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As Reddit sharpens its focus on India, the platform is betting big on cricket and on Sachin Tendulkar. In an interview with Storyboard18, Durgesh Kaushik, Vice President of International Growth at Reddit, breaks down the strategy behind appointing Tendulkar as the first Indian to be Reddit’s global brand ambassador. The move aims to supercharge awareness of Reddit’s growing cricket communities, bridge generational fandoms, and accelerate user engagement across regional markets while preserving the platform’s hard-won authenticity.

Edited excerpts:


What strategic gap in Reddit India’s user or brand awareness are you trying to address through this ambassador-driven campaign?

There is still a lot of opportunity for Reddit in India, and one of the most popular interest groups on the platform is sports. While we have a lot of thriving sports fandoms on the platform and app, including a growing “cricketverse”, the partnership with Sachin will help us foster even more awareness for Reddit’s cricket communities and reinforce them as the premier digital destination for cricket fans - not just in India, but across the world.


Reddit has always leaned on organic community-building. Why bring in a celebrity now and does that risk diluting the platform’s ‘authenticity’ appeal?

Reddit's distinct culture prioritizes authenticity, transparency, and genuine human perspectives - that is not going away. Sachin will post under his real name so fans will authentically know it’s him. As for organic growth, that is still happening, but we do have local teams in different markets such as India who have opportunities to help foster and nurture local ecosystems by offering enhanced community experiences. Partnering with Sachin to bring his perspectives and share insights on Reddit is a good example of how our teams can support community-building efforts. His involvement will introduce Reddit's authentic environment to a vast, relevant audience that might not have found their way to these communities otherwise, effectively accelerating our organic community-building efforts


What does success look like for this campaign—new signups, deeper engagement, or advertiser traction? Are there specific KPIs tied to it?

First and foremost, we hope to encourage new cricket fans to come to Reddit and dive into the cricket communities. Our teams will be monitoring internal KPIs that are focused on user growth and community engagement.


How was Sachin selected over other youth icons or digital-native creators who might more naturally align with Reddit’s Gen Z appeal?

Sachin’s appeal transcends demographics. He is revered by those who grew up watching him and equally respected by younger fans who recognize him as a legendary figure. This allows us to bridge generational gaps and position Reddit as a platform where all fans, regardless of age, can connect. He isn’t just a celebrity; on and off the field, he reflects authenticity, dedication to social good, and understands the value of human connections. These are qualities that resonate deeply with Reddit's values.


While digital-native creators are a vital part of the creator economy and valuable partners for specific initiatives, our objective with this flagship campaign is broader. We chose Sachin Tendulkar because he is a unifying, cross-generational icon. The goal isn’t just to appeal to Gen Z, but to welcome the entire spectrum of Indian cricket fandom to Reddit.


Will this campaign have localised creative expressions across regional markets, or is it largely brand-level storytelling?

It’s a blend of both. Globally, Sachin is an icon celebrated by cricket fans everywhere, giving this campaign immediate international appeal. This powerful story serves as our national message in India, but the execution is hyper-localized. We’ll be activating in regional languages and tapping into local cricket cultures to ensure the campaign connects personally with fans across the country and the world.

Read More:<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/viagra-ads-are-okay-but-vibrators-arent-meta-and-google-ad-policies-drive-sexual-wellness-brands-to-reddit-61944.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">'Viagra ads are okay, but vibrators aren't': Meta and Google ad policies drive sexual wellness brands to Reddit</a>

Reddit’s Durgesh Kaushik on bringing Sachin Tendulkar onboard and building India’s digital cricketverse

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar will soon launch a new sports athleisure brand with former Swiggy Instamart head Karthik Gurumurthy, as per media reports. Former Swiggy executive Karan Arora will join as the third co-founder.  Tendulkar is also part of a joint venture for menswear brand True Blue with Arvind Fashions

Incubated by Whiteboard Capital, the venture aims to compete with top brands through affordable, locally-manufactured products. Tendulkar is actively involved in the development of the products, which will include cricket and badminton gear.

According to the report, a holding company has already been registered for the venture. Early-stage venture fund Whiteboard Capital incubated the startup along with Tendulkar. Filings show Tendulkar and Whiteboard Capital are currently on the board of directors of the holding firm named SRT10 Athleisure Pvt Ltd. 

The startup is at an advanced stage to raise capital from a top venture capital fund. Tendulkar is the ambassador for True Blue, he also endorses brands including Spinny, Boost, and BMW.

The brand is likely to compete with existing brands in India such as PUMA, Agilitas, Nike, Adidas, etc. Tendulkar's new venture adds to the growing trends of local as well as global celebrities setting up ventures, some of which have even been sold for $1 billion or more.

Sachin Tendulkar to launch sports athleisure brand in India

For a long time collecting trading cards was a thing. Exchanging your Rahul Dravid card for a Sachin Tendulkar one or throwing in a Sourav Ganguly card for an Anil Kumble number was the ultimate high point of sports craze among fans. But that was the '80s, '90s and perhaps the first decade of the 2000s. New-age sports fans have found their fandom mojo in the metaverse and NFTs. While gamification of their preferred sports has increased their engagement in the space, digital collectibles have made fan engagement more immersive. Brands are making the most of this modern avatar of sports fandom.

A recent report by Ormax Media says India’s sports viewing fan base is 136.3 million while 317.8 million Indians are active players of at least one outdoor sport. Add to that the access to technology and the possibilities are limitless for the stakeholders. Technology is now a key driver in the sports space. From fantasy sports platforms to NFTs, brands are using these new found tools to engage fans and accelerate their reach across audience demographics.

But what is leading to the growth of this technology backed boom in this space? ‘Digital fans,’ says experts.

“Stakeholders in the space have understood that the digital fan today plays as much of an importance as the tangible family comes to the stadium and because of that, they have started adopting a lot of these technologies,” says Chiraag Paul, Co-Founder, CEO, Proem Sports, a sports software-technology company.

Paul explains how his company uses data as the primary tool to leverage fan engagements.

Case Study - FC Goa

FC Goa, for instance, one of Proem’s clients that is an Indian professional football franchise based in Goa and competes in the Indian Super League, is committed to engaging their fan base to help them strengthen their relationship with the club.

“With the help of our customer data platform, they wanted to leverage data to understand their fans better and engage different segments of their fan base with highly personalized campaigns leading to better outcomes.

The company mapped out FC Goa’s Data landscape and with their pre-built connectors, started ingesting data from social, website and transactional systems into their CDP (customer data platform).

The result? FC Goa finally had an accurate understanding of their fan base and the opportunity to expand their marketable universe. With time they saw 44X lift in email open rates and 34 per cent increase in merchandise sales alongside growth in other fan engagement metrics.

Lifting game and fan spirit and building communities

Aayushman Sinha, co-founder and director at creative agency BlackCab explains the possibilities in the space. The three popular formats used by brands to leverage overall game spirit and engagement using technology according to him are - social that is used for hygiene, updates and campaigns; AR, VR and gamification that is used for engagement and NFT’s that is used for building communities.

“A mix of three formats can provide strong fan affinity and engagement to teams, players, their sponsors and more. We’re seeing a lot of these being implemented across the board and as access to technology becomes more widespread - the TV screen will be replaced with more engaging experiences simply through a smartphone,” he says.

Elaborating on how engagements can be created, Sinha says, “Imagine wearing a headset at an experience zone that takes you through the dressing room of your favourite team, your favourite player walks up and gives you a high five and you get to see them prepping for their big game or standing courtside reliving your favourite moments from an iconic game. This is what technology is doing these days.”

Leveraging tech to create experiences

Shradha Agarwal, CEO &amp; Co-founder at digital marketing agency Grapes talks about the benefits of using AI in fan engagement.

”AI allows fans to browse through players and team statistics, interact with the clubs or teams without disrupting the video stream, and enable tickets and merchandise purchased with the help of real-time, on-screen player recognition solutions. Edisn is one such SportsTech startup that enables contextual content delivery while facilitating merchandise monetization,” she said.

Gamification is another example that can help brands personalize their content and offerings depending on data. It can even come up with play and earn events during the off-season to maintain the brand engagement with the fans.

The Sachin Saga VR from JetSynthesys Gaming, for instance, is a virtual reality cricket game that lets users play cricket as the Tendulkar. But this is just one example. There are a hundred other examples of simulated reality backed games that are enhancing fan engagements and giving brands the opportunity to track and reach out to their TG.

However, brands should be careful about choosing platforms and technologies to ensure seamless experience and prevent fans from getting overwhelmed.

Sunny Bhanot, co-founder and chief technology officer at digital collectibles marketplace for cricket NFT says, “Technology enables fans to engage with the sport beyond the stadiums and big screens (TV) and extends it to the small screen (mobile phones) and even off-screen but Ffr brands to deliver on the exciting possibilities of emerging technologies, it is critical not to expose the users to the rough edges and create a stable and secure experience.”

For example, Rario makes officially licensed digital cricket collectables accessible to fans at affordable prices on a certified-secure platform, leveraging blockchain as proof of provenance. Fans can not only own the collectibles of their favourite player or team, but also engage with the sport with their friends through Rario.

This is an exciting time to be a sports fan and even more exciting for marketers looking to leverage sports to engage and build deeper relationships with fans.

SACHIN TENDULKAR