There is nothing as powerful engagement tool as Cricket in India. But how do you make cricket streaming more engaging when one cannot control the game?

Someone once said that if users invest in your product, they have higher propensity of sticking to your product. So, is it investing in the game? Is it the age old “Satta” or Betting that changed the past games and lives of many cricketers that will increase the stickiness?

How do you solve this problem of increasing engagement and still sell your subscription?

The answer to all of these is Watch and Play!

I see it as a combination of Gamification and Loyalty which creates a win-win-win for Hotstar,users and affiliates.

For users- it connects to the root of how users see cricket i.e. they like to predict, they like to compete and more importantly they like to win. Earlier also, users were predicting and betting with friends to win but now with Watch & Play it somehow removes the guilt factor associated with betting. Plus the simplicity and the UX of the product make it easy for a user to understand and to start playing. This product in a way changes how users watch cricket.

For Hotstar- it obviously adds next level of engagement and loyalty and also helps them to understand the concepts on which multiple other products can be build such as loyalty program, fantasy league and other potential products on social proofing and engagement. Apart for earning revenue from affiliates and subscription fees , it differentiates Hotstar streaming with regular TV streaming which is one of the biggest wins.

For Affiliates- like Dominos, Phonepe it gives a channel for user acquisition, a channel for marketing, ads and obviously a channel to cross sell- How many of the users would want to order a Pizza on a Saturday cricket match?

Overall take- It certainly makes me watch IPL on Hotstar and rather cast it on a TV (if I am looking for a bigger screen) than streaming it directly on TV.

In a nutshell, Watch and Play is one of the shrewdest ways of increasing user engagement with “already highly engaged cricket following audience” without any direct incentives like cashbacks to the user and is definitely a lesson for many Product managers looking to increase their product’s engagement.

#hotstar #IPL #WatchandPlay #Productwin #Productmanager Hotstar