Fantasy sport is a phenomenon that has taken the online world by storm in the last few years. Growing exponentially, year on year, both in terms of the number of participants as well as the sheer size, it has almost captured every sport and geography it possibly could. Fantasy sports such as fantasy football, badminton, basketball etc are not limited to a certain demographic. We talked about how in countries such as Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria and the Middle East, the growth of fantasy sports has been steady.

This week, we explored the growth of fantasy sports in Indonesia and were pleasantly surprised with the results. The three most popular sports in Indonesia are -
-Football
-Basketball
-badminton.

Dearth of enough fantasy sports platforms

In Indonesia, laws are not very stringent about internet daily fantasy sports as they are unregulated. There’s a dearth of local DFS websites in Indonesia so the natives play on various DFS sites from outside. These websites show a clear indication that Indonesians are looking for fantasy football, basketball and badminton. Once in a while, you get examples of fantasy sports entrepreneurs partnering with Indonesian bodies for launching apps.

One such example is Ballr focused on English Premier League. Originally headquartered in Singapore, the mobile fan engagement technology company Ballr partnered with Viva Group in Indonesia and launched launched Ballr Football in 2016.
Even though the national team wasn’t very successful in the last FIFA world cup, the love for football in Indonesia is undying. Thousands of fans watch domestic games and tournaments which creates scope for sports entrepreneurs looking to build fantasy football software for Indonesia.

Fantasy basketball

Another sport that has been steadily increasing in popularity has been basketball. In fact, Indonesia is considered one of the powerhouses of basketball in Southeast Asia. If you look back, the country had managed to win a Southeast Asian Basketball Championship in 1996, and have had respectable results in a number of FIBA Asian Championships. No wonder there are quite a few daily fantasy sports sites in Indonesia offering fantasy basketball platform for various international tournaments.

Badminton is second most popular in Indonesia

Badminton, as a sport, has been popular across the globe for a long time. But in Asia and particularly in South East Asia, its popularity increases multifold. And the one country, where badminton is the second most popular sport, is Indonesia. Only soccer trumps Badminton in the country, and that too just marginally. Given its rich tradition of producing top notch badminton players, accompanied by the lack of standout performances in any other sport, has helped it surge to the top of the pile as far as sports in Indonesia is concerned. And while soccer may have greater viewership, it doesn’t enjoy the kind of emotional connect with the populace, that badminton does. A lot of this is due to an underperforming national football team that ranks 162 in the world. That’s precisely the reason why entrepreneurs must consider the development of an engaging fantasy badminton software here.

Badminton gets a revival

For the past few years though, Indonesia hasn’t been performing too well in the international badminton circuit. But the very recent trends have been encouraging, with Susanti’s double gold at the world championships, as well as the double’s pairs of Lilyana Natsir - Tontowi Ahmad, and Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan crushing Chinese and Danish opponents respectively to clinch their titles. Thanks to that, and the annual extravaganzas that the country hosts in Uber Cup, Sudiraman Cup and Thomas Cup, the TV viewership, and consequently, the flow of money for badminton have not declined .

A large population of internet users

And hence, the development of fantasy badminton software could be a great bet in Indonesia. As per the 2011 census, the Median age in Indonesia was 28.2 years, which means it is still a relatively young population, and thus, offers a huge customer base. Although it has an internet penetration rate of only 50.4 percent, lower than many countries in Asia Pacific, Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest number of internet users in the world; as of 2016, 132.7 million out of the country’s total population of almost 260 million were active internet users.

Fantasy badminton or football software development, catering to this huge potential customer base, could be a profitable endeavor. Keeping in mind the general sentiment of the population, their preferences, the viewership trends and the fan following for various players, you could come up with a great product in a market that is largely untapped. A wise investment would be in fantasy badminton app development here because Indonesian market is now ripe.

With Vinfotech, world leader in white label fantasy sports software development, the task of your customised fantasy sports app development, would be coupled with getting initial number of active users.

Your insights and creativity, along with Vinfotech’s experience and expertise in the fantasy sports software development, could create a fantasy football or badminton software and app combination that could capture the market by the scruff of its neck.