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Tag: Rohit Potphode

  • GEPL goes prime time: JioStar to air Season 2 of e-Cricket league with 34 knockout clashes

    GEPL goes prime time: JioStar to air Season 2 of e-Cricket league with 34 knockout clashes

    MUMBAI: Cricket, consoles and crores: JetSynthesys is bowling a bouncer into India’s primetime schedule. The company announced that season two of its Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL) will air live on JioStar’s linear and OTT platforms. For the first time ever, the esports league will hit national television, blending the thrill of gaming with the theatrics of traditional sport.

    GEPL Season 2 promises an adrenaline spike with 34 high-octane matches slated from 27 April to 2 May. The broadcast window runs 11 am to 8 pm daily, across Star Sports and JioHotstar. In this edition, the prize pool jumps to Rs 3.05 crore – a bump up from Rs 2.51 crore in the previous season. Player interest has surged as well, with registration numbers skyrocketing from two lakh to 9.1 lakh.

    Powered by Real Cricket™ and featuring a team-based format, the league will stage its matches in Bengaluru. According to organisers, this year marks a watershed moment in India’s esports evolution.

    “GEPL is a high-energy league that mirrors the scale and professionalism of traditional sports. Our partnership with JioStar is a milestone; cementing our place on India’s biggest broadcast stage,” said JetSynthesys founder & CEO Rajan Navani.

    CEO & league commissioner Rohit Potphode added, “With Season 2, we’ve sharpened our vision for GEPL that enables player growth, team development, and fan engagement at scale. Our presence on JioStar, across both streaming and TV, is strategic in expanding our reach and delivering a premier sports entertainment experience to millions of Indians.”

    JioStar head of content – sports Siddharth Sharma remarked, “GEPL is a perfect example of innovation in sport, and we are committed to help it reach its full potential.”

    As esports flexes its muscle on mainstream platforms, GEPL’s arrival on national broadcast is a sign of the times – a spectacle merging cricket’s legacy with the future of competitive play.

  • JetSynthesys announces first franchise ownership for GEPL season two

    JetSynthesys announces first franchise ownership for GEPL season two

    Mumbai: JetSynthesys, a digital entertainment and tech company, has announced the first franchise ownership for season two of the Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL). Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, Curefoods founder Ankit Nagori, and Accel partner Prashanth Prakash will co-own the Bengaluru franchise.

    Last year’s tournament drew 200,000 registrations and selected the top 64 players for eight teams. The final showdown took place in JetSynthesys’ Real Cricket video game, streamed on JioCinema, with over 1.1 million minutes viewed and a reach of 70 million-plus.

    JetSynthesys CEO and founder Rajan Navani expressed his enthusiasm about these developments, “We are thrilled to welcome Nikhil Kamath, Ankit Nagori, and Prashant Prakash to the GEPL family. Their involvement is a testament to the growing recognition of e-cricket as a mainstream sport. With an expanded team format and new league guidelines, we are set to elevate the competitive spirit and excitement to new heights globally.”

    The new team owners also shared their excitement about joining the league.

    Kamath remarked, “The gaming industry is incredibly exciting right now, especially with how fast things are moving in India. We’ve reached a point where we’re not just participating in global gaming—we’re creating esportable games for the world. Real Cricket is a prime example of that. Partnering with Rajan and JetSynthesys for the Global e-Cricket Premier League is a good opportunity to help foster and inspire young talent in this dynamic space. I’m keen to see what we can achieve together and to play a role in shaping the future of esports in India.”

    Nagori added, “I’m truly passionate about the video gaming industry and excited about the vision JetSynthesys has for taking cricket to the world as India’s premier esport. This is my way of giving back and supporting the next generation of gamers. I believe in their potential, and I’m here to help them shine in a space that’s evolving so quickly. Together, I believe we can turn gaming into the next big contributor to India GDP, and also a fulfilling career for many talented individuals.”

    Prakash stated, “I’m thrilled to be part of the Global e-Cricket Premier League and to contribute to the growth of esports in India. This partnership with JetSynthesys aligns perfectly with my passion for innovation and my belief in the potential of cricket as a global esport. Together, we can create a vibrant ecosystem that empowers aspiring gamers and showcases their talent on an international stage.”

    GEPL CEO & league commissioner Rohit Potphode enthused on the occasion, “We’re excited to welcome Nikhil Kamath, Ankit Nagori, and Prashant Prakash as our franchise team owners for this thrilling season. This year, the league promises to be bigger than ever, uniting players, franchise owners, fans, and sponsors to create immense value and deliver unforgettable experiences for everyone involved.”

    This year’s upgrades aim to boost competition within GEPL while creating jobs in esports sectors like event management, broadcasting, and talent management. The league offers competitive salaries to top players, turning their passion for gaming into viable careers as they compete for the title of ‘e-Cricket Icon’ on a global stage.

    With the GEPL S2 finals set for January 2025, the tournament continues to blend cricket, gaming, esports, and entertainment, offering a platform for emerging esports talent to showcase their skills in eCricket.

  • Jetsynthesys & Animeta partner for e-sports mega-event – GEPL

    Jetsynthesys & Animeta partner for e-sports mega-event – GEPL

    Mumbai: JetSynthesys’ first edition of the Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL), world’s largest team-based cricket e-sports and entertainment league, unfolded on Real Cricket 24 (RC 24), the leading mobile cricket simulation game (co-owned by the same company). To market this exciting property whose primary audience is Gen Z, Jet Synthesys partnered with Animeta, an innovative AI-powered creator tech company, to bring onboard creators and artists.

    The main task at hand, to start with, was to create awareness and acceptance for the concept of e-Cricket, and then use that buzz to drive tune-ins to Jio Cinema, the exclusive streaming partner for GEPL. Given the huge popularity that cricket as a sport already has, the idea was also to diversify the audience profile beyond regular gaming and e-sports enthusiasts (120 M+ active users), and take it to viewers of cricket content on mobile (260 M+), with a significant proportion of GenZ audience.

    JetSynthesys (the force behind GEPL) founder & CEO Rajan Navani shared his perspective, “Cricket came to us from the West but today, I’m proud to say that our Made-in-India Real Cricket™ and GEPL have set the stage for India exporting cricket esports to the world. Animeta helped us onboard the right influencers and employ the correct influencer strategy to maximize the impact of these creators.”

    Commenting on the collaboration, GEPL CEO Rohit Potphode said, “GEPL stands as the largest eCricket league globally. In order to appropriately match its immense scale, we collaborated with Animeta- Brandstar, a specialized influencer marketing platform. This partnership allowed us to enlist renowned influencers spanning cricket, gaming, and entertainment domains, ensuring a broad reach across diverse audience demographics.”

    The collaboration kicked off with the onboarding of 8 established mobile gamers, who were called the ‘Game Galvanizers’. Each was assigned a team to cheer for, as they seeded awareness about RC 24 and GEPL, driving excitement across their communities. The famous comedic creator-duo Funcho (Shyam and Dhruv) were onboarded as the ‘Series Galvanizers’, leveraging the star-power of these Gen-Z focused, culture moving, and cricket loving creators to attract a diverse young audience set to check out GEPL.

    Animeta CEO Devdatta Potnis said “When you are trying to tap into a Gen Z audience, influencer marketing becomes an extremely important avenue, as social media is where this audience frequents daily. The approach was to tap into some key aspects across the whole spectrum of content habits that this audience has.”

    To enhance the entertainment experience, Animeta brought on board four prominent rappers—ACE, Nasty Ninja, Yedha Anna, and 99 Side-to create the anthem ‘Find Your Glory’ for GEPL Season 1. Eight dynamic female influencers showcased the game’s broad appeal across genders, further diversifying GEPL’s target audience cohorts.

    Animeta Sr VP of branded content and creator projects Biswamitra Ray stated “Selection of credible and relevant voices and high-relatability in the content is key to a campaign’s success. Whether it was for the social media posts made by the creators or the song composed specially for GEPL – we looked deeply into universal insights about the audience, whose attention we were trying to grab.”

    The event featured a performance by the renowned EPR aka Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, a rock and hip-hop rapper, and brought various creators and gamers on stage. Popular gaming creator Shreeman Legend hosted a fan meet attended by approximately 1000 fans, delighting the audience and creating lasting memories.