A staggering 239 billion hours were spent using video streaming apps solely on mobile in the last quarter of 2020.
Image via App Annie
Additionally, the global OTT market is expected to grow to $1.039 trillion by 2027, from just $121.61 billion in 2019.
Both these statistics point to the overwhelming growth in the adoption and popularity of video streaming platforms. There are numerous big players in this industry already like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
But if you want a slice of this big pie, you need to create your own video streaming platform from scratch.
And how exactly can you do that?
To help you, we’ve put together this guide.
How to Create a Streaming Platform in 4 Steps
Here’s how you can quickly create a streaming platform and carve a niche out for yourself in the video streaming market.
1. Identify Your Target Audience and Niche
The first step in creating your streaming platform is that of determining your niche and target audience. This is critical, as all your content would depend on these two factors. Some of the niches you can cater to are:
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Fashion
- Fitness
- Education
- Food
- Finance
Your audience will largely depend on the niche that you choose.
2. Choose Your Monetization Method
Your end goal from developing a video streaming service would be to generate sizable revenue from it. For that, it’s critical to decide on a monetization method before you create the streaming platform. There are three main revenue models in the OTT market. These are:
- Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD): This monetization model focuses on retaining customers through the mode of subscriptions. The customers can access the content on your video streaming platform by paying a fixed subscription fee for a specific period (usually monthly or annually). Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video rely on this model.
- Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD): As the name suggests, the main mode of monetizing your video streaming platform would be advertisements here. The advantage here is that the customers wouldn’t have to pay to access your platform. However, for this to work well, you’d need to get a large user base. Platforms like YouTube and Hulu use this method for monetization.
- Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD): This is the simplest monetization method where the customer pays to watch a particular video. They only pay for that particular video and don't get access to others. Platforms like iTunes work on this model.
3. Decide on Your Video Streaming Platform’s Features
Next up are the features of your OTT platform. These can affect your budget and also the user experience (UX). Some of the features you should look at are:
- Adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR)
- Maximum streaming quality of videos (4K, 1080p, 720p, etc.)
- Number of viewers per account
- Recommendation system
- Free trials
- Live streaming support
- App/Website/TV app
4. Develop Your Video Streaming Platform
Once you’ve decided on all of the above, you can finally proceed to develop your video streaming platform. There are three major ways of going about this:
- In-House Development: This development mode would require you to hire a dedicated team to develop your platform from scratch. However, you’d have to monitor its development continuously. Additionally, developers can be quite expensive to hire.
- Outsourced Development: Outsourcing can help ensure that you don’t have to go and look for talent to develop the streaming platform. Additionally, you can rest assured that experts are handling the job.
- Development Using MAZ: MAZ makes it easy for you to create a video streaming platform. You can develop your platform without any technical skills and can host and manage your video content through it too. It also offers features like adaptive bitrate streaming for better UX.
Create a Powerful Streaming Platform
Creating a video streaming platform today would help you take a bite out of the explosive growth the market is seeing. You should start the process by identifying your niche and determining your monetization method.
Next, decide on the features you’d want the platform to have for a better UX. Finally, determine your mode of developing your video streaming platform. Using MAZ, you can create and manage your platform without any technical knowledge. Get in touch with us today for a demo of MAZ.