MPL looks to add 3 cr users during upcoming IPL cricket tournament

E-sports platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) on Wednesday said it is looking to add about three crore new users during the IPL cricket tournament that kicks off next month.

The company, which currently has over seven crore users on its platform, has also become the principal sponsor for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as part of a three-year sponsorship deal.

"We're looking at getting to the 10-crore user mark. By the end of IPL, we will be looking at adding at least three crore more users to our registered usersbase," MPL co-founder and CEO Sai Srinivas said during a virtual briefing.

While he did not comment on the marketing budget earmarked for the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, Srinivas said the spending will be higher compared to last year.

Founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra, MPL has over 70 million users in India and 3.5 million in Indonesia. It has worked with numerous game developers and on-boarded over 70 games on its platform. The gaming platform currently employs over 500 personnel with offices in Bengaluru, Pune, Jakarta, and Singapore.

"We are proud to extend our partnership with the Knight Riders. Last year's beginning was fruitful for the brands and we organised some great fan engagement activities together, which we will take forward this year and in the subsequent editions of the IPL," Srinivas said.

Srinivas added that KKR is one of the most watched teams in the IPL, and being on the front of their jersey adds a lot of salience and visibility to the MPL brand.

"What KKR has been doing for the youngsters in physical sports, especially in cricket, we aim to learn a lot of that, and we aim to bring that into e-sports and into digital sport. This opportunity of partnering with KKR and of learning from them is incredible," he said.

The association between MPL and KKR commenced last year in 2020 as they bagged the principal sponsorships for both the franchises of the Knight Riders brand, that included KKR and Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in IPL and Caribbean Premier League, respectively.

The latest three-year sponsorship deal begins this year with the 14th edition of IPL 2021 and will go on till the year 2023.

"We started our partnership with MPL as principal sponsors for both KKR and TKR in 2020 and are delighted that they will continue as long-term principal sponsors for KKR.

KKR Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Venky Mysore said, "MPL is a vibrant e-sports company which has grown rapidly through some amazing energy and innovation."

The 14th edition of the IPL will begin on April 9 to May 30 across six venues. The two-time IPL champions, KKR, will play against the other eight teams in 14 matches.

KKR will play their first match for IPL 2021 on April 11 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.