Should You Build Your Own Streaming App?
2019 ushered in a tipping point for broadcasting and video consumption. For the first time, more viewers subscribed to streaming services than paid for cable — and this trend is continuing. EMarketer suggests that by 2024, 46.6 million households will opt for streaming and drop cable altogether.
Not only that, but mobile devices are coming to dominate viewership. 58% of video plays in 2017 were on mobile devices and 30% of sports fans reported using a multi-screen approach to catch games. It’s not just sports, either. The number of users watching premium video like movies and TV on their phones jumped from 23% in 2019 to 30% in 2020.
Broadcasters who want to keep up with the market need to go where the viewers are, which means that wise broadcasters develop video streaming apps of their own.
Mobile Content vs. Traditional Broadcasting
2.72 billion people will watch video on their mobile devices in 2023. This represents an incredible opportunity for broadcasters to take advantage of the mobile medium. Streaming apps provide a plethora of customization options that traditional broadcasting does not, including:
- Customized user experiences
- Enhanced viewing experiences such as sports broadcasts with extra stats
- Targeted advertising
- Interactive video
- Live location streaming
- Extra on-demand content
Coupled with the relative ease and low cost of building a streaming app as compared with maintaining a traditional broadcast network, these advantages make live video streaming app development a no-brainer for any company looking to stay with viewers – and offer a unique experience.
Even better if you already have infrastructures such as studios, cameras, and lighting. Whether you’re a well-established broadcaster or new to the field, a good streaming app may be your best opportunity to define a user experience, build better brand loyalty, and expand your base.
The death of traditional cable broadcasting is not imminent, but it’s undeniable that huge swaths of today’s viewership are moving primarily to mobile. So, it makes sense to keep up with this trend.
How to Develop a Video Streaming App
Video streaming app development may be an easy call, but the devil is in the details. While it’s certainly a less resource-intensive undertaking than creating a broadcast network, you will still need to invest some time and effort into the process.
There are several paths you can take here. You can use your own internal dev team to cook up an app. They’ll need to get together the right application programming interfaces (player and video APIs, typically), a software development kit (SDK) such as Android Studio or xCode, and the right hosting platform — whether that’s in-house or external.
Once development is complete, your team will need to submit for approval to the Apple store and/or Google Play store, or choose to serve the app only from your own website.
If that’s too much, you can opt for a make-your-own service approach, like MAZ Systems. Letting MAZ do the heavy lifting makes the development process much easy for busy business owners.
Now Is the Time
When it comes down to it, now is the perfect time to jump into live streaming app development. Customers are watching videos on mobile phones more than ever, and more than on other devices, and that trend is only set to continue for the foreseeable future. Whether you develop the app yourself or let someone like MAZ Systems help, the downsides to creating your own streaming app are few, and the potential benefits endless.
If you want us to help, just reach out to us here at MAZ. We’ve helped hundreds of companies large and small launch thousands of apps, and we’re happy to help you too.
