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Entertainment is the primary form of human enjoyment, and powerful OTT platforms like Netflix have become a go for the way we consume the newest form of entertainment, which is readily available anytime and anywhere and can be accessed with just an internet connection and a device to stream on such as mobile or a laptop.
Nowadays, on-demand video streaming platforms like Netflix have transformed how we consume movies and TV shows. With a vast library of content spanning different genres, cultures, countries, and languages, these platforms offer a new horizon in entertainment.
One reason for their popularity is the availability of new content at all times, allowing users to enjoy their favorite shows and movies whenever they want. As a result, these services have outgrown their competitors and become the go-to option for millions of viewers worldwide.
Netflix is the oldest OTT platform that the new internet generation has seen. Today, Netflix is the major player and has the largest market share in the category of OTT platforms, and it was the first company to cater to the problem of always on-demand content.
Started in the year 1997. Today, Netflix is worth a whopping 157 billion dollars, with an active user base of 230 million people using the service.
These OTT platforms offer a significant advantage over traditional television or satellite tv setups. Slowly, major satellite companies are also moving towards providing an OTT subscription to their users.
If Netflix is already the major player in the market, how can you build your platform and provide content? Well, do not worry. There are a lot of spaces to offer your platform to the new audience.
So here is a complete guide to help you build the app.
So without any further ado, let’s get started.
Business Model of Netflix: Understanding In Depth
Before we move on to the development and how to build an OTT platform, it is essential to understand the business model of Netflix to understand the application’s working and basic functioning. Moreover, the business model doesn’t mean how your business generates a steady revenue stream. Still, understanding how the business works embraces your business and creates a defined set of organizational rules.
Netflix uses a subscription-based model that helps the company generate a steady income stream. In terms of scalability, this type of business model allows expansion and scalability very quickly.
Below are the four essential features of the Netflix app that are an integrated business model.
1. Accessibility
The company provides video on several platforms, operating systems, and devices. Netflix increases its fan base via this technique. Subscribers watch their preferred video material using browsers, tablets, and other devices; thus, this continuous availability of tv shows and movies keeps the subscriber loyal to the app.
2. Original Content
Netflix is known for its content, and it streams the existing content of third-party content for which the rights and the license are brought and then streamed on the Netflix application. The company has to take many permissions from the production houses to deliver the content on our screens.
But recently, Netflix has started streaming their original shows, or the Netflix Originals, which is owned, operated, and produced by the company itself; this in-house content is not available on any other platform.
3. Ad-Free Experience
Netflix only shows advertisements to free account holders. But we all know how annoying advertisements can be when watching your favorite show. At the same time, premium subscription holders can access ad-free online streaming. In this manner, the service pushes customers to purchase a subscription service.
4. Recommendation Algorithm
We all have different tastes and preferences while consuming content, and Netflix learns our choices, and using the robust algorithm, it starts suggesting the same or related content to us on our home screens. Our taste, searches, and time spent on a particular genre achieve this.
Advantages of Building a Streaming App: Alternative to Traditional Entertainment.
You may wonder if it is worth building a streaming application. The answer is yes because it has a complete edge over the traditional entertainment setup that relies on televisions and radios for the constant entertainment source. Here is a list of the advantages.
1. Higher Convenience
Unlike traditional TV companies, Netflix and other video streaming services do not require any contract. They allow consumers the choice to cancel their streaming subscriptions at any time and the capacity to stream their favorite episodes and movies despite their geographic location. Log in to your streaming service account to enjoy amazing flexibility at your command.
2. Uninterrupted Connectivity
To access the streaming application, the users require an active internet connection and a device that can stream, and voila, uninterrupted streaming at their fingertips that you can access anywhere, unlike traditional TV. Moreover, streaming apps comes pre-installed in significant devices such as smart TVs
3. Wider Catalog to Access
The main advantage of using Netflix and other VoD service providers over traditional TVs is allowing customers to view hundreds of thousands of movies and other entertainment content from a single location. Users may quickly look for and watch TV episodes and movies from any era or site.
4. Access to Multiple Devices
Another advantage of video streaming apps is the multi-device login feature, which allows users to watch their favorite shows on any device. With just one login, you can access and watch the same content on TVs, PCs, iPads, and smartphones at your convenience.
5. Lower Cost
These streaming apps are much cheaper than the more significant traditional tv contracts, which charge much more money upfront and are an obligation for a long time. Watching on-demand TV series, movies, and other content on Netflix and VoD service platforms is affordable. Because of these advantages, not only Netflix but various streaming platforms have gained significant popularity in entertainment.
Building a Streaming Application: The Essential Steps
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to build your streaming application
Step #1: Find Your Niche
It is essential to understand what niche is going to be and what kind of content you are planning to generate for your audience that will be shared on your platform; the niche can be of many types where your app can revolve to put it into perspective here are a few examples you can stream on your app.
Entertainment
This is one of the biggest streaming genres across all the OTT platforms, including TV shows and movies. Moreover, Netflix is an entertainment app that streams the above; there are still a lot of opportunities to build your app around the significant genres of entertainment due to the need for particular kinds of tv shows or movies only catered to a specific audience.
Health
Streaming apps are not particularly related to entertainment form, yet streaming services are concerned about bringing on-demand videos to your screen whenever the user wants; thus, health streaming, that is, bringing fitness videos whenever the user would like to exercise, is also a scalable and profitable business idea and health streaming apps and services are few thus it can be a great platform to expand in and make a name for yourself.
Education
Online education has seen a significant toll in recent years after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the quality of education that can be delivered via the internet is outstanding; thus, making an educational streaming platform can be beneficial; you will be catering to a very knowledgeable set of students who seek instant videos to study thus this can be a fantastic platform to grow your business on.
Step #2: Choosing the Monetization Method
Monetizing your content is very important since this will be a substantial revenue stream and generate a steady income for your business. You can monetize your app; let us look at all the possible ways.
Pay-Per-View
A simple and effective way to monetize your platform, as the name suggests, this strategy means charging the user for the particular content they want to stream and paying for each video they watch; this strategy is adapted by Google Movies, where all the videos are chargeable and can be accessed via spending the money it has further two extensions the user can either buy that movie or rent for a particular time and pay a specific amount.
Advertising
Running ads on your platform is another approach to generating revenue; this means you will charge companies that will run their ads on your platform and pay; the ads can be placed before the video starts or in between a video; this strategy is widely adopted by YouTube, the largest and most popular streaming platform where different creators upload their original content, users can pay extra amount every month to drop the ads from the platform in total.
Subscription
Most entertainment-based video streaming services use subscription-based models, and subscribers spend a monthly subscription in exchange for unlimited access to a content library. You can adopt this strategy if you routinely add new material to your video streaming app, and Netflix uses the subscription approach to monetize its content.
Step #3: Understand the Requirements
While creating a streaming application, significant requirements need to be met, and here is a complete checklist for you to look at.
Internet Requirements
Understanding the internet requirements for your platform is the most critical aspect; the minimum requirement for any streaming platform is 2MB per second; thus, understand what kind of requirements your platform might have.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is an effective way to make your content readily available at any time; using cloud hosting is flexible and allows quick access to the content.
Security
Security is a top priority; no user wants a stranger to access their data. You must think about content and information security across all customer platforms. We recommend network background, token security, domain restriction, and watermarking for the finest security measures.
- Set domain limits so other users cannot view and utilize the embedded link on another platform or website.
- Set geographic boundaries to protect the licensed material on your platform.
Payment Gateway
Building a solid and effective payment gateway is essential because having a reliable payment method goes a long way; add all the possible ways to execute a transaction that, is credit and debit cards, wire transfers, and other payment methods like Paypal and even buy now and pay later services can be excellent.
Step #4: UI/UX Design
Netflix’s UI/UX design makes it a user’s first pick. Netflix’s UI/UX designers have created an original method of promoting content. A preview area of the home page plays tiny clips of a series or a movie, helping consumers decide whether to spend their time.
The UI/UX focuses on how to improve the user experience for everyday consumers. You must finalize the placement of each component and visualize your app as optimized to create an attractive proposition by showcasing your USP and UI.
Step #5: Building an MVP Model
You may conduct excellent user research, fill in gaps, and create unique license content to stream. However, once you test your platform with real consumers, you will know if it is enough. The MVP stage tests your product’s usability and gathers user input. The following are the must-have MVP features:
Must-Have Features
- Sign-up / sign-in options
- Basic user profile
- Catalog with classified shows
- Search button
- Payments and subscriptions
- Show details page with episodes;
- Video player
- Ratings of the Content
- Settings (language, subtitles, etc.)
- Push notifications
- Admin panel for content management.
Step #6: Gathering the Feedback
After your MVP has been created, it is essential to run your app with different developers and employ a complete team of testers who can run various tests and understand the hindrances and problems that apps are facing, work on them, and then execute the app entirely at all the public domain.
Top Features to Have in a Streaming App: Essentials and Bonus Features
Here is a complete list of the must-have features in your streaming application.
1. User Registration
The essential feature is to register the user with your application and save all the user’s details in your applications’ database so that the user can sign up quickly the next time; you can also add other applications integration, such as “Sign in using Google.”
2. Search Button
The catalog contains millions of videos; thus, you must add the search button on the top so the user can easily search for the desired content they want to binge.
3. Payment Gateway
With data privacy and security increasing traction in the business, considering payment gateway integration is an effective method. When you give consumers a choice to pay using various quick payment methods, you lower the bounce rate on the app or website.
4. Watchlist
Adding the watchlist button can be a bonus on your application, and It is the part where customers can save programs to view later. It lowers their efforts in searching for the same TV show or series again and improves app retention.
5. Social Feature
Sharing the newest things that we come across on social media has become the new normal for us, thus integrating your platform with the social media handles can go a long way as the user can share what they are watching in real-time, and this can be a bonus for you also since it works as free publicity for your application that will be shared across all the social media platforms.
6. Screen Mirroring or Screen Casting
This is referred to as using your phone or tablet to cast your screen or completely display your screen on the television while connected to the same Wi-FI. This is an added feature because that way, the user can enjoy streaming the content on the larger screen and potentially consume the content to the fullest.
7. Multi-Language Support
Last but not least, app localization, which allows you to add to your content language outside English, is a must-have feature of Netflix-clone apps. This function enables your mobile streaming app to reach more consumers and grow your business outside the geographical boundaries on which it is based.
These app features contributed to the app’s global growth. However, the app’s user experience encouraged customers to choose Netflix over other top video streaming apps.
The above features are necessary if you are looking forward to building your streaming platform.
Essential Tech Stack for Developing a Streaming Application
Below we will discuss the basic Tech Stack required for building a streaming application; let us look.
Programming Languages
Three primary languages are required for a streaming application.
Swift
A powerful and intuitive programming language used for developing applications for Apple’s iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS platforms.
Java
A popular object-oriented programming language is used for developing desktop, mobile, and web application applications.
Kotlin
A modern, concise programming language used for developing Android applications and web and server-side applications.
Content Delivery Network
Cloudflare
A content delivery network (CDN) that provides security, performance, and reliability for websites and applications by distributing content across its global network of servers.
Amazon CloudFront
A fast, global content delivery network (CDN) service that securely delivers data, videos, applications, and APIs to customers globally, with low latency and high transfer speeds.
Hosting
Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud, allowing users to deploy and run applications scalable and cost-effectively easily.
API Servers
Node.js
Node.js is a powerful and popular open-source JavaScript runtime environment for developing server-side and network applications.
Media Processing Platforms
DaCast
An all-in-one live streaming platform that allows users to easily create, manage, and monetize live and on-demand video content across all devices and platforms.
Wowza
A powerful and flexible video streaming platform that provides a range of tools and solutions for delivering high-quality live and on-demand video content to any device, anywhere in the world.
Streaming Platforms
WebRTC
A free, open-source project that provides real-time communication capabilities to web browsers and mobile applications through APIs.
RTMP
A protocol for transmitting audio, video, and data over the internet is commonly used for live streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) applications.
Conclusion
Building a streaming platform like Netflix is challenging but achievable with the right resources and planning. You must start with a clear vision, an understanding of the market, and a well-thought-out business plan. You must also have a team of skilled developers to help you bring your vision to life.
Creating a streaming platform like Netflix requires a robust and scalable technology infrastructure that can handle many users and content. You must also have a seamless user interface that is easy to navigate and intuitive.
Content is a vital aspect of any streaming platform, so you must have a well-curated library of movies, TV shows, and documentaries that cater to a wide range of audiences. You should also focus on creating original content exclusive to your platform, which sets you apart from the competition.
In conclusion, building a streaming platform like Netflix requires significant time, resources, and expertise. However, with the right team and technology, building a streaming platform that stands out is achievable.
Idea Usher can help. We have the best team of developers and cutting-edge technology to bring your app to reality. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you get your vision to life.
FAQ’s
Q. What key features must a streaming app like Netflix have to succeed?
A. A streaming app like Netflix must have several key features to be successful. Firstly, it should have a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate. The app should also have a vast library of movies, TV shows, and documentaries catering to a wide audience. A search feature that allows users to find their favorite shows quickly is essential. Finally, the app should have a recommendation engine that suggests content to users based on their viewing history and preferences.
Q. How do I ensure my streaming app can handle many users and content?
A. To ensure your streaming app can handle many users and content, you must have a scalable technology infrastructure. This infrastructure should handle a high traffic volume, and the content delivery network (CDN) should be optimized for fast and reliable streaming. Furthermore, you should conduct thorough load testing to identify potential bottlenecks and optimize your app’s performance accordingly.
Q. What is the best technology stack for building a streaming app like Netflix?
The best technology stack for building a streaming app like Netflix will depend on several factors, such as the programming language, database, and server requirements. However, some of the most commonly used technologies include React Native, Node.js, AWS, and MySQL. You should work with a team of experienced developers who can help you select the best technology stack for your specific needs.
Q. How do I legally obtain the licenses to stream movies and TV shows on my platform?
A. To legally stream movies and TV shows on your platform, you must obtain licenses from the content owners or their authorized distributors. This process can be complex and time-consuming, so working with legal professionals specializing in this area is essential. To avoid legal issues, you must also comply with copyright laws and other regulations.
Q. What kind of budget should I expect when building a streaming app like Netflix, and how can I optimize my spending?
A. The budget for building a streaming app like Netflix can vary widely depending on the size and complexity of the project. However, allocating sufficient resources for development, hosting, content licensing, marketing, and ongoing maintenance is essential. To optimize your spending, you should conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis and prioritize the features that are most critical to the success of your app. You should also work with experienced developers who can help you optimize your spending while still delivering a high-quality product.
