AI-driven demand forecasting ensures we’re ‘game-ready’ by predicting user behaviour and traffic: Amit Sharma, CTO, Dream11

In an exclusive interview with Express Computer, Amit Sharma, CTO of Dream11, delves into the company’s technological evolution and its use of AI, machine learning, and cloud infrastructure to meet the growing demands of over 250 million users. He highlights how Dream Sports leverages advanced technologies to predict user traffic, enhance personalisation, prevent fraud, and deliver real-time updates during major sporting events. Sharma also discusses the company’s foray into new product areas, including esports, live streaming, and gamification, while emphasising Dream Sports’ commitment to innovation and its role in shaping the future of sports technology.

Given the rapid growth of Dream Sports, how has the company’s technology infrastructure evolved to meet the increasing demand and scale? 

Dream Sports since inception has grown its user base to over 250 million sports fans by continuously evolving its technology infrastructure. To solve our unique challenges, we have built robust in-house platforms that can handle near-game, exponential spikes observed in fantasy sports. For example, our ML team has set up systems to predict user concurrency and traffic patterns, and our infrastructure teams use this information to scale our services in real-time to meet the predicted demand. This has allowed us to provide a seamless user experience even during peak usage periods like the Indian Premier League and cricket World Cup’s. We’ve embraced a cloud-native architecture to scale dynamically, optimise costs, and ensure high availability. 

How does Dream Sports leverage AI and machine learning to enhance the user experience, improve predictions, and prevent fraud? 

At Dream Sports, AI and machine learning are central to enhancing user experiences, optimising predictions, and securing our platform. AI-driven demand forecasting ensures we’re “game-ready” by predicting user behaviour and traffic for smooth gameplay during peak times. With over 250 million users, our ML systems safeguard platform integrity, detecting and preventing violations to ensure fair play. We also leverage ML to personalise user experiences, optimise rewards programs, and use causal inference for data-driven decisions across game recommendations and contest management. Generative AI initiatives include developing an AI Coach and enhancing user verification and customer success systems. Our collaboration with Columbia University’s Dream Sports AI Innovation Centre advances AI/ML applications in sports, focusing on predictive modelling, fan engagement, and sports tech optimisation. This partnership, alongside internal initiatives, helps us lead in reshaping sports technology with more immersive, personalised experiences through the rise of generative AI.

What are the key technological challenges in developing and maintaining a fantasy sports platform with real-time updates and a large user base? 

We use technology to cater to our growing user base of 220 million especially during major sporting events like the IPL and cricket World Cups. In IPL 2024, we set a record of 15 million concurrent users, showcasing the immense scale we operate on. Technology is our backbone, and innovation lies at the core of solving the evolving needs of sports fans.

To manage such high traffic, we employ sophisticated algorithms that provide real-time, minute-by-minute traffic predictions, allowing us to surpass traditional read-only traffic limits. With highly scaled systems being on the cloud, we ensure 100% uptime, round the clock monitoring by employing war rooms and real-time observability platforms which are manned by our tech team- all to ensure a world-class user experience. 

The Dream11 app, powered by React native, is a critical and the most customer-facing component of the system. Moving to React Native was a big strategic bet and one of the most technically and organisationally challenging initiatives and Dream11 was among the first movers in deploying React Native at scale. 

One of the biggest advantages of React Native is Codepush. Codepush speeds up distribution by delivering updates over the air and is particularly helpful in reducing turnaround time in case of business-critical issues. In the last year alone, we have deployed over 150 updates using codepush. 

At Dream11, our focus is on transforming passive sports fans into active participants. To meet our growing scale, we’re committed to rolling out updates and features faster, aligning with user needs and driving deeper fan engagement ensuring user trust and security. 

Our continuous focus on using technology to innovate enables us to improve and deliver a world-class user experience.

How is Dream Sports exploring new product areas and features, such as esports, live streaming, and gamification? 

At Dream Sports, innovation is at the core of everything we do to enhance fan engagement and deliver immersive experiences. We leverage the unique strengths of each of our portfolio companies to address specific challenges in the sports ecosystem.

Dream11 drives fan engagement by offering  fantasy sports. FanCode provides access to a wide range of sports content and merchandise through the FanCode shop, making sports more accessible to fans. DreamSetGo specialises in curating premium sports travel experiences, offering fans exclusive and unforgettable journeys. Dream Game Studios focuses on creating high-quality, immersive AAA mobile games, bringing sports entertainment to life in new ways. 

Our portfolio companies provide the agility and innovation needed to explore these new product areas while maintaining a focus on what sports fans care about the most. By building a fan-first, innovation-led ecosystem, we transform how sports are experienced, aligning with the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a global sporting nation.

Given the massive amount of data generated by Dream11’s platform, including user activity, match data, and real-time updates, how does the company leverage storage solutions to efficiently manage and analyse this data? 

At Dream11, our user-first approach drives every decision, ensuring that we deliver seamless and immersive experiences for millions of sports fans. Given the immense data generated from user activity, live match data, and real-time updates, we leverage advanced cloud storage solutions to efficiently manage and analyse this data.

As the world’s largest fantasy sports platform, we partner with  cutting-edge technologies like AI, machine learning, big data, and analytics to drive our operations and enhance user experience. These technologies are deeply integrated across all functions, allowing us to optimise performance at scale and handle vast amounts of data with ease.

To manage this efficiently, we’ve built large-scale distributed systems that utilise big data technologies, enabling us to store and process information in real-time. Cloud storage is a critical part of this infrastructure, providing the scalability and flexibility we need, particularly during high-demand periods like the IPL, when traffic and data volumes surge.

Our cloud infrastructure ensures that we can scale up or down based on demand, all while maintaining optimal system performance and user experience. With well-defined processes and mature tooling, we ensure seamless data management, rapid feature rollouts, and real-time updates, giving our users an uninterrupted experience during even the busiest sporting events.

Additionally, data privacy and security remain top priorities for Dream11. Our in-house solutions allow us to maintain control over the scalability of services while safeguarding user information. This balance of innovation, scalability, and data integrity enables us to continue revolutionising fan engagement. 

How does Dream Sports view the future of fantasy sports and the broader sports technology industry?

At Dream Sports, our vision is to Make Sports Better, and fantasy sports have been a key driver in realising this vision. Since Dream11’s inception in 2008, we have seen how fantasy sports can transform fan engagement from passive viewership to active participation. Fantasy sports create an interactive experience that elevates the enjoyment of sports.

As Dream11 grew to become the world’s largest fantasy sports platforms, we recognised that this success highlighted broader opportunities in the sports tech industry. The growth and engagement from fantasy sports revealed potential across various domains, including sports merchandise, sports gaming, deeper fan engagement and grassroots sports development across the length and breadth of sports. Our diverse portfolio including Dream11, FanCide, DreamSetGo, Dream Game Studios and Dream Sports Foundation reflect this broader vision. 

The sports tech sector overall is integral to realising the Digital India vision and the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s aspiration to position India as a leading sporting nation and global gaming hub. Dream Sports remains committed to pioneering advancements in sports technology, ensuring we stay ahead of trends and continue to innovate for the future.