Over the past years, the
consumption of online media has increased substantially which resulted in the
creation of new forms like video streaming. Due to this growth in popularity,
video and music streaming retail services have become a highly competitive
media and entertainment (M&E) industry segment. Yet, the use of streaming
goes beyond M&E. Most probably, the reason for such a shift is that the
content consumption habits have changed. People who are the actors in an
increasingly digital ecosystem want to have round-the-clock access to the
Internet and consume information while on the go. Live video streaming apps
afford them this opportunity.
At the market, however, the
relationship between supply and demand always tends to equilibrium. If users
want to be online nearly all the time, the industry addresses this need
immediately.
What is a live streaming app?
In itself, streaming is the
process of moving different types of data to customers across communication
channels without a drop in quality. Live video streaming services, on the
whole, offer an alternative way of consuming TV/video content or even
movie-going. Importantly, streaming video has started making traditional pay-TV
services decline. The live streaming technology allows choosing precisely what
to pay for and opting for on-demand TV instead of watching scheduled broadcast
one. Who wants to pay for a bunch of channels they have no desire to watch?
Not only did the digital age form
app consciousness but also it produced the whole App Generation that perceives
the events of the past, present, and sometimes future through the “lens” of
their smart devices. Researchers are constantly trying to recognize particular
patterns. Before, we have investigated what differences they have discovered
between Android and iOS users. The same goes for particular types of apps. The
applications we use are believed to be the expression of our IT self-identities
and exploited, in certain instances, for the purposes of socialization. The
live streaming apps essence lies here, too.
Video Streaming Apps are the Future
With the success of Netflix and
Amazon Prime, the world is everyday sw video streaming apps itching to and hence
quite obviously the television fever is heading towards an extinction rapidly.
There is a lot of web series that you might like or several of shows which you
might desire to follow are exclusively available on these apps only.
Types of streaming apps
Though what streaming is seems
clear, the way it is built into an app is narrowing the range of streaming
application types allowing us to classify these apps into three groups. The
main criterion is the remoteness of services from traditional TV. We may single
out live TV, on-demand apps, and channels-services from independent networks
from the totality of live video streaming apps.
1. Live TV.
This kind of streaming apps is
perfect for those who cannot cut the cable cord that easily but are fed up with
paying those huge TV bills. Full TV subscriptions are more expensive than
streaming services. Video stream apps thus can lighten the burden. Live TV
services allow watching TV shows that are on air at that particular moment.
2. Channels-services from
independent networks.
It means that paying for a
subscription, one is not necessarily getting tied to the subscription taken out
through a TV provider. These “channels as services” are part of the ecosystem
of standalone streaming systems. They were created to complement the cable
subscriptions. Presently, separate networks such as HBO and CBS can be added to
streaming services for users to get select premium content. For instance,
subscribers of CBS All Access can watch Star Trek: Discovery which is
unavailable on CBS as a TV provider. Besides, it allows separating oneself from
a cable commitment and consequently saving money.
3. On-demand apps.
In the age of interactive media,
people expect to get content on demand. On-demand streaming apps allow
accessing not the channels but specified shows. Users of this type of streaming
services will not have to rely on the schedule. These are not real-time video
streaming apps but prove to be even more convenient for people who are busy
when their favorite show is broadcast. They pay a subscription fee to access
services’ libraries at any time within the subscription period.
e.g. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime
Video
Popular video stream apps
Going by this list of most
popular video streaming apps, you can easily figure out what features they have
and where you can improve. This helps in figuring out the unique requirement of
the video streaming app market. Even though we are singling out three types of
applications, on-demand services are the most favored ones. These are believed
to be the best live video streaming solutions in 2019:
Amazon Video
The impact of Amazon eCommerce
platform has been huge in the past decade and things are no different with
Amazon Prime Video that a live video streaming app. There are several
subscriptions, however, the best one is for $99 annually. Additionally, you get
Amazon Prime free shipping, can access Amazon photos, music and even its Kindle
lending library.
Netflix
It’s a globally renowned app for
watching these online TV shows and movies. Among its many significant features,
one is a solid selection of titles that are updated monthly. The thing that
works most in their favor is that they appeal to the users offering their own
original movies and app. Netflix can be accessed from a number of platforms and
costs $7.99 per month. It can be said that Netflix has all things going around
for them, though there is always some scope for the betterment.
Hulu
This platform basically is for
television shows. The most appealing feature is that the video streaming is a
lot faster than other streaming apps like Amazon or Netflix. Here you are
offered two different types of subscription. One is ad-free for $11.99 and
another with commercials for $7.99.
Netflix is an app requiring a
heavy backend to process streaming data transfer while it cost will differ as
per the number of features it has. More the features, higher the cost. Simple.
Hence, while starting, it works better to add only main features into the first
version of the app as this directly reduces the cost. Later on, as the app gains
popularity, more features can be added accordingly.
User registration: Well, this is the first and most important
feature without which it is impossible making an app. Registering via email or
social networking channels is a lot convenient for the users.
Design: Keeping the design simple is the key, as users instantly
alienate themselves from apps which are hard-to-use. In fact, they are unlikely
to give a try to these apps in future as well. Hence, for an app like Netflix,
keep the design very simple as this way users can receive required information
in second’s time.
Platform: As it comes to app development for Android or iOS, even
though there is no substantial difference, but still prefer to choose just one
OS in the beginning for the minimum viable product. However, in case you wish
to have as many users to board installing your app, then you should get the app
developed for both the versions of mobile OS. More platforms assure more users,
obviously.
Payment gateway: When using Apple or Google OS, there is no need of
payment gateway integration into the app, as both Android and iOS have their
own mobile payment systems which enable users to make purchases in Google Play
and App Store with just a simple click. Users only need to make payment for
account registration. However, for other purposes like selling DVDs, etc.,
there are various payment gateways like Braintree, PayPal, and Stripe.
User Profile: This section is quite interesting as it allows users
to add their “much-liked” movies here while they can add people to their
account so they can also watch their own content in the app. Netflix offers
this feature.
Block screenshots: Copyright protection should be integrated as
this way users won’t be able to take images from any content.
Chat and comments: Communicating with the other users are easy as
you simply need to leave a comment.
Push-notifications: Users receive a notification, every time a new
series is released.
Multiple language support: It is best for a Netflix-app to support
as many languages, as this way it will have as many users.
Content search: Going by user reviews, users can easily select
genres and user reviews. They can check what their friends are watching and
which films they like.
Settings: Users can select subtitles, audio tracks, play/pause,
control volume, rewind, etc.
Additional Features
So the above-mentioned features
were similar as Netflix app has, but when developing a new app, you can go
ahead and add more features into the app so to make your app more interesting
and unique.
Social sign-in: Allow users to share news & reviews via social
media.
Video Streaming: Enable live broadcasting of specific sports
events, shows, and TV programs.
Ratings & Reviews: Users should be enabled to rate movies and
television programs, thus they can form their own rating as per other portal
users opinion.
Add friends: Enable the users to add friends to the app check their
profiles and integrate messaging feature.
Download feature: Allow users to download content on the
Smartphone’s or tablets as this way they can watch even during no internet
connection.
Video quality: This way user will be able to choose image
resolution as per technical features and his/her requirements.
Geo-blocking: Owing to certain restrictions in various regions
across the world, some of your app’s content can be forbidden in those regions.
Hence, you must keep this in mind if you desire your app to be available to as
many people.
Content recommendation algorithm: So, Netflix offers CineMatch
system to provide content to users that are more interesting to them, the same
way you can choose to integrate something on the same lines into other
services, just as Netflix.
Technology stack in real-time video streaming app development
1. Big Data. An application for
real-time data streaming is a buffer between publishers and users. So, for
users to have an amazing experience, a lag time must be reduced. Needless to
say, it is a big technical challenge. Thus, for the sake of proximity, original
data is copied across hundreds of servers around the globe. But the latency
elimination is only half of it: typically, a rich ecosystem of technologies has
to facilitate algorithms and data analytics to customize the service.
Such processing frameworks as
Storm, Samza, Flink, or Spark need to integrate with a streaming platform to
process batch data and feed the data-processing pipeline.
2. The data-processing pipeline.
Since data streams need fault-tolerant storage, processing, and geographical
distribution, the above processing frameworks should rely on such queuing
systems as Apache Kafka. This system must be considered when coding a streaming
website. It is used for building real-time streaming applications and data
pipelines. For example, Netflix utilizes Kafka as a real-time monitoring and
event-processing pipeline and takes advantage of the microservice architecture
based on micro-batch processing.
3. Caching and databases. To
offset some frequently performed operations, caching is used. Amazon S3, AWS
SimpleDB, Cassandra, and MySQL storage services that will ensure security,
scalability, and data availability shortening access time.
4. Programming languages: Java,
Python, JavaScript.
Conclusion
Evidently, video streaming apps
are becoming a large part of popular culture. Moreover, there is a variety of
app types to choose from. With a view to creating a live video streaming
application that would become another substitution for the traditional TV, one
is yet free to decide on what they want to offer future users and also
dependent on the trends and conditions the industry with such giants as Netflix
and Hulu is already setting.
Nevertheless, a team of
passionate experts who are familiar with the technologies used in the streaming
platform development and have a thing with the motion picture industry will
drive you to success!
