On-Demand Streaming App Development: How to Build a Mobile or Web Application

One more thing we’d like to point out is that streaming services are often associated with movies and series platforms like Netflix and the ones for music like Spotify.

In fact, the scope of online streaming is much broader than some people assume.

There are services that offer cooking, yoga, sporting events, concerts, and even nature sounds streaming & so much more.

So, if your business has anything to do with audio or video content, you most likely will be able to broadcast it on the streaming service.

✅ Top Things Worth Attention When Making an On-Demand Streaming Platform

On-demand streaming platform development is quite a challenging process — all devices’ technical possibilities are different.

Thus, it’s complicated to build a solution that will be well-optimized for each and every user. Besides, there are other things you should consider before starting the development.

So before reviewing the functionality, let’s tackle some other points that are essential for on-demand streaming platform development.

Monetization Models 💲

One of the first questions all business-incubators will tell you to think about is: How do I make money with my idea?

And even if you have a successful offline business that brings you thousands of dollars monthly, online business monetization works a bit differently.

There are 3 main ways to make a profit out of your streaming service.

# 1: Subscription

This model is one of the most popular ones among streaming platforms.

If you go with this one, you’ll have to set a certain fee that clients have to pay to keep using your streaming site.

Cloud hosting is quite a popular option due to several reasons:

• It scales together with your business.
• You pay for the exact amount of storage you use — nothing more.
• It provides better sustainability meaning that if one server crashes, your service will keep working.

⚙️ Top Features for an On-Demand Streaming Platform

In this section, we’ll review the main features of an on-demand streaming service.

Keep in mind, all of the information mentioned in this article applies to both streaming websites and mobile apps.

# 1: Sign Up & Profiles 🔑

Normally, we recommend making this stage optional (at least in the very beginning), here you’ll most likely need a simple sign up.

Usually, the information that you require during the sign up process is:

• Email address to send the confirmation letter.
• Name (first and last).
• Password creation.
• Bank account details to conduct payment. However, we’d recommend thinking twice before asking for this piece of information that early — it might be rather disturbing and cause distrust.

Viewers on a live video streaming app are usually quite active because such apps give a feeling of personal real-time interaction.

You should also know that there are two types of live video streaming - private and public.

So if you want your live-streams to be accessible to everybody - choose public live video streaming, because that’s what it’s all about.

Conversely, private live streams are only accessible with a code or upon an invitation. If you want to livestream audio, it’s also not a problem as there are quite a lot of services that broadcast books reading live.

# 8: Payment Gateway 💳

So that users are able to pay for your services, it’s in your best interest to provide them with a secure and reliable Payment Gateway.

It should:

• Be consistent with your solution and different OS options.
• Allow clients to use all popular payment options such as credit card, PayPal, Google & Apple Pay, etc.
• Work fast with no delays.
• Strongly protect your and users’ personal data.

Make sure to take care of its security since, in most cases, streaming services ask their users to link a card for automatic monthly write-offs (if your monetization model is subscription). It means that as long as clients use your services, you’ll store their bank account details — high-security information.

# 9: Customer Support 🤖

In case something goes wrong during the payment procedure or a problem with the customer-related processes occurs, there should be a customer support employee to help fix it.

Great customer support should:

• Provide a chatbot (artificial intelligence programmed to deal with simple problems and connect customers with operators) and live chats.
• Be quick.
• Have a wide range of popular FAQs.
• Offer 24/7 phone customer support for an emergency.
• Provide contact information (email, various phone numbers, messengers like Whatsapp, etc).

💡 Takeaways

So now you’re all set and ready to start the development process with your partners.

One thing we wanted to highlight once again is that you shouldn't be confused by the fact that the most popular streaming services are the ones that either broadcast movies like Netflix and HBO, or ones for music like Spotify and iMusic.

There are many more fields and companies that can and use streaming services than some people might think.

So, if you’ve been wanting to develop a streaming solution for your business but weren’t sure that it would be possible, you shouldn't doubt —it most likely is.

To sum up everything we’ve talked about, why don’t we briefly summarize what steps you should take to build a streaming solution.

1. Look through all of the monetization models and decide what best fits you.
2. Educate yourself on how to make the service secure.
3. Decide on the features you want to have on your website or app.
4. Find a Tech Partner (e.g. like Stormotion) and start the development.

If you need any help with the development or have any questions left, feel free to contact us. We’ll find a way to help you!