How to create your OTT platform? Check the required app features and development steps

Are you looking to enter the video streaming business by starting an OTT Platform? 

The video streaming niche has captured a larger audience base than ever. 

And the good thing is there are a lot of opportunities available to get into the video streaming businesses by targeting audiences on different online platforms such as mobiles, laptops, smart TVs, gaming consoles, etc. 

The latest report from Digital TV Research states, “The global OTT development market will hit $159 billion by 2024.”

If you want to enter this profitable market by starting OTT platform development but don’t know the exact steps, check out this blog to easily create and launch your video streaming platform. 

What is an OTT platform?

OTT stands for over the top. This new term simplifies the media streaming experience.

With the help of the internet and OTT platforms, audiences can access content anytime across different devices. (Even without needing traditional broadcast or satellite TV providers.)

The over-the-top platform includes apps, websites, or even streaming devices that contain a wide range of TV shows, movies, and platform-exclusive content.  

Also, look at the future of OTT platforms, telling us why it is the best time to invest in building your OTT platforms. 

The market of the OTT streaming industry

Here’s how the future market of OTT platforms will look like:  

• The OTT market is expected to reach $1.039 trillion by 2027
• The market size of video streaming platforms will grow at a CAGR rate of 26.42% from 2022 to 2030
• The OTT market will reach $200 Billion by 2024
• A new report from Juniper Research states, that there will be nearly 2 Billion active subscribers for video streaming services  by 2025

Now, understand why investing in building your OTT platform can benefit your business.  

How can your OTT platform benefit your business?

Here is the list of benefits you can get when developing an OTT platform for your business:

1. Increased viewership

According to the report, video viewers will constitute 82% of all internet traffic by 2022. That’s more than half of the audience base, which you shouldn’t consider avoiding to make profits in your business.

2. Deep connections with customers

As platforms offer personalized video streaming experiences by letting users choose from a wide variety of content, you can easily and quickly build your brand and scale it to a large audience base.  

3. More profits

What’s better than targeting an audience willing to pay for premium content? Look at the stat, “Earnings from subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform is predicted to surpass $126 billion globally by 2026”

Building your own OTT platform will help you make income from the audience that already pays to access their favorite content on different OTT platforms.

4. Business stability 

You may need to compete with other content and web series when you host your content on other OTT platforms. Also, you may need to stay updated with their algorithms and policies every time, which can be challenging in the long run. 

No doubt, you can benefit from the extensive audience base of other video streaming platforms. However, you can quickly build your entire audience base for your exclusive OTT platform, which can help your business in the long run. 

Once you have a vast audience base, you can smoothly operate your video streaming business without depending on third-party OTT platforms. It can help you make enormous profits by avoiding paying commissions to third parties OTT platform providers.

Now, let’s check what makes OTT platforms so popular nowadays. 

Reasons behind the popularity of OTT platforms

The following reasons will explain why OTT platform users are growing rapidly.

1. Easier access

With OTT platforms, users can access their favorite content anytime, anywhere they want. While in the case of traditional TVs, users have to wait for broadcast time for their favorite TV shows.

2. Personalised recommendations 

Almost every OTT platform uses artificial intelligence and big data to track users’ behavior regarding TV shows and movies. 

Knowing users’ preferences helps OTT platforms recommend TV shows and movies relevant to users’ interests (which eventually improves the user experience on OTT platforms)

3. Economical compared to cable charges

Compared to traditional cable charges, OTT platforms are cheaper as they provide different packages based on factors such as the allowed number of devices for accessing OTT platforms, video quality resolution, accessible shows per month, etc.

Offering different kinds of packages gives users greater freedom to select packages that suit their budget for watching their favorite TV shows and movies on a particular OTT platform.

4. Supports multiple devices

By paying subscription fees for a single account, users can binge-watch their favorite content over different platforms and devices such as smartphones, smart TVs, desktops, etc. 

However, in the case of traditional cable services, users can only access them on a single device, which is not cost-effective compared to OTT platforms. 

5. No complex installation process

OTT platform doesn’t need any complex installation process to enable users to access their services. 

While in the case of traditional cable services, users need to purchase additional components such as a set-top box and dish antenna and require their installation, which ends their mobility.

In the case of an OTT platform, users can instantly access their favorite content anytime, anywhere they want. 

Also, you can check why having your own OTT platform is beneficial compared to using a third-party OTT platform to deliver your content.

Reasons to build your own OTT platform

Instead of using other OTT platforms, creating your own OTT platform gives the following advantages to your business: 

1. More control over your data

You can avoid exposing your audience’s data to third-party OTT platforms when you decide to have your video streaming platform.

Also, you can get total control and access over your user’s data that you can use to improve your platform’s experience, which is not the same case when you depend on other OTT platforms to deliver your content.

2. Gives more monetization options 

Having your own OTT platform allows you to monetize your platform in your preferred ways. You can implement multiple monetization models in your platform to make profits in numerous ways.

Also, having your OTT platform can help you avoid paying commissions to third-party OTT platforms, minimize your platform charges, and maximize your business profits. 

3. Help you control your brand 

Building your OTT platform enables you to customize your platform numerous times to enhance the user experience on your platform. 

Also, you can get total control over your OTT platform, which can simplify your video streaming business as you can avoid the risk of getting restricted from third-party OTT platforms.

4. Easy brand scaling and more viewership

When your audience downloads your OTT app, they can remember your brand, which can help you easily promote it among your audience and get more viewership of your content. 

Your target audience can easily forget your brand when you choose to deliver your content over other OTT platforms. You may need to perform marketing whenever you launch a new series in the market.

Knowing all the required features for an OTT platform will simplify your platform development journey through which you can easily start your video streaming business.

Key features required to build an OTT platform

Here are the features you should consider adding when building your OTT platform:

1. Advanced search

Integrating the search functionality into your platform will allow users to find their favorite content easily. For searching for any TV show or movie, the user will insert the title in the search bar, and your platform will showcase all the content relevant to the keyword submitted by users. Also, consider adding tags, filters, and other features that improve the search experience.

 2. Personalized profile

Allowing your users to customize their profiles on your OTT platform will help them feel connected with others. You can enable personal profile customization features such as changing names, profile pictures, preferred movie categories, etc. 

 3. Watchlist feature

Give your users an excellent video streaming experience by enabling them to add a list of all the movies and TV shows they would like to watch later whenever they are free to visit and watch content on your OTT platform.

4. Social Media Sharing

Content sharing through social media is another best feature you can add to your OTT platform. The features will let your users share their favorite content with friends and relatives.

Integrating social media functionality can eventually increase your platform’s user engagement and revenue as it will help you attract a larger audience base that hasn’t heard of your OTT platform.

5. Screen mirroring

Not every user loves to watch content on their mobiles. You can integrate a screen mirroring feature into your OTT platform to let users cast their favorite shows on a larger screen straight from the mobile app.

6. Multilingual content

Since you will target a large audience base, you should ensure that you have a wide variety of content relevant to each audience base, such as gender, age, movie categories, etc. Therefore, multilingual content will help you increase the audience base of your OTT platform by offering content to diverse audiences.

7. In-app purchases(Optional)

The feature will let you sell your premium and exclusive content to the app users, which can help you generate additional revenue sources for your business. Also, check different ways to monetize your mobile apps.

8. Video Library management 

Integrating the feature of video library management will let you control and maintain the overall video content available on your platform. 

9. Payment gateway integration

Add a wide range of payment gateway integration to your platform to let your users pay based on their preference for different payment methods, such as debit cards, credit cards, E-wallets, bank transfers, etc.

10. Audience analytics

Understand your audience better by integrating analytics features into your platform to get an overview of your audience, such as user behavior, ratings, subscription patterns, regional preference, etc. 

11. Multi languages

Expand your business platform beyond geographical borders that are limited by their languages. Multiple languages in your platform will help the audience access your platform more clearly and better by letting them select languages relevant to their knowledge.

Now let’s understand the steps to get started with OTT platform development. 

How to develop an OTT video streaming app?

Developing your OTT video streaming app will need guidance from highly skilled developers that understand and are experienced in building video streaming platforms. Let’s check the required steps to build your OTT video streaming app.

1. Define your niche

It’s important to prioritize the right audience base you are targeting for your video streaming business. You can target different audiences, such as teenagers, professionals, women, kids, and so on, to let you deliver—a more personalized video streaming experience for your users. 

2. Build your content repository 

Content is the main driving factor that will help you build and scale your video streaming business. Therefore, you must diversify your content into categories, moods, and interests relevant to your targeted audience.

3. Choose a business model

You can select from different monetization models to make money from your video streaming business:

I. SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand)

This model focuses on selling your subscription plan to your app user based on month or year to let them access your content. Amazon Prime is a popular example of this monetization model. 

II. TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand)

Instead of selling a subscription plan, you can allow users to pay only for the content they want to watch on your platform. You can take Apple’s iTunes and Sky Box as an example of this model.

III. AVOD (Ad-Supported Video on Demand)

What if you have decided your audience base, but they don’t have enough purchasing power, like teenagers or kids? Moreover, you can use this model to make additional income from your platform by showing advertisements of different brands to your app users. 

Consider YouTube as a good example that follows an Ad-supported monetization model. 

IV. Hybrid Models

Instead of choosing a separate monetization model, you can combine the above to make additional income from your video streaming business. For example, YouTube uses both advertising and subscription-based monetization models. 

4. Choose custom-made video streaming solutions 

Building your OTT platform from scratch may cost you massive time and investment. You can quickly build your OTT platform by choosing customized OTT platform development solutions available in the market. 

And here are the benefits of choosing a customized video streaming development solutions instead of building them from scratch:

I. Economical and faster development

Building your own OTT platform from scratch will need massive resources and time and can eventually hurt your business goal. 

However, choosing a customized streaming platform will allow you to build and deploy your platform quickly on less budget. The video streaming development solution includes all the required tools and features that enable you to deliver content on your platform.

II. Faster time to market

Using a customized video streaming development solution will enable you to build and publish your platform in a few weeks to let you generate revenue sooner than building your video streaming platform from scratch.

III. Lower upfront cost

You will get all the ready-made features and functionalities from the OTT platform builder, which can help you to reduce the budget for starting your video streaming business. Choosing a customized video streaming builder can help you reduce the app development budget for your OTT platform.

IV. Platform launch 

Once your products are ready to deploy, you can launch them to your targeted market. Using a customized platform builder will help you quickly launch your video streaming platform in the market. These builder tools have all the tools and features that can help you efficiently launch your video streaming platform in the market.

V. App maintenance

The maintenance involves adding new features and fixing bugs in your OTT platform. Both adding new features and eliminating drawbacks in your platform need guidance from an IT expert that can help you with app maintenance to ensure your business will always remain profitable in the market. 

Now, let’s discuss the top OTT app builders that can help you with creating your own streaming platform.

Top 5 OTT app builders 

Check the best OTT app builders you can use for building your OTT platform:

1. Maz

The platform simplifies the OTT app development experience for mobile and smart TV devices and platforms like iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, and all other major browsers. Also, the MAZ allows you to build an OTT platform up to 150% faster than other OTT platform development methods.

The MAZ allows you to build an OTT platform with extensive features such as live streaming and VOD capability without needing to set up a complex infrastructure or exceed unnecessary app development costs

Key features of Maz:

• Create and deploy native or cross-device OTT apps 
• Libraries of premade UI and UX patterns 
• Support for different content monetization options 
• Fulfills all app marketplace requirements 

2. Vplayed

The platform features a highly customizable app builder that can help you build your content streaming platform efficiently and quickly.

Moreover, the platform offers end-to-end development support with many customizable features and multiple monetization options to help you make better returns on your investment.

Key features of Vplayed: 

• In-App notification
• Paywall Integration
• Offline Viewing
• Live Video Streaming Platform
• Bulk Upload
• Subtitles
• Support for multiple video formats
• Detailed Video Analytics 

3. Vimeo OTT

The platform can help you build a user-friendly OTT platform for your audience. Vimeo can help you monetize your OTT in a variety of ways. Also, the platform follows the pay-as-you-go model, where there are little to no startup-up costs for building your OTT platform and offering you full control over your subscriber and your OTT platform.

Key features of Vimeo:

• Live Streaming
• Branded Apps
• 24×7 support
• In-depth Analytics
• Simple pricing plans
• Live polls
• Audience Chat

4. Builder.ai

Builder.ai is another powerful OTT platform maker that simplifies its development process with the requirement of minimal coding effort. The platform offers a wide range of design templates with highly customizable options to help you select designs for your OTT platform.

Key features of Builder.ai:

• Apps for multi-device
• Multilingual content support
• Watch Offline
• Smart Search
• Categorized Content

5. Vidapp

The platform allows you to build customized OTT platforms. The Vidapp offers annual/monthly pricing plans (and customized plans). 

The Vidapp allows you to integrate the OTT platform into your existing platform and offers multiple design templates to let you select the pre-design OTT platform UI. 

With Vidapp, you can build and launch your OTT product on platforms such as iPhone, Apple TV, Android TVs/smartphones, and Roku.

Key features of Vidapp:

• Automated Push Notifications
• Daily Journal
• Smart Search
• Filter Options
• Custom Playlists
• Secure Downloads
• Modular templates
• Monthly Calendar

Know the tech stack suitable for building your video streaming platform.

Tech stack for building SpotHero-like app

Here’s the tech stack you can use to build your video streaming platform:

Purpose	Tech Stack
Application & Data	Nginx, Backbone.js, Underscore
Utilities	Google Analytics, Amazon Cloudfront, Twilio SendGrid, Mailgun, Mixpanel, Optimizely, Mandrill, CrazyEgg
DevOps	New Relic
Business Tools	GSuite, Zendesk, Zopim

Now let’s get a cost estimate to know how much it can cost to build your OTT platform.

Cost-affecting factors to building an OTT platform?

Costing to create your OTT platform similar to Netflix and Hulu apps depends on the following factors:

1. OTT features and functionality

Undoubtedly, the OTT platform requires a specific set of features such as video library management, watchlist features, audience analytics, etc. 

Choosing selective OTT platform features at the start can help you minimize the cost of OTT platform development. After launching your video streaming service, you can add additional features to your OTT platform to enhance the user experience. 

2. Selected tools for OTT platform development

The tools you will select for building your OTT platform will also determine the cost of building your platform.

As we already discussed multiple OTT platform builders, you can carefully select the one that is economical for you and provide various features to create your OTT platform.

Along with OTT platform builders, you must also look out for other tools such as website builders, app builders, and others required to build and establish your OTT platform on your targeted platform.  

3. Location of OTT platform development team

The location of the app development team is another factor that affects the development cost of building your OTT platform. App developers from different regions have their own set of app development charges. 

For example: In the US, there will be high app development costs, while in the case of India, there will be fewer app development costs. 

You can best check the app development cost of different countries to get the best deal for your OTT platform development project. 

4. List of platforms for launching your OTT business  

There are multiple platforms available where you can launch your OTT business, such as mobile devices, smart TVs, gaming consoles, etc., and each platform requires a particular set of building tools that can be either free or paid. 

Moreover, you will need to pay a developer fee on different platforms, such as the Apple app store, Google Play, Xbox, Playstation, etc., for using their development tools and their platform to launch and scale your video streaming business. 

Now, let’s check popular OTT platforms for taking their business ideas and implementing them in your video streaming business.

Top best OTT platforms

Here is the list of the best OTT platforms performing well in the market.

1. Netflix

The platform is one of the biggest OTT platforms that cover over 15000 titles. Netflix features titles from other companies and releases exclusive TV shows and movies on the platform.

Netflix has covered entire audiences based on genres, age, gender, etc. The platform’s algorithm smartly analyzes its users’ browsing patterns to let them suggest content that is more relevant to their interests.

Started in	1997
Headquarter	United States
Market valuation	119.74 billion
Audience base	223 Million
Available on	Smart TVs, game consoles, streaming media players, set-top boxes, smartphones, and tablets
Pricing	Basic: $9.99/month Standard: $15.49/month Premium:  $19.99/month

2. Prime Video

One of the biggest eCommerce brands, Amazon, has also launched its OTT streaming platform. The platform offers unlimited access to its video content library through subscription and additional content that can be avail either by rent or purchase.

Started in	2006
Headquarter	United States
Market valuation	13 billion
Audience base	157.4Million
Available on	Smartphones (Android & iOS), Blu-Ray players, Gaming consoles, Mobile Devices, SmartTVs, etc.
Pricing	$14.99 per month $139 per year

3. Disney +

Disney has launched their exclusive video streaming platform to deliver its exclusive content to the audience.

Moreover, Disney has partnered with other content providers, such as Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic, to offer a wide variety of content on its platform.

Started in	2019
Headquarter	United States
Market valuation	290 billion
Audience base	221 Million
Available on	Android smartphones and tablets, Apple iPhones and iPads, Amazon Fire TabletAndroid TV (Google TV), LG Smart TVs (webOS), Apple TV, Google Chromebook, Sony PlayStation, Xbox, etc
Pricing	$7.99 per month

4. HBO Max

The platform allows their app users to binge-watch a wide range of movies and exclusive content, especially from WarnerMedia. The platform hosts popular shows and movies like House of the dragon, Walker, The vampire diaries, etc.

Started in	2017
Headquarter	United States
Market valuation	7.7 billion in 2021
Audience base	76.8 Million
Available on	Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV.Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, LG Smart TVs, Roku, Samsung TV, VIZIO SmartCast TVs.
Pricing	$7.99 per month

5. Youtube TV

Youtube is the most popular video platform where everyone can become content creators. 

However, Youtube has also established its separate OTT platform, offering exclusive content and over 85 television channels. Youtube TV offers unlimited streamings and pay-per-view subscriptions to allow app users to access their favorite content. 

Started in	2020
Headquarter	United States
Market valuation	28.8 billion in 2021
Audience base	5 Million
Available on	Android, iOS, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku players & TVs, etc
Pricing	$7.99 per month

What is the best way to start OTT platform development?

There are multiple options to start your OTT platform development, such as either building by yourself, hiring in-house app developers, contacting freelancers, or outsourcing your OTT platform project to an app development company. 

However, outsourcing your OTT project to an app development company can be your best decision. 

There are multiple benefits to outsourcing your OTT projects compared to other options, such as handling your video streaming project with an experienced app developer.

Also, they can help you provide other required services, such as project management, app marketing, and app maintenance.

Outsourcing your app can help you access all-rounder services to easily build, launch, and scale your video streaming business.

Get all-rounder support to build your OTT platform

Even after choosing the right development solution for your video streaming platform, your team will need programming skills and experience to build OTT platforms similar to your competitors.

The best step you can take is to contact an app development company and tell them your business requirement, and they will suggest and build you the best customized OTT development platform for your business.

To quickly and easily launch your video streaming platform, you should hire the right video streaming development team for your business like Idea Usher. 

Idea Usher is experienced in building video streaming platforms for their business partners to help them quickly and easily launch their businesses to make incredible profits. 

Contact idea shares to build your OTT platform including all the features you wish to have on your platform.    

Email:

[email protected]

Phone:

(+1)732 962 4560

(+91)859 140 7140

FAQ

Q. How do I build an OTT platform?

A. You can follow the given steps to put your OTT platform:

• Define your target audience and the niche.
• Make a list of features that you want to add to your video streaming platform.
• Partner with an App development company to simplify the building process.
• Choose a monetization model for your video streaming platform.
• Select the right custom pre-made video streaming platform development solutions

Q. What are the features of the OTT platform?

A. These are the following features important for your OTT platform:

• Advanced Search feature 
• Personalised profile
• Watch list feature 
• Social media sharing
• Multilingual content
• In-app purchases
• Video library management
  Payment gateway integration
• Audience analytics
• Multi-language support 

Q. How OTT is changing the media industry?

A. The OTT platforms enable users to access their favorite content anytime, anywhere they want. Unlike traditional televisions, users don’t need to wait to watch their favorite shows and movies at a predetermined broadcast time.

Q. How do OTT platforms earn revenue?

A. OTT platforms make money by selecting from the given monetization models:

• Subscription video on demand
• Transnational video on demand
• Add supported video on demand
• Hybrid monetization model