Everything You Need to Know to Develop a Video Streaming App like Netflix Amid this pandemic, one thing that we all are glued to is video streaming apps like Netflix. During the COVID lockdown, Netflix alone received 16 million new subscriptions. Apps of this kind have enjoyed an influx of users while people were trying hard to maintain physical distancing. The whole industry has become a lucrative option for businesses around the globe. Video streaming mobile app development has been used to target the international as well as the local audience. From Amazon Prime to Netflix, all video streaming apps have become a tool for top-notch businesses to gain profits as well as the love of the audience.
Why Should You Create an App like Netflix? Being an industry veteran in offering mobile app development services, we can vouch for this idea during the COVID pandemic and also in the post-COVID period. Netflix’s business model is freemium wherein certain services get life after a paid subscription. Moreover, in-app ads also help them earn tons of money. With each passing day, more and more people are relying on video streaming apps for their entertainment. But, make sure to hire app developers who have experience in creating such apps as Netflix.
The never-ending scope to earn and the popular demand of these apps, are the two strong points that go in the favor of this mobile app idea. You will learn how to create this app when you will read the answer to these questions. – Let’s learn how to create a video streaming app like Netflix.
● What are the features of the video streaming app MVP? ● What are the advanced features of video streaming apps? ● What is the tech-stack of video streaming apps like Netflix? ● How can you ensure the success of your video streaming apps? ● What is the video streaming mobile app development cost?
What are the features of the video streaming app MVP? Whenever you decide to create an app, the first step should be the finalization of your MVP features. The minimum viable product is something where primary features are included to check the first response of the target market. We have mentioned the top primary features every video streaming mobile app MVP must-have. Check it out.
User registration For any app, this is the most important feature to get the insights of their users. By formally getting them registered, you are taking valuable information from them that can help you serve them better. The user profile acts as a separate account for each customer. Moreover, it will help the admin to get all the information about a particular user.
Social media integration
This will allow your users to share the news on their social media profiles. Moreover, you can get more data about their preferences and behaviors on various social media sites. This serves your two purposes. One is to spread the word about your brand. The second one is getting more information about your users that will ultimately lead to better user satisfaction.
Live video streaming When we talk about video streaming apps, this is another most crucial aspect of its success. You need this feature to allow users to check the videos on the basis of their available bandwidth. This is challenging too as you need to make sure that the app is capable of providing seamless streaming to users with low bandwidth availability.
Local storage The in-app storage should be there in your application to help users keep their data saved. The content that they like and want to watch later on, should be allowed to be downloaded and kept in the in-app space. The video streaming app usually does not allow users to download any content in their phone memory due to copyright infringement. This demands that the Android App Development Company must make your app highly scalable.
Subscription Only when you will make your app compatible with a paid subscription, only then you will be able to earn. By getting a paid subscription, the users will be able to get access to the paid content. For this purpose, you might have
a payment system integrated with your app. To include this function, make sure your app has high-end security to offer safe transactions.
Reviews and ratings This will allow you to get feedback from your users. Not every user will write a review on the Play store for your developers. By checking the in-app reviews and ratings for different sections of your services, you can take the necessary steps to make your app more user-friendly and interactive.
Dashboard The dashboard of an app like Netflix will help the users to see all their latest watched content. Moreover, it will help your administration to keep a track of what your customers are watching. The dashboard will have all the details about the subscription and other plans of your users. The dashboard will also contain all the relevant information about a particular user.
What are the advanced features of video streaming apps?
If you want to make your app competitive enough to stand out among other video streaming apps then you will have to include more features. These features are supported by the latest technologies prevailing in the market
like Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, etc. Remember that every advanced feature that you will add to your app will add to the mobile app development cost.
Smart search results The usage of technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning can analyze the behavior and preferences of the users based on their interaction with the app and its content. These technologies will evaluate the data by employing data science techniques. After the final results, you will be able to serve your users with the smart search results that they will find highly meaningful.
Chats Today is the era of conversation AI that is helping businesses in serving clients with the best customer services. Unlike humans, Artificial intelligence-powered conversation chatbots are able to converse around the clock without any interruptions. Moreover, the replies are intelligent enough. By including this feature in your app, you will be able to serve your users with prompt replies. Your customers will never be left waiting for someone to attend to them for their queries. This ensures smooth processes and happy customers.
Push notification This is another feature that keeps your customer engaged with your app. You can notify your users about the latest updates, new features, and so on. Moreover, you can inform about the payment process, a subscription that is going to end, and other necessary information.
These notifications can also be used to keep the not-so-committed users in touch with your app. Push notifications are a way to make your users remember your app. If you are planning to create a website instead of an app then get a PWA from your Web Development Company. With PWA, you can provide a push notifications feature.
Multi-lingual If you wish to target an international audience with a large amount of content then it is necessary to make it multi-lingual. An MVP can run in one language or if you are targeting only a particular region with your app. But if your app has content in multiple languages, then make sure that your app supports different languages as well. Make sure to at least make your app compatible with the language of which content is offered in your app.
Block screenshots In order to keep your content safe from any kind of leak, you need to block screenshots as well as screen recording. This will ensure that copyright infringement never happens with the content displayed through your app. Making the video streaming from your app lawful is an important thing to look after. In order to make your app legally sound, this advanced feature is worth investing in. it will allow you to gain a good reputation in the market among both the content consumers as well as creators.
What is the tech-stack of video streaming apps like Netflix?
The tech-stack for any mobile app will depend on your own choice. There are innumerable technologies among which you can opt for depending on the features of your video streaming mobile apps. Android – If you are planning to avail of Android App Development Services, then you can use among the top two technologies. For Android app development, Kotlin and Java can be used to create a seamless app with desired features as well as robust security.
iOSWhen you Hire iOS App Developers, make sure they have experience of using the Swift language. It is one of the most prevailing technologies for creating scalable and customized apps for iOS app platforms.
WebBy using the right Javascript frameworks like Vuejs, Nodejs, React Js, etc. you can create a robust website, web app, or progressive web apps. You can get both the frontend as well as backend developed by using these technologies.
BackendHire a PHP development company to get robust backend development for your app or website. It allows the developers to create a secure, competitive, and feature-rich server-side by getting API development for customized features. Any database like MySQL can be used along with a cloud system like AWS. For servers and networking, it is recommended to use Nodejs or any other technology of similar efficiency.
How can you ensure the success of your video streaming apps?
The successor of any app will depend upon various factors that are not covered in its features. Apart from offering a seamless and intuitive user experience, it is vital to make your app beneficial for your business. An app
that will turn out to be beneficial for your business must have a few factors. Here are the things that decide the success or failure of your app.
App monetization The business model of your app must be finalized along with the kind of advertisements on which you are going to depend. When it comes to video streaming apps, there are multiple ways in which you can earn money. Popular streaming apps are following the business model of freemium. Here the users are given a free trial and to access other services, they are required to pay a certain amount. Other than this, in-app ads can serve long term business relations and great earnings through your app. Before launching any app or even before deciding on an app idea, you must finalize the business model through which you are going to monetize your app. This is crucial to decide the overall budget and returns of your investment.
Multiple currency support When you target the global audience with your video streaming app, it is crucial to remind yourself that different parts of the world are using separate currency according to the law of their land. Your app must support most of these curries, especially of the regions from where the content is developed or where the content is targeted.
Smart downloads Not every user will have a strong bandwidth connection all time. During low networks, they often wish to watch something that was downloaded during the optimum network availability. Hence, by making it supportive for in-app
downloads, you can enhance the chances to succeed for the Android app development company. It is a challenge for the app’s security management as any loophole in this feature can lead to copyright infringement.
Copyright protection Your job does not end when you make your users trust your app. You will have to win the trust of content creators as well. This is only possible when you will make your app safe enough to protect their content from being violated for copyrights. Features like automatic blocking of screenshots and screen-recording will ensure that copyright protection is offered to every content. Avail of Android or iOS App Development Services wherein you get this feature in an advanced form.
Multi-language support When we target to grow the business revenues with a video streaming app than making it accessible to the maximum population is mandatory. By making your app supportive towards people speaking different languages, the chances of its success increase by many folds. Therefore, ask your developers to include a feature that supports the top most popular languages in the world. Or at least, make sure to include the language support from the languages of content you will be streaming on your app.
What is the video streaming mobile app development cost?
Here comes the final question upon which all your decisions will depend. But, do you know that your every decision has an impact on the total mobile app development cost. Confused? Let’s see certain parameters that have a great impact on the overall cost. If you will work on these parameters efficiently then you can get the maximum output in minimum investment.
App design Have you heard about the interactive elements in a mobile app design? Like the one in Facebook wherein you can like any image by clicking twice on it. Such interactive elements make your app more interesting to use for users. Moreover, by using advanced technologies like Augmented reality, virtual reality, etc. you can enhance the design of your app. The UX/UI of your app needs to be intuitive. And there’s absolutely no limit to this. But make sure the more complex the design, the more you will have to spend to Hire Android App Developer.
App platform The platform for which you are going to get your video streaming app developed will have a great impact on the cost. Android, iOS, Windows, etc do not demand equal expenditure. If you are a startup then it is recommended to hire a React Native App Development Company and get a cross-platform app developed. It will cost the least among other development types as its code is reusable. If you are choosing among iOS and Android then for cheaper solutions hire iOS App Development Company. But always remember that maintaining an
iOS app is costlier than Android. Hence, it is advised to either consult with experts or weigh each and every aspect of each platform before taking the final call.
App features As it is already mentioned that certain features are mandatory to be included in the MVP but there are some advanced features that make your app get a competitive edge. There is no limit to adding these features. The more advanced technology you will integrate, the more it will cost you. Choice of features is an ongoing process. You can enhance your app with new features time and again. This will keep your app up-to-date for users and make your app more competitive.
App developers When you hire app developers, you need to evaluate them for their price other than their skills and experience. For such video streaming mobile apps, it is recommended to hire offshore developers as they have greater exposure to different kinds of development. Moreover, the cost-effectivity of these developers will make your development budget-friendly. You will not have to provide them infrastructure or training. Other than this, the location of your mobile app developers will also impact the cost. Offshore developers will cost you up to 70% lesser than the native developers of the USA, UK, Europe, and Australia.
Conclusion:
You must keep your plan ready before reaching out to any service provider. They can only guide you towards the right path but can never dream at your place for your business. Being in this industry for the past 13 years as a leading mobile app development company, we have learned one thing, that is, it is important to ideate, innovate, and create! Without these three things, you will never be able to get the desired results. Sparx IT Solutions help businesses with all the process, from ideating to deploying the video streaming apps. You can get in touch with our experts for further discussions and find a feasible way out for your video streaming mobile app development.