that is scheduled between July 22 to August 7.

The platform, which operates three verticals including live streaming, statistics and a merchandising store, is expecting to double its user base with this series.

“We have 50 million users and our goal is to double this userbase and reach 100 million with this series,” Prasana Krishnan, Co-Founder, FanCode, told Moneycontrol. 

He added that all events in the past have been with broadcasters and digital being an addition. “So far, cricket matches have been covered with TV-first prism. But India tour of West Indies will be a digital first property.”

While the platform offers sports other than cricket including football, baseball, 85-90 percent content on Fancode is based on cricket.

It offers international cricket and has tie-ups with the West Indies, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe cricket boards. In addition, it has partnered with the Bangladesh board for the Bangladesh Premier League, which is a four-year deal, and with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for The Hundred, a cricket tournament.

Krishnan pointed out that the India tour of West Indies is the platform’s first India tour and a marquee property for the next quarter.

India’s match against West Indies consists of three one day internationals and five T20s and the tournament on Fancode will be behind paywall.

“It will be a premium content and we are working on pricing,” said Krishnan.

The platform has two subscription plans, which include a monthly plan of Rs 199 and an annual plan that costs Rs 699.

“We operate on a freemium model with statistics, news available for free and we do free streaming on the platform as well. We have a flexible approach in terms of paid plans. There are event and tour-wise subscription plans. Users can subscribe for an individual match or for a tournament and the pricing ranges between Rs 15-20,” added Krishnan.

He added that due to the sachet pricing, the platform is seeing conversion from free consumption to users opting for subscription plans. “Also, content consumption on digital is deep in India. There is a significant chunk of viewership coming from tier II, III markets.”