With apps like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime gaining more popularity by the minute and Marvel as well as DC’s streaming services on the way, the industry is getting more traction than ever.
No wonder there. If we were to look at Netflix alone, the stats are impressive: global presence in 50 countries, 57.4 millions of subscribers and an estimated revenue of over $6 Billion are mind-blowing to say the least.
It almost seems like one has no chances of competing with the Big Guys.
Luckily, such an assumption would be false. Yes, Netflix has more than 50 million people watching their shows, but YouTube is proud with more than 1 billion active users per month. Things get even crazier when it comes to TV – there were 119.1 million TV households in the US alone during the 2017-2018 TV season and this number continues to grow.
All of those people are a potential audience to your new streaming service. Heck, even the Netflix users are not legally bond to just one service so you shouldn’t discard them as well.
What do we have in the endgame? A growing industry with high demand and growing popularity. All that’s left for you to do is to claim it as your own.
We’ve had our fair share of video streaming app development here at TrendLine and we would be more than happy to help you with your conquest as well.
Conceptual challenges
Rome wasn’t built in one day. The good old Netflix began its journey to fame back in 1997. To put things into perspective – Google was founded in 1998. It is the concept that has withstood the challenge of time that has helped the Red Giant to fortify positions in the world of subscription-based streaming services.
Your concept has to be on the same level in order to compete with top players in the niche. And, while your story and your idea are unique to your USP and your business model, there are still several conceptual elements everyone is to consider.
1 – Availability
iOS, Android and Windows are but the tip of an iceberg when it comes to video streaming. People consume content on a wide plethora of devices from phones to tablets to laptops to smart TVs to gaming consoles. Those devices are released under various brands and have many unique design elements.
This means that your project should be designed with scalability in mind and it has to be ready for change.
Modular architecture is a well thought solution in our case as when your app is made of independent modules then all of the updates, new feature releases and changes can be implemented without affecting the entire system.
2 – Quality
Quality is an integral element of a good video streaming service. And I don’t just mean that the code shouldn’t have bugs. Intuitive interfaces, clever view mechanics, a decedent set of data analytics to determine view preferences and, of course, high res videos are pivotal to your ongoing success.
Why? Because your app can work flawlessly but who’ll watch videos in 280p nowadays? Who has the time to wait for more than 3 seconds with the whole internet of alternatives at one’s disposal? No one.
3 – Reach
The internet has no limits, nor do streaming services. You are to consider support in a multitude of languages for your solution. You should also consider releasing separate versions of your product based on local cultural preferences of your audience. Red associates with death in China and the preferred color there is golden so why not implement it in your design? A lot of Arabic countries have a language that’s written right to left – will your app support that?
It’s the little things like that than can make or break your presence on the global market.
Development challenges
Having a great app on paper is a step in the right direction, but having a working solution or at least an MVP is truly a milestone.
But what are the core features every streaming service needs?
4 – Content Management functionality
What will your viewers watch? How does that content get uploaded? How can you add new videos or streams into the system without overburdening the app or the server?
The answer to these questions and more lies in cleverly developed content management functionality – one of the core features for you and your team to consider.
5 – Data Analytics
What are your users watching? Do they like what they see? Perhaps a certain piece of content is performing better than others and you need more of videos like that? And while talking convenience – will your app adapt search results based on the user’s individual preferences and viewing habits?
Combine the gathered data with a viable content management system and you are on halfway to a successful video distribution strategy.
6 – Data integrity
A subscription-based service gathers and stores a lot of user-generated data including credit card numbers and other sorts of sensitive information. Your servers need to be protected and your data has to be encrypted. Safety measures on the login and profile screens are to be met as well.
If your budget allows it – we would also advise to hire a penetration testing engineer into the team.
7 – Device diversity
People will be watching your content on screens of all shapes and sizes. We suggest that you use responsive design elements in your application from the go.
8 – Buffering
HTML 5 is one of the best technologies for the web that allows for a video to run with little to no buffering. It will simplify the transition from the video host to the transcoder and to the end-user. A boost in speed like that shouldn’t be neglected in video streaming services.
Do you have any other questions regarding video streaming development? Perhaps you are interested in the preferred tech stack or the most common roadblocks? Don’t be shy then – ask your questions in the comments section below!
