Kafka is often chosen as a solution for realtime data streaming because it is highly scalable, fault-tolerant, and can operate with low latency even under high load. This has made it popular for companies in the fan engagement space, and where transactional data is used (e.g. betting) as low latency ensures that actions and responses happen quickly, maintaining the fluidity and immediacy of the experience.

We’ve had the privilege of working with a wide range of customers including global retailers, CRM vendors, sports franchises, creators, entertainers, and broadcasters - from HubSpot and SportsBet, to 17Live and InvitePeople - providing them with reliable, scalable and low-latency chat. Ably Pub/Sub is already a fantastic fit for a variety of chat use cases.

We are thrilled to announce that we are transitioning from our legacy status page to a brand-new, upgraded one. This change is part of our ongoing commitment to provide Ably users with the best possible developer experience. Our legacy status page has served us well, but technology and customer needs are constantly evolving. We recognized the need for a platform that can keep pace with these changes and offer an improved experience.

Fan expectations pose an existential threat to fan-centric businesses. And that's because what it means to be a fan has changed. Fandom used to be watching the Monday night game on TV or getting tickets for a concert when your favorite artist rolled through town.

Today's fans crave realtime engagement. They want to feel the energy, participate in interactive features, and connect with the action - and the brand - beyond the screen. But here's the challenge: delays and a lack of engagement kill the excitement. Frustrated fans will seek out alternative platforms that deliver the immersive and rewarding experiences that they seek. One company helping brands deliver on these needs is LiveLike.

As a veteran of the sports media industry with 35 years of experience at Deltatre, Carlo De Marchis recently delivered a thought-provoking keynote at our Fan Engagement Summit exploring the current state of fan engagement, the challenges faced by organizations, and the potential scenarios for the future of realtime fan engagement in sports and media. In the following video and post, Carlo shares what he presented at the Ably Summit with a re-recorded version of his presentation, and summary of key points.

Ably LiveSync is a product we launched last month to help developers deliver live updates in their applications by automatically keeping their database and frontend clients in sync. LiveSync is made of two components, the Models SDK that runs on the client, and the database connector that listens to changes in your database and syncs those changes to your clients.

In the ever-evolving world of sports and entertainment, fan engagement has emerged as a critical factor in driving retention and long-term success. At the Ably Realtime Fan Engagement Summit in New York City, industry experts shared valuable insights into the relationship between fan engagement and retention, emphasizing the importance of creating compelling digital experiences and fostering genuine connections.

Ably was proud to celebrate our 8th birthday this year, and we’ve enjoyed reflecting on some of our achievements since launching in 2016. When we launched, we believed that realtime interactions would underpin our everyday digital experiences, rather than just augment them. And so we set out on a mission to build the definitive realtime experience platform.

We’re excited to announce that Ably LiveSync is now in public alpha! LiveSync is a state synchronisation product that allows you to watch changes to your database and publish them reliably to millions of frontend clients, enabling those clients to stay up to date with the latest changes in realtime.