Mobile gaming company Octro plans to spend Rs 150-200 cr on marketing in 2021

Sequoia Capital-backed mobile gaming company Octro has earmarked a marketing budget of Rs 150-200 crore for the calendar year 2021, a top company official said. In 2020, the company had spent upwards of Rs 100 crore on marketing.

Octro is the company behind games like Teen Patti, Indian Rummy and Tambola which have been amongst the top 10 apps across Apple iOS and Google Play stores. The company boasts of 200+ million players across its gaming properties.

"Our marketing budget for 2020 was upwards of Rs 100 crore and almost all of it was spent on digital platforms. We have earmarked Rs 150-200 crore for 2021 which we will revisit in Q4 of 2021," Octro Chief Marketing Officer Manav Sethi told exchange4media.com.

Octro's marketing mantra is digital-first and the company has achieved growth without significant marketing spends on traditional media. Going forward, it will also look at traditional mediums like TV for building trust.

"Almost all our marketing monies have been deployed on high and recurring trafficked digital platforms. As we go on investing in and building the brand, while we launch new games, we realise that traditional media, especially TV is a good medium for building trust, and we do intend to experiment with that," he noted.

Queried about Advertisers Standards Council of India's (ASCI) guidelines for ads pertaining to online gaming for real money winnings and its impact on the gaming companies, Sethi that the guidelines are a step in the right direction and will encourage responsible behaviour.

He also said that the company will continue to invest in brand building, user acquisition and retention as it goes along launching more made in India games globally.

Sethi stated that 2020 was a year of strong growth for the online gaming industry in general and for Octro in particular. He added that Octro was ranked No. 1 in India by App Annie for top-grossing by revenue, where the top 10 apps included some of well-known India based organisations not only in gaming but OTT too.

According to Sethi, India is on the cusp of becoming one of the biggest online gaming markets in the world. "With almost 200+ million users, Octro has acquired a leadership position in the online gaming space, gaining a strong foothold within the Indian entertainment & sports industry with a projected user base of more than 700 million gamers in India by 2022."

Octro has been aggressively investing in research and development with the intention of creating more global IPs that can be taken to 200 markets and can be localised in 20 languages, if possible.

"On one hand we want to build an IP that can go global while also take our existing IP globally. We have just soft-launched Soccer Battles that have already been featured by Apple & Google on their respective stores. There is another IP that we are working on and we should be able to take it live in early Q2 globally," Sethi revealed.

Speaking about the growth of Octro's gaming properties, Sethi said that Teen Patti has witnessed an unprecedented 800% growth in paying users in the span of one year in 2020. Tambola and Play Rummy have also seen huge growth.

"In fact, TeenPatti by Octro is the only Indian game in Sensor Tower’s top five and the 6th highest-grossing app on Play Store. Currently, it’s played by 150 million people while other games like Tambola have also seen a 50X hike in the last year. Our other game PlayRummy has grown 150% from a player deposit standpoint while it has also grown 75% in its loyal user base," he stated.

In terms of revenue model, the company makes most of its money from IAPs (In-app purchases) for social games. It has just one real money game in its portfolio - PlayRummy. "We would possibly be one of the only exceptions where our dependence on ads as monetisation is next to nothing," Sethi noted.

Without divulging any details, Sethi said that Octro is a hugely profitable company. While the company is not aggressively scouting for funds, however in Sethi's own words, it may take that cheque that’s too difficult to refuse.

Sethi feels that the online and real-money gaming industry can realise its growth potential if the government creates a favourable regulatory climate. "This will result in significant employment opportunities, made in India games and tax contribution to exchequer while acting as an impetus to existing gaming platforms incorporated in India. This will also propel foreign investment to come into gaming companies that have the potential to create made in India games for global players."

He also suggested that the harmonisation of state and central laws on skill-based real money gaming of all kinds is the need of the hour. "Nanny state behaviour has to give way to a regulation that creates predictive future for gaming platforms while creating benchmarks for player safety and player interest. Niti Aayog’s draft paper is first such step in this direction. Test of skill vs chance is an evolving test and should be adjudicated by a competent legal authority only," he said.