How To Make A Video Streaming App: Features, Tech Stack, Cost?

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Introduction

Today, entertainment is a pivotal part of anyone’s life. And with evolving trends and technologies, the mode of entertainment isn’t any more limited to televisions only. We have OTT (over the top) platforms for streaming web shows, dramas, movies, and other entertainment videos.

Some of the most popular video streaming platforms we use are Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Apple TV, Hotstar, etc. And these are just a few renowned names out of the many video streaming apps present in the app stores.

In fact, the rapid growth of the online streaming market and the need for quality content show evidence that video streaming app services will likely grow at a 29.52% CAGR in India.

With such immense growth opportunities, creating video streaming apps has become a prospective option for businesses. However, finding the best way to do that is a tedious task as one can be confused about which features to add, what technology to use, and the cost of development.

Here, you will find answers to all such queries and build your video streaming app seamlessly.

What Are Video Streaming Apps?

Video streaming applications allow continuous transmission of audio and video data from the server-side to the client side in real-time. Users can access web shows, movies, YouTube videos, etc. in real-time and can stream anytime at their convenience.

Several popular videos streaming mobile applications used by people today are -

• Netflix
• Amazon Prime videos
• Disney+
• HBO Max
• Hotstar
• iQIYI
• WeTV
• Pluto TV
• YouTube
• Apple TV+
• Twitch

These applications are popular for many of their features like live streaming, high-quality content consumption, playback facility, offline download, etc. And, to build a competitive video streaming app like such, you need extra attention to build compelling and attractive video streaming apps.

Exclusive Features for Your Video Streaming App

A video streaming app or live streaming app can be built to perfection by incorporating many basic to advanced features. Are you wondering which features can give your product a competitive edge and help with quality mobile app development for your target audience?

Then, you have come to the right place as we have enlisted a few must-have features for your video streaming mobile application. Check these out and decide for yourself!

• Signup options

To bring convenience into the play, your applications should provide customers with multiple options for signing up for their accounts. The various options could be new user registration, signing up using Gmail, Facebook, or mobile number. Make sure your video streaming app does have these various signup options so that users can easily start leveraging the benefits your platform offers.

• Video quality

Since your app will be used by many people from all across the globe, you need to cater to their needs and affordability well. And a video quality adjuster is one of the most desirable features users want in any streaming app free. It helps them choose the quality of video content they watch and it is up to them if they want to watch videos in HD mode (1080p) or data saver mode that consumes lesser data. You can also add video forwarding or skip the intro facility for an optimized customer experience.

• Personal profile

Personalization elevates the user experience of your app as users get to create their user profiles, check watched videos, rate content, and get smart suggestions for content. Whether you are building a streaming app for movies, sports, or fitness, allowing users to create personalized user profiles and track their previous watches, and suggest new content is very profitable.

• Search

A robust and powerful search option is one of the most promising features you can add to your video or live streaming app. While developing the search bar, you should ensure that it can retrieve accurate results and notify users if there’s any unavailable content. Some streaming apps also allow users to search for content by applying filters like categories or can implement a voice searching facility.

• Offline video storage

Most streaming apps provide customers with an offline video download facility so they can watch or rewatch the content anytime they want without having to connect to the internet. These offline or in-app storage video features are useful for live streaming app sports, music, fitness, entertainment, etc.

• Live video streaming

One of the exclusive features of your portal is quality live streaming app development. You should focus on developing an app that live streams quality content in real-time without buffering.

• Group chat or live comments

Some video streaming apps have also started using group chat or live comments feature for their portal. This can help improve your app’s engagement quotient as users will watch videos and discuss with fellow watchers on the go.

• Push notifications

Push notifications can be very useful to inform your users about any new shows or events or to remind them to complete the show they have been watching. In fact, as per reports, push notifications can boost your mobile app’s engagement rate by 88%.

Best Tech Stack To Use for Creating Video Streaming Apps

Developing a full-fledged video streaming app can be a bit different from traditional mobile apps we develop and requires additional attention to managing streaming and streaming platforms.

Now, the technology we use to develop your video streaming app entirely depends on your project requirements. If you want to build native applications for Android or iOS, we use respective SDKs (software development kits) for development. However, if you want to develop hybrid mobile apps, frameworks like Flutter, Ionic, React Native, etc. can be helpful.

Furthermore, the decision should be up to you based on your project requirements. Besides this, you should consider a few more things for the tech stack while developing the best video streaming app for music, sports, movies, fitness, etc.

1.  Streaming protocol

There are two streaming protocols that we commonly use -

• RTMP protocol - It is useful when you need video content streaming in high definition or enhanced quality. However, there can be around 10 to 20 seconds delay in transmission of the video stream. Because of the high-quality audio/video streaming, RTMP protocol is typically used for streaming entertainment videos of live concerts, matches, conferences, etc.
• WebRTC protocol - This protocol is used in cases of real-time communication. These are mostly used for video calling applications and there’s no delay. However, the quality of streaming can be lower if the bandwidth is inadequate.

2. Streaming platform

Deciding which content streaming platform is most suitable is another crucial task you have to perform when building a streaming mobile application. Though there are many options to use as streaming platforms, Amazon web services or AWS is popularly used as a streaming platform to manage streams, host the mobile application, and deliver quality content to the end-users.

3. Content delivery network

Selecting the right content delivery network can make or break your video streaming app’s performance as the speed of content retrieval and streaming depends on it. Amazon’s AWS Cloudfront is a popular CDN businesses use in this regard.

Chosen your tech stack for the video streaming app? Or, still confused? In any case, our executives can help you make the right decision. Talk to our representative and drop your queries.

How to Build A Video Streaming App?

Developing a fast, responsive, and feature-rich video streaming app isn’t as complicated a task as you would think if you know the basics. And even though you would receive all the technical assistance for developing such an app, having the development roadmap ready will guide you in the effortless development of the product.

1. Choose your niche

The first thing you have to do is choose the niche for which you want to build a video streaming app. It could be a video on demand app for entertainment or educational video streaming app or sports or fitness.

But, before you begin developing your video streaming app, you must be clear about the niche for which you are building as it influences the app design and features you add.

2. Select content

When you are developing a video streaming app, do you have a list of contributors from whom you will be sharing content? Or, will you be producing your own content? In either case, you would need to check the availability of content as you would want the content to be ready for streaming whenever you launch your application.

However, if you are lending content from contributors, make sure you are doing it from licensed owners and have the copyright to show the content on your platform to avoid any legal litigation.

3. Monetize your app idea

Without an effective monetization idea, it is futile to develop a video streaming app as you would end up with more losses than gains. To monetize your app, you have multiple options. You can choose the subscription-based monetization method like Netflix and Amazon Prime or you can select an ad-based method like YouTube.

It all depends on the kind of application you are building and the quality and availability of content you are having on your app. To name a few monetizing methods, we have -

• Advertising
• Subscription
• Pay per view

4. Strategize

This is one of the most crucial stages out of all the stages as you would do all the research work and analyze the project requirements. Be it deciding on the technology stack, hiring the best quality developers, assessing internet speed, cloud hosting, network connectivity, or system architecture, you need to consider all aspects and devise a perfect plan that can help in quality development.

5. Design & development

Usually, the development team is responsible for mobile app design and development. However, it is necessary for you to track the project’s progress and provide necessary input as per your project's need for a personalized development experience.

6. Test and feedback

Once the product is tested for errors and any security or performance issues, it is necessary to quality check the product as well. Businesses can also create an MVP (minimum viable product) and assess the initial response of users and work on the received feedback.

Cost of Developing A Video Streaming App

Developing a video streaming app is no simple task and you will obviously need technical assistance for the same. Thus, you can’t build it for free and there’s certainly no fixed cost for developing a video or live streaming app.
However, we can tell you the various factors on which the development cost depends. You can manage these factors as per your need and ensure the project completes within your budget.

• Project scope

The scope of the project determines the approximate budget of the project. If you are adding simple features to your app with nothing customized, the development cost would certainly be low. However, the cost will rise with more advanced features.

• Technology stack

Your project development cost may slightly vary depending on the tech stack you use as some frameworks aren’t open source and need to be purchased for use. So, research and see what works best for you.

• Number of hours

The cost spent on hiring resources can be calculated by multiplying the number of hours worked with the hourly rate. If you want to minimize the cost of development, you need to get the work done accordingly.

• Engagement model

Hiring a full-fledged in-house team of designers, developers, and testers is an expensive affair. Instead, one can outsource the job to a different mobile app development agency and get the job done on a budget. Most western countries get the project developed from countries like India, Ukraine, etc. at affordable rates.

If you are looking for a prospective option to outsource your video streaming app project, look no further than Auxesis Infotech. Here, we have the technical expertise, experience, and tools to guide you through a quality development process.

Conclusion

A video streaming app can be built for entertainment, education, or awareness. Whatever the case may be, you need to ensure the app is engaging enough, fast enough, and secure enough so that your users can use the services at ease.

And to ensure all of that here’s your guide to building the best video streaming app today. Check out the latest and exclusive features your app must-have, the cost, the technology stack to use, and other important factors, and get started.