Last year, global mobile consumers clocked in over 935 billion hours, watching content in mobile video streaming apps. That's 65% up from the year before! Unsurprisingly, Netflix was among the fastest-growing entertainment product across several global markets, moving past the 200 million paid subscribers mark.
However, newer entrants are experiencing rapid growth too. Peacock TV, by NBCUniversal, amassed over 10 million app downloads in the two weeks following its launch in summer 2020. Such a strong (and rising) consumer interest makes a solid business case to build an OTT streaming platform as a supplementary distribution channel and revenue stream.
Though, the "development" part may sound cost-inhibitive to mid-market publishers. Granted, you no longer need to retain an IT team to enter the OTT space. Instead, you can try one of the following five OTT app builders, offering a visual drag-and-drop development experience.
1. MAZ
MAZ offers a point-and-click OTT app development experience for mobile and smart TV apps. Compatible with iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, and all major web browsers, MAZ enables you to build new products up to 150% faster — and without calling the dev or design team.
With MAZ you can easily build standalone apps or more compressive OTT platforms with live streaming and VOD capabilities and low latency HD video streaming. Gain enterprise-grade OTT app quality without complex setup or inhibitive operational costs.
Key features:
- Create and deploy native, cross-device OTT apps
- Access to a library of premade UI and UX patterns
- Native support for different content monetization options
- Compliance with all App Marketplace requirements
2. Builder AI
As the name implies, Builder AI provides a guided OTT video application development experience. While this builder is non-exclusive to OTT apps, they have a good selection of pre-made design templates for TV, mobile, desktop, and video apps.
Key features:
- Visual app builder with design prompts for OTT app prototyping
- Design front-end yourself — contract with developers to connect your app to a backend
- Supports hosting on popular public cloud platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Digital Ocean, or Alibaba Cloud)
- Provides native analytics and app performance optimization toolkit
3. VidApp
VidApp helps you transform your Kajabi, VHX/Vimeo OTT, or WordPress website into a native mobile or smart TV app. You can easily build a connection to an app interface to push your content across channels. While VidApp pre-made OTT app designs aren’t as attractive or plentiful as MAZ’s, it’s a good starter OTT solution for smaller publishers who want to experiment with the cross-channel distribution.
Key features:
- Intuitive website-to-app porting experience
- Supports auto-sync of current users across devices
- Allows to synchronize new content distribution from a single control panel
- Offers SSO (single-sign-on) for onboard new members
4. Tappla
With Tappla, you can build an OTT video application for Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku (currently in preview). Similar to other OTT app builders, Tappla provides an out-of-the-box, visual development experience with solid customization options. Tappla doesn’t provide video hosting, but you can easily connect your content, hosted on Vimeo or add HLS live stream URLs. This choice may be somewhat limiting for bigger publishers, who rely on in-house or public cloud infrastructure.
Key features:
- Rapid prototyping experience for creating interactive wireframes
- Edit and preview your designs in real-time and collaborate with others
- Supports both on-demand and live video
- Done-for-you App store publishing
5. Zype
If you are looking for a more robust OTT platform development solution, Zype is a strong contender. The platform provides an open framework and a set of developer-friendly APIs for building customizable video streaming solutions. Instead of coding essential app functionality from scratch, developers can rely on a set of pre-made APIs for video encoding, player management, linear video, and live-streaming.
Key features:
- Endpoint API Services for creating custom video applications
- Over 28 pre-made video connectors with popular OTT/CTV distribution channels
- Native integration with 1000+ major SaaS platforms
- Enterprise-grade video CMS with streamlined, automated workflows
Unlike other OTT app builders on the list, Zype does require coding and API programming expertise. However, this tool significantly reduces the complexity of building custom integrations and speeds up OTT platform development.
