Zero marketing spends: Dream11 prioritises user retention in new sports entertainment push

Dream11’s pivot into a creator-led sports entertainment platform comes with a decisive shift in strategy: the company will undertake zero marketing spends for now, with investments focused solely on retaining and engaging its existing users, according to co-founder and CEO Harsh Jain.

As Dream11 unveiled its new second-screen experience, Jain clarified that the company’s marketing approach will remain intentionally lean, rooted in cost discipline and a belief that the product’s strength, not promotional outlays, will drive adoption. He said Dream11 will be “rationing” its marketing spends as part of broader optimisation efforts and confirmed that the company will not engage any brand ambassadors for the launch.

Jain framed this not as a limitation but as a deliberate strategic choice. With over 250 million users on the platform and nearly 20–30 million monthly active free-to-play fantasy sports users, Dream11 already commands a highly engaged community. This scale, he said, eliminates the need for the kind of aggressive marketing usually associated with new product rollouts. “We already have the users, we don’t need to market to get new ones,” Jain said, emphasising confidence in organic uptake.

The success of Dream11’s new creator-led watch-alongs, real-time banter streams, and snackable sports moments, Jain argued, will hinge on how this core audience responds. If the platform’s most loyal users do not adopt these features, no celebrity endorsement or large-scale campaign would make a tangible difference. He reiterated that the company views marketing as secondary to ensuring the product resonates deeply with its existing audience.

Jain reiterated that the company’s true “bullets and guns” are its people and its products, not its ad budgets. Going forward, Dream11 aims to drive growth by deepening engagement with its vast user base and letting the product lead the way rather than relying on external promotions.