Esports Brand Activation in Delhi NCR: Lessons From Zee Media

A year ago this week, Zee Media Corporation, the network behind Zee News, stepped into esports. It launched its first competitive gaming tournament, Arena of Champions, with a ₹10 lakh prize pool. Glazer Games ran it as the execution partner, Thryl handled registrations, and sign ups opened on 3 November 2025. The game was Free Fire MAX.

The first season finished in January 2026, and the numbers Zee Media reported are worth a marketer’s attention. More than 6,000 teams registered. Play ran through 11 rounds of qualifiers and bracket stages before a Grand Finale of the top 12 teams, which iQOO Total Gaming won. Across streaming platforms and social media, the tournament drew more than 55 million views and added over 55,000 new community members.

At launch, Priyadarshan Garg, Chief Business Officer at Indiadotcom Digital, a Zee Media company, said the initiative “opens fresh opportunities for brands, partners, and creators to engage with India’s rapidly growing gaming community in meaningful and measurable ways.” When a news broadcaster builds its own esports property, brand teams should read it as a signal about where young audiences now spend their attention.

Why are Indian brands entering esports?

Because the money is being judged on results now. In a February 2026 exchange4media report, Nimish Raut of NODWIN Gaming said gaming and esports had moved from test budgets under digital into annual marketing plans. He said advertisers now come from automotive, FMCG, fintech, telecom, education and BFSI, and that every sponsorship rupee in esports competes with performance media, cricket and OTT, so properties are judged on measurable return.

Two recent examples show what that looks like on the ground.

• TVS Motor Company returned with TVS Raider Wicked Battles 2026, run with NODWIN Gaming and KRAFTON India Esports. Registrations opened on 20 July 2026 for amateur and campus BGMI teams, with a qualification pathway into the BGMI Masters Series Season 5 ecosystem.
• OnePlus ran the third edition of Campus Dominate across 16 universities in 10 cities, with a 40 foot OnePlus Gaming Truck. It registered more than 3,500 teams, and every match from the playoffs to the final was played on the OnePlus Nord 6. The Grand LAN Finale was held at Bennett University in Greater Noida and drew over 10,000 people on the ground.

That finale happened in our own backyard, on an NCR campus.

What does Arena of Champions mean for your next brand activation?

You do not need a ₹10 lakh prize pool or a national broadcast to borrow what worked. Three ideas carry over to a single day event.

Structure creates moments. Qualifiers, brackets and a final give people a reason to come back to your stand, and each stage is something to post about. A leaderboard does the same job on a smaller scale.

Community is an outcome you can count. Zee Media reported new community members alongside views. For a brand activation, that number is your opted in leads.

Put the product in play. OnePlus ran every match on its own phone. If people can hold, taste or try your product, build the game moment around it.

What does a smaller esports activation look like in Delhi NCR?

Pick the venue first, because it decides the format. A mall wants walk in traffic and short sessions. A college fest wants a bracket with bragging rights. A trade show booth wants qualified conversations, and an office or launch event wants everyone involved, gamers or not.

Formats that work well:

• Open leaderboard on PS5. Anyone can walk up and play a short round of a racing or football game. The best scores of the day stay on a big screen, and the top player wins at closing time.
• Knockout bracket. An EA SPORTS FC or Tekken bracket with the final at a fixed hour, so the crowd builds towards it. This suits college fests and launch nights.
• VR challenge on Meta Quest 3S. A timed VR challenge works for premium corners and product demos, where you want one person at a time and a short queue that looks exciting.
• Motion zone with Xbox 360 with Kinect. Full body games pull in people who would never pick up a controller, which helps at family malls and office events.

For malls specifically, our post on how a gaming zone increases footfall and dwell time goes deeper. If your activation is internal, an inter team league works the same way, and the rise of corporate esports covers that side.

How do you run a leaderboard that people keep checking?

Keep it visible, simple and short lived. Show it on the largest screen at the stand, refresh it after every round, and give it a clear deadline, such as top score by 8 pm. Display a first name or a handle so people can find themselves and bring friends back to see it.

Hourly or daily prizes give people a reason to play again and wait for the result. Branded prizes and product vouchers keep the reward tied to what you sell.

How do you capture leads without slowing the queue?

Make registration the ticket to play. A QR code at the queue opens a short form: name, mobile number, email, and a consent tick for follow up. The player’s score goes against that entry, so winners are contacted on the number they gave, and you have a reason to collect it.

Add one qualifying question that matters to your sales team, such as city, company size or purchase timeline. Do not add five. If you are at a booth, our guide to running a gaming contest that captures leads at a trade show walks through the booth version step by step.

Follow up quickly with the result and your offer, while the event is still fresh.

How do you measure ROI on a gaming activation?

Set the targets before the event, not after. The measures that matter for most brand teams are:

• Reach at the stand: footfall past the zone and the number of people who played.
• Leads: unique registrations, opt ins, and how many answered the qualifying question the way you hoped.
• Attention: average time spent at the zone compared with the rest of your stand or space.
• Content: posts, stories and tags from players and the crowd, plus anything your team films.
• Cost per lead: total activation spend divided by qualified leads, compared with your other channels.
• Conversion: sales, demos booked or app installs traced back to the registration list over the following weeks.

It is the same test Raut described for big esports properties, applied at the scale of one stand.

How does CFG set up an esports activation in Delhi NCR?

Craving For Gaming brings managed gaming zones to malls, campuses, offices, launch events and trade show booths across Delhi, Noida and Gurugram. We supply PS5 stations, Meta Quest 3S VR and Xbox 360 with Kinect, set up in a couple of minutes, and our on site team runs the queue, the bracket and the live leaderboard while your team talks to customers.

Tell us your date, venue and expected crowd on WhatsApp, or plan it through our corporate events page. Game On, Your Way.

What else are brand teams asking about esports activations?

What was Zee Media’s Arena of Champions?

Zee Media’s first esports tournament, played on Free Fire MAX with a ₹10 lakh prize pool. Glazer Games ran it and Thryl handled registrations. Zee Media reported more than 6,000 team registrations and over 55 million views.

Do you need a big prize pool for an esports brand activation?

No. At a mall, campus or booth, hourly or daily prizes, branded merchandise and a spot at the top of the leaderboard are usually enough to fill the queue.

Which games work best at a brand activation?

Short, easy to read games. Football and racing on PS5 suit leaderboards, fighting games suit brackets, VR suits premium demos, and Kinect motion games suit mixed crowds.

How do you measure ROI from an esports brand activation?

Track players, registrations, opt ins, time spent at the zone and social posts on the day, then trace sales or demos back to the lead list. Divide total spend by qualified leads to compare with other channels.