Video streaming apps have taken over the media world. In the last few years, the demand for this type of content has rapidly grown, and according to analysis video streaming market will reach around $224 billion by the end of 2028.
Yet, building such an app is not so a piece-of-cake thing. You need to have a specific set of skills, knowledge, and an exact idea of how your app will work.
Therefore, we have prepared a guide on how to develop a video streaming app for your business. We will consider all the necessary features the app should have and how the development process should go.
Types of Video Streaming Apps
Video streaming applications allow users to watch videos online without downloading them. Videos on streaming platforms can include movies, TV shows, YouTube videos, and live streams.
Before you start a business in a video world, there are four different types of video streaming apps that you should know. Let’s check them.
Audio Streaming Apps
Audio streaming apps mean that users can listen to music without downloading it. The most popular platforms for this kind of media are Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer.
Live Broadcasting Apps
Live broadcasting apps are perhaps the most popular streaming media. It represents video-watching in a real-time mode. The video is recorded and broadcast simultaneously.
You can develop a live streaming app that broadcasts users playing games or evaluating certain products and almost anything that is interesting to the public. Today, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Livestream, and Periscope are some of the most popular live-streaming platforms.
Video on Demand Streaming
These apps allow users to watch movies and series without downloading them. The great thing about it is that consumers can play, pause, resume, and rewind it.
To access these streaming platforms, users need to pay for monthly subscriptions. One of the most popular video-on-demand streaming platforms is Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
TV Live Streaming App
This app allows users to watch TV online. However, if they switch the TV to their video on demand platform, they will lose the show that they were watching.
For this reason, companies have implemented streaming apps with TV broadcasting. Platforms like YouTube TV, Hulu, and Amazon Prime have both on-demand and TV Live streaming videos.
Develop a Video Streaming App for Your Business
Here are 5 steps that will help you build your live streaming app. Once the app is done, you can go onto the creative side and develop the content. But if you think that you need support at the beginning, you can hire the video production agency and let them do the job.
Build your team
Firstly, you must identify a team with expertise in developing live streaming apps from the ground up.
To prepare yourself rightfully for the whole process, you can take some mLearning courses on the no-code LMS mobile app. You can learn basic things about building your streaming app, which will help you in your further development process.
If you are building an application for the long run, the best option is to hire an in-house development team. But this approach can be pretty expensive since you have to rent a space, equip it, and then spend a lot of time hiring the staff.
At this point, you may need to hire a specialist if you lack technical knowledge. They will help you carry out the hiring process and recruit the required specialists.
But, you can always outsource your project if your budget and time are limited. This strategy offers great flexibility in terms of cost. A professional IT outsourcing team will help you choose the best development approach and tech stack, be it native development or cross-platform app development with React Native or Flutter.
To track absences and capture working hours you should use HR software.
Choose your video host
If you want to develop a good live streaming app, you will need a reliable online video host. All of your video content will be located on this platform, so you need to ensure that the hosting provides smooth streaming services.
Depending on your streaming needs, you will need to choose the platform.
Here’s a little tip: When it comes to live streaming apps, features like APIs, SDKs, and HTML5 video players are great options. You can even look for additional features based on your streaming goals. And if your goal is to generate revenue and leverage video content, search for monetization support.
Take into consideration your budget. Examine several pricing options to find what you can afford. Even if you think that you are too limited or too small for a particular market, just remember that consumers love choosing small businesses!
Storage options
All of your information and content should be kept in a secure location. This will allow your users to watch videos without interruptions or unexpected failures.
Our recommendation is cloud services. They have shown to be one of the best options for live streaming app development. With their scalable plans and affordable prices, you can save money on hardware.
Appearance metters
Remember this, design matters; the app’s first impression will determine whether you will retain the current visitor or not. Users will judge your streaming service as soon as they are up on your app.
Therefore, hiring high-quality U/UX designers or finding a software development company that offers a complete package is essential.
Try to look through your competitors’ live-streaming apps and gather some info about what you like and what you could use to improve your app. At the end of the day, the app should be intuitive and not clogged with tons of information.
Testing, packing and submitting the app
Re-assure that your app works flawlessly because customers won’t forgive your mistakes. The market is quite competitive, so they will easily switch to another provider.
Therefore, do a lot of testing and ensure that your app performs at a high level.
Once the video streaming app is complete, package it and send it for approval to Google Play or Apple Play Store.
