Content, streamers, and partnerships: Key elements of BGMI’s marketing strategy

A quick glance through Krafton Battlegrounds Mobile India’s (BGMI) YouTube channel will let you know that the game is quite heavy on content marketing. There are podcasts, music videos, tips and tricks, and even special webisodes of new updates- all featuring some top-tier gaming streamers of the country.

The channel itself has more than 5 million subscribers and the videos clock views in millions quite consistently. And why wouldn’t they? The game has more than 199 million downloads in India as of December 2023, and that too after a series of troubles with authorities.

For the unacquainted, South Korean video game publisher Krafton launched BGMI in July 2021. The game quickly rose to fame on the heels of the then-banned and dismissed PUBG (PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds) Mobile. In 2022, however, BGMI suffered a similar fate. In July, the game was banned in India due to security concerns. The ban lasted till May 2023, when the game reentered the Indian market and continued on its seemingly successful Indian run. 

The battle royale space itself is quite competitive. In India, major games popular in the segment include Garena’s Free Fire with over a billion downloads worldwide, And Call of Duty Mobile which also boasts more than 600 million downloads globally. The India mobile gaming market size reached $2.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $9.9 billion by 2032, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 16.16% during 2024-2032, as per IMARC Group, a market research firm.

Within such a highly competitive market, the need for a formidable marketing strategy is paramount. However, with such an enormous number of consumers actively engaging with your brand, the job for marketing is easier in this category compared to others, that is as per Srinjoy Das, who is the associate director of marketing at Krafton. 

He says, “It is easier for us to research and poll our audiences because we are able to gather an enormous amount of comments on both Instagram and YouTube, which brands from other industries can’t generate. It shows that the game is a very high-involvement product, so people are very passionate about it.”

This forms the foundation of the brand’s overall content marketing strategy, which also then translates to its mainline campaigns. Das explains, “One of the fundamental things that I figured out is that if you create content which has a starting point from your users, and not from a focus group, then there is a confirmed chance of virality. We keep our ears very close to the ground. For instance, an FMCG brand will have to hire a marketing research agency for its research. We just pick the phone up, and we play the game with actual users in anonymity.”

Some of these content properties include Types of BGMI Players, Hunt for 4th Player, and Mic on Kar Na-  comical sketches featuring influencer Saurabh Ghadge, and separate web series including Bolti Bandh and Double Trouble in Erangel.

Streamers and their influence

We mentioned earlier that the brand is also heavy on podcasts and videos that illustrate trips and tricks. These videos always feature known gamers and streamers from the Indian gaming industry, or key opinion leaders (KOLs as Das calls them), which adds a certain degree of validity to the content. Some of these streamers include Mortal, Scout, JonathanOP, among others. But how big are these tie-ups for the game’s overall growth?

Das answers, “We collaborate very deeply with our KOLs, to the point that they're pretty much an extended family for us. Most of these streamers had single-digit or double-digit kind of followings when they started this journey with us. And now, most of them are clocking in excess of 5 million or 6 million followers. So they appreciate such a symbiotic relationship. They help us even now in every way, by making guest appearances in our ads and content.”

Notably, Krafton also partnered with an agency called S8UL, an Esports organisation that handles some of the top content creators for the launch of Krafton’s other game called Bullet Echo India.

As per Das, it is crucial for brands to identify these influencers that have a hold on their respective spaces and build the category up with coordination. “It's imperative these days that gaming brands readjust their marketing strategies and focus heavily on KOLs. Now, brands have to take that step and go beyond just conventional marketing.”

Tie-ups beyond gaming

A few weeks ago, BGMI announced its partnership with the Prabhas starrer blockbuster Kalki 2898 AD, as the film’s gaming partner. This collaboration is part of BGMI's broader strategy to align with prominent figures and properties beyond the gaming realm. The brand also boasts Ranveer Singh as its ambassador, a role he has held since September 2023. Another significant association includes BGMI's partnership with IPL giants Mumbai Indians in March 2024, where Hardik Pandya's jerseys were introduced along with his voice pack in the game.

The rationale behind these non-gaming collaborations is a strategic move to expand BGMI's reach and influence, as per Das. 

"With these campaigns, we are aiming at the probable addressable market where consumers are on the fence about the game because of any reason. These sorts of campaigns, one with cricket superstars and one with film superstars like Ranveer Singh and Hardik Pandya, totally fit the bill. They help us jump from the immediate addressable market to the probable addressable markets, which helps us reduce the cost per install (CPI).”