Dream Sports to Invest $50 Million in Times Internet’s Cricbuzz and Willow TV
In a significant move, Mumbai-based sports tech company Dream Sports is set to invest $50 million (around Rs 427 crore) in cricket media platform Cricbuzz and North American cricket broadcaster Willow TV, both owned by Times Internet. The investment will see Dream Sports pick up a strategic minority interest in Cricbuzz and Willow TV, which collectively have 185 million monthly users across more than 150 countries.
According to Satyan Gajwani, Vice Chairman of Times Internet, “Cricbuzz and Willow sit at the heart of how hundreds of millions of fans follow cricket every day. We’re excited to work with Dream Sports to reimagine and develop new ways to collaboratively create new experiences for cricket fans across the planet.” This investment is expected to create new opportunities for fan experiences, with the companies intending to collaborate on providing more real-time analysis and statistics, engagement and commerce integrations, and AI-driven predictions to Cricbuzz’s audience.
Willow TV, the largest cricket broadcaster in North America, streams more than 1,500 live matches each year to users in the US and Canada, and has also expanded its broadcast footprint into a leading cricket broadcast platform for the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In March 2023, Willow TV secured rights to broadcast International Cricket Council events in the US and Canada until the end of 2027, extending a partnership that began in 2016.
Dream Sports’ investment in Cricbuzz and Willow TV is part of the company’s mission to “Make Sports Better” for Indian sports fans, according to Harsh Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Dream Sports. “Dream Sports’ mission is to ‘Make Sports Better’ for Indian sports fans. Cricbuzz and Dream11 have worked together for over a decade, and with this investment, all cricket fans can expect much more fan engagement, interactive streams, and integrated commerce experiences that will bring them closer to the action and to each other.”
The investment was facilitated by Avendus Capital, which acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the transaction. With 250 million users, Dream Sports, which operates the fantasy platform Dream11, has been expanding its presence beyond India. Earlier this month, it joined the ownership group of English football club Salford City FC, becoming part of a consortium led by footballing icons David Beckham and Gary Neville, alongside business leaders Declan Kelly and Lord Mervyn Davies.
Times Internet, the digital arm of The Times of India Group, which publishes The Economic Times, will benefit from this strategic partnership. The company also runs sports content and commerce platform FanCode and experiential sports travel platform DreamSetGo. On March 31, The Economic Times reported that Dream Sports had shifted its domicile from the US to India through a reverse merger, becoming one of the first new-age firms to use the fast-track route for cross-border mergers. This move is expected to further solidify Dream Sports’ position in the Indian sports tech market.
As reported by The Economic Times, this significant investment is set to revolutionize the cricket media landscape, providing fans with enhanced experiences and more interactive content. With the increasing popularity of cricket globally, this partnership is poised to take advantage of the growing demand for sports content.
The collaboration between Dream Sports and Times Internet is expected to yield significant benefits for cricket fans worldwide. As The Economic Times reported, the companies will work together to create new experiences for cricket fans, including real-time analysis and statistics, engagement and commerce integrations, and AI-driven predictions.
For more information on this story and other news, visit The Economic Times.
Source link
