Video Streaming App Development: A Step-by-Step Guide

You know the benefits of having a mobile app for your digital content: better performance, more user data, and superior user experience. You’ve already convinced internal stakeholders that you need one. But… how do you get started?

Starting a video streaming app project can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into manageable steps simplifies it. From defining your goals to selecting the right technology stack, we’ve got you covered in this hands-on guide for digital publishers creating a mobile streaming app.

   

Decide What You Want in an App

Before you get to the technical stuff, many other decisions must be made. Work through the questions below with your team to craft a solid plan for your video streaming mobile app.

 

Who Is Your Audience?

As a digital publisher, you’re likely pursuing the same audience you target with the content on your website or social media. Keep that specific group in mind as you design your app. What content is important to them? How do they like to view it? What features will be useful to them? For example, if your brand publishes cooking content, you might want to consider how to incorporate savable recipes and ingredient lists in your app along with how-to videos.

 

What Does the Competition Look Like?

Do your competitors have mobile apps? Spend some time using them and reading user reviews to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This exercise can help you avoid making similar mistakes while seeing what areas are most important to your audience. To get a leg up, you want to ensure your app performs at least as well as your competition’s.

 

What Type of Streaming Content Will You Provide?

Are you building an mobile app for live streaming, video-on-demand (VOD), or both? Consider what type of content you already create and what makes the most sense for your brand. This factor is most important for informing the technical aspects needed for your app.

 

How Do You Want to Monetize the App?

Many different monetization strategies exist: a free app with static or video ads, subscription-based access, or a paid app. Once you make a decision about the app’s business model, you can explore what technical components are needed to make it happen.

 

What Features Do You Want to Include?

With your target audience in mind and the information you’ve gathered from the competitive analysis, make a wish list of features for your initial mobile app launch. Put them in priority order in case some features need to be deferred to a future release.

 

Understand Streaming Technology

To create a mobile streaming app, you’ll need either an internal development team or an external partner who can help you with the technical side of the app creation process. Either way, you’ll want to know the basic building blocks of streaming technology. 

Although you could assemble your mobile streaming app from scratch, you’ll likely want to take advantage of existing technical components to speed up the development process. Why spend time and money on parts that are already built? With that in mind, a few components your development team may need include APIs, SDKs, and an online video player.

 

Streaming API

Application programming interfaces, better known as APIs, help two pieces of software talk to (“interface” with) each other. A video streaming API helps developers integrate external services into an existing streaming platform using code. It handles all the important background processes — encoding, packaging, transcoding, etc. — so that developers can focus on designing unique features.

 

Streaming SDK

A streaming software development kit (SDK) is a comprehensive toolkit for making a streaming app. It typically includes APIs, code, documentation, libraries, and other components that a developer needs. A streaming SDK helps developers get a video streaming mobile app up and running much faster than when coding from scratch.

 

Video Players

A video player is simply the software component that allows users to watch videos in your application. Contemporary players are built on HTML5, which supports audio and video tags for built-in multimedia support (compared to the discontinued Adobe Flash player, which required users to download additional software in order to view content).

When choosing a video player for your streaming mobile app, look for one with these features:

• Comprehensive compatibility with any device your audience uses
• Extensible SDKs and APIs to make building new functionality easy
• Customizable user interface and branding

 

Other Tech Stack Considerations

• Streaming protocols: A protocol is the set of rules that governs how data travels from point A to point B over the internet. In the case of video streaming, it determines how the video file or live stream gets from the source to the user for playback. There are many different streaming protocols, all with their own strengths and weaknesses in the streaming process. The most popular for building video streaming mobile apps include RTMP for ingesting live streams, HLS for live stream delivery, and WebRTC for real-time ultra-low latency.
• Content delivery network (CDN): Video CDNs are vital for the scalability of your streaming app. A CDN is a system of geographically distributed servers that help place the content closer to the end-user, ensuring it is available quickly whenever a user demands it. These servers share the processing burden with the origin server, making it easier to transport media files to end-user devices reliably.
• Security: Ensure content is protected from unauthorized access or download, particularly if you plan to put content behind a paywall. You may want to explore different encryption methods and integrate a digital rights management (DRM) solution to help manage this.

 

Create a Streaming App in 4 Steps

The four steps outlined below should give you an idea of the process you’ll go through to make your streaming app. The first three steps may occur in conjunction, depending on your development resources. Plan each milestone carefully to ensure a smooth project that gets you to launch day on time.

 

1. Choose a Hosting Platform and CDN

Although you could opt to build the video infrastructure from the ground up, we recommend using an existing video hosting platform that handles all the technical streaming processes for you. That way, you can focus on the parts of your app that make it unique while resting assured that the framework is reliable and scalable.

 

2. Design Your UI/UX

The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design are key to engaging and retaining your audience. Focus on creating a visually appealing and intuitive layout that makes it easy for users to navigate and find content. Incorporate feedback loops and usability testing to refine the design, ensuring it meets the needs and expectations of your target audience.

 

3. Develop Your Chosen Features

Use robust frameworks and libraries to streamline development and ensure your app is built on a solid foundation. Remember to implement security measures, like encryption and DRM, to protect your content and user data.

 

4. Beta Test and Launch

Conduct thorough beta testing with a select group of users to identify and resolve any bugs or performance issues. Collect feedback on usability, functionality, and overall user satisfaction to make necessary adjustments before the official launch. Once you’ve fine-tuned the app, prepare a marketing strategy to generate buzz and attract your initial user base, then launch your app with confidence.

 

Choose the Right Video Hosting Platform

We believe that successful video streaming app development hinges on the hosting platform. Make the right choice, and you get solid video infrastructure, a partner with invaluable technical expertise, and time to focus on creating distinctive functionality for your application.

Learn more about what to look for in a streaming platform provider!