in NYC 
Once it may have been the age of ‘images’ all over the internet, but now, it’s all about ‘videos’.
And it’s rightfully so. With the advancements in smartphone camera technology, ease of internet access, and the emergence of social media sites specifically dedicated to watching videos, it is obvious that video is going to take over the internet. However, there is another thing that is becoming even more popular than videos, and that is live streaming.
But wait, don’t you want to build live streaming app of your own? We are going to talk about how to build a live streaming app. So, let’s start then.
How to Build a Live Streaming App?
Before we dive deeper into all the matters of live streaming apps, let us tell you the steps of building a live streaming app in brief-
- Validate your idea
- Determine the kind of app you want to build
- Define the basic features
- Design the UI UX
- Figure out the tech stack
- The concoction of AI and live streaming
- Serverless architecture to make your app faster
- Analyze The Market Competitors
1. Should You Care Building Another Live Streaming App In The Market?
Well, one of the reasons should be because it’s popular. Live streaming apps are getting more popular every day and the number of people watching live streaming videos every day is also increasing.
Here is a brief list of all the reasons why live stream apps are popular at the moment.
As technological advancements enable the users to access better smartphones and internet connection, their interest for watching video content increases even more. According to stats, 63% of people aged 18-34 watch live streaming content regularly. And add that to the technological convenience today, you have the perfect atmosphere for building a live streaming app.
With the live streaming app, it is easier for vloggers and social media influencers to broadcast videos live. Not only the glamorous events, sports, and concerts, but live streaming apps have also made it easy to broadcast political debates and protests to the mass. And that is why more people today want to know how to make live TV app for android, or live streaming apps so that they can enter the market for streaming video app market.
Live streaming provides a better way of engaging with users than pre-recorded videos. Live videos are more appealing to the audience, as 80% of people would rather watch a live video from a brand than read long blog posts. And 82% of people would prefer to watch a live stream from their favorite brand than check out social media posts.
Live streaming videos are being used as marketing tools since they came to being. According to 96% of people, they would rather watch a live video explaining how a product works.
Around 74% of millennials rely on videos when shopping online. No wonder brands today are using this as a marketing tool for their products and services.
So what does all these reasons for popularity mean for you? Well, as it turns out,
Live streaming is getting ridiculously popular day by day, and that means all the live streaming apps are making more money.
The live video streaming app segment is one of the most attractive markets today, and you should also work on capitalizing this golden opportunity.
2. Types Of Live Streaming Apps
3. Building The Perfect App For Live Streaming: Finalize the Features
Building the perfect live streaming app- sounds pretty daunting, but trust us when we say, it is pretty easy. Whether you are thinking about making a native app or open-source live streaming software, there is a basic list of features. So let’s look at the basic features you need for your native app.
A. Sign Up/Sign In
With this, the user can sign up on your platform as a verified user. Being able to create an account and profile will help them immensely in following vloggers, creating the content of their own and having a safe place to store them if necessary.
Make sure to integrate more than one way of signing up though. This will make onboarding easier for the users.
B. Profile and settings page
One the users have signed up on your live stream platform, they should be able to see the profile and settings page.
With this, they can customize their profile with personalized information such as their name, where they are from, their age and interests.
You can also add several ways to register – for example, with the help of Facebook, which will make onboarding faster and more convenient.
C. Notification To The Followers
Notifications are a handy little thing.
With the notifications feature, the user can send a prior notification to all their followers before or while they are going live. This way the followers will be able to catch the live stream before it ends.
D. Social Media Sharing
Of course, just like every other aspect of life, social media has a big role here as well.
When you think about it, you will see that live streaming is also another kind of social media interaction. This is why having a social media sharing feature in your app is going to help your users reach more viewers. They can share the video after they are done live streaming or post about their streaming session on their account. The social sharing feature can work in various ways, you just have to implement it in your app.
E. Podcast Along With Broadcast
Podcasts will be a fine addition to your already fine app.
Think about it this way, your app is already going to be used by people to broadcast themselves. So why not let them broadcast their voice as well? A lot of times the users lack the visual content to go with the message they want to send to their users, and not to mention, having a live stream of an interview can get boring (unless it’s an interview of your favorite celebrity!)
And that is where the podcast feature can be an amazing feature. This will give the users a chance to only broadcast their voice, adding a little variety to the platform.
F. In-App Storage Facility
Live streaming videos is a fleeting form of social interaction.
And if you want something more permanent on your live streaming app, then you should add the feature of In-App Storage facility. With this, the users can download the live streams they want to see again on their app. The vloggers themselves can also download and add their most popular live streams on their profile.
Even though it goes against the policy of live streaming which is “living-in-the-moment” this is a handy tool for those why are adding some sort of tutorial on their live streaming. It is incredibly handy for iOS or Android live streaming tutorials,work-out tutorials, or cooking tutorials.
G. Seamless Streaming With Auto Quality Option
The auto quality option in famous streaming services is a pretty popular one. With this, the viewers can stream videos seamlessly. The Auto option on streaming apps optimizes the quality of the video according to the speed of internet and quality of device.
The technology behind this option is called Adaptive Bit-rate system. With this, the bit-rate of the already compressed video file is changed so that the user can experience a seamless streaming experience. So when you are planning the features for your live streaming app, make sure to include the auto quality feature into it as well.
H. Interactive Elements
Just looking at a camera and talking is not exactly a fun way of doing a live stream.
Which is why your live streaming app needs interactive elements in it. Give the users a chance to react to the live stream while it is happening, along with commenting features. This way users will be able to engage with the person going live, making the streaming experience even more fun and engaging.
4. Designing the UI/UX for Live Streaming App – How We Can Make You Stand Out!
The UI of an app is what makes or breaks it. Users judge an app first based on its user interface design. Which is why if you really want your app to become a fast favorite among the users, you have to start with good interface design.
But how are you going to design a great UI/UX for your live streaming app? Don’t worry, cause we got the answer.
The 6 Design Principles We Follow
The principles of design determine whether your design is going to be a good one or not. And that is why you should be following these six principles of design in your app.
Structure
Structure means the organization of the elements on screen in a coherent and useful way. Keep the design structure of your live stream app clean, consistent and meaningful. In this case, you can use the Information Architecture to give the right structure to your app.
Simplicity
It’s a live streaming app, which means people are going to get a little confused with how things work for the first few times around anyways. So make sure that the design is simple and it makes the common task of streaming live easy.
Visibility
The visibility principle determines what elements go on your screen. Don’t overwhelm users with unnecessary elements on your screen. Make all the necessary elements on your screen visible, and leave out the rest.
Feedback
Create such a design for your users so that when they are using your live streaming app, they are informed of all the actions, interpretations, changes and errors in simple language that is clear and concise.
Flexibility
The UI design of your live streaming app needs to be flexible. This way you can reduce the cost of mistakes made during the design phase. Give your users the ability to work with a varied range of input and sequences with a tolerant and flexible UI.
Reuse
With the reuse principle, you will reduce the user’s need to rethink and remember when using your live streaming app. Maintain consistency with a sense of purpose, by reusing internal and external components of the design.
Identify The Elements
No, we are not talking about the natural elements. We are talking about the design elements.
Whenever you are designing UI for an app you have to keep in mind that the identification process of your app’s function is important. This way you will be able to plan out all the design elements you need.
And that’s why you should start with mind mapping techniques. It is basically sitting down with the developer team you have chosen to hire and discuss and plan out all the live steaming app features you want.
Sketch It And Design It
Once you have gone through the identification process, it’s time to start sketching and designing process. We recommend going with the process of low fidelity process and high fidelity wireframing to give your users the perfect UI/UX design when you create a video streaming app.
5. The Technology Behind The App
To build a video streaming app, you need to use a robust tech stack. And when it comes to your live stream app, you should want nothing but a robust architecture supporting your application.
With that being said, what kind of tech stack do you need for your app? Where can you get the live streaming app source code or the right live streaming SDK? Well, we have provided you with a table with all the important combination of software and development language you need to build your app. So take a look, and make some notes.
The importance of a great tech stack is undeniable in the development of an app. So make sure that your app too has a good tech stack supporting it, giving the users the best experience ever.
Bonus Tech Stack You Should Consider
While creating your live streaming app, you need to make sure that it stands out in a market saturated with various live streaming apps.
But how are you going to do that? How do you make sure that your app stands out as a unique, one of a kind live streaming app in a market where there are so many competitors? Well, here we are going to tell you just how.
With the integration of some bonus tech features, you can definitely make sure that your app becomes different and unique. With the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AWS Lambda serverless architecture, you can create video streaming app that is truly one of a kind.
6. Use AI To Create A Flagship Live Streaming App
There are plenty of live streaming apps in the market, but how to build a flagship live streaming app? Simple, with the use of AI.
AI is taking over the app market, and it’s no surprise that even your live streaming app can use AI integration.
Since AI encompasses a vast range of complex learning process, the capabilities of this technology are vast. Which is why you should integrate artificial technology to handle the issues that have recently risen with live streaming videos.
- Object Detection As A Form Of Censorship
Artificial Intelligence can us object detection as a method of censorship. With this, your live streaming platform can react faster in the case of a particularly violent live stream happening on your platform. In case of such a situation, AI can detect problematic objects through interpreting and extracting the metadata. This way your app can use the application of AI to monitor harmful and violent content on your platform and protect people’s privacy.
- Indexing Of Contents
Through the application of AI, you can provide better and real-time cataloging of videos on your platform for the users. Used by platforms such as Netflix and Tiktok, this use of AI will bring a better level of personalization in the content that is displayed to the users.
- Prevention Of Copyright Infringement
AI-based video tools can be used extensively to prevent copyright infringement of songs or sporting events. Similar to the way object detection is used to prevent violent content on your platform, you can use AI to protect the copyright of content creators.
7. Scale Your App Faster With Serverless Architecture
To run an application, you need servers. These servers help you to run the code in the backend. But the problem with traditional physical server architecture is that they need constant maintenance. And that will hamper the growth of your app.
Which is why when you are building your live streaming app, you should choose to go with a serverless architecture. Despite its name, serverless architecture is not without servers. In this case, the servers are hosted on the cloud with the help of a third-party cloud provider like Amazon Web Services, or Azure Functions by Microsoft.
When you choose to go with a serverless architecture for your live streaming app, the videos and audios streams are collected and then sent to function compute for multiplexing. Multiplexing is a process through which the videos are broken down into smaller pieces for easy and seamless playing.
After the videos and audios have been synthesized, they are sent to CDN, from where the viewers can pull the real-time live stream to watch the multiplexed and synthesized videos. With the serverless architecture, you don’t have to deal with the hassle of server maintenance. You can easily use that time and resource to advance your app.
8. Choose The Right Agency
While an in-house development seems like a really good idea, it is still a little problematic when you are a small startup trying to get your business up and running.
And that is why it is a great idea to save your in house resources and time, and hire an agency to do the job for you. With the help of an excellent development team from a reputed app development agency, your app can become as big as a Periscope.
1. Fix Your Budget
The first thing you need to do before going into the negotiation with any app development agency is to fix your budget. When you enter into a discussion with an agency, the first thing they will ask is how much you are willing to spend.
And this is where you should be honest and clear about your budget and what kind of app you want to build. No matter how great the idea is, money is an important aspect of the entire partnership.
2. Do They Have An End-to-end Process?
The app development agency should always have an end-to-end process. The end-to-end process means a series of steps utilized by the agency to develop their app. With a set process, it is going to be easier for you and the development agency to understand the purpose of the app, the target audience, and what they need in the app.
3. Review Their Case Study Carefully
Make sure that the company has experience in developing apps for more than one kind of industry. The diversity of their work will prove their experience and expertise at creating engaging apps that ultimately succeed in the market. To be even more ensured, you can download and use one of their apps to see whether it impresses you or not. Remember that if you end up choosing the wrong agency, then your app can suffer heavily.
4. What Is Their Pricing Structure?
There are some development agencies that charge clients on an hourly basis, while some charge their clients with a fixed rate. And before you go into any deal with the development agency, you need to figure out what kind of pricing structure they employ.
If the agency charges with a fixed rate, you need to ask a few questions, mainly about how many rounds of revisions you can get during the entire design process, and if they would also maintain the application upkeep after the launch.
5. Do They Offer The Whole Package?
An app building is not just about codes, it’s also about the design. With proper design, the app can scale the market very easily and bring in revenue.
Which is why you need to find out whether the app development agency you have chosen provides the whole packaging, such as coding, design, testing, and testing as well. If the agency provides you with the whole app development package, then it will become easier for you to develop the app.
A Case Study: How We Created A Unique Video Streaming Platform
Here’s the story of how we helped create a unique video recording and live streaming app for one of our clients.
With the aim of creating an app, that can not only stream but record and edit video remotely, our client approached us. And we helped to create an innovative video and marketing platform that is utilized by global enterprises, as well as small startups.
A Design-Based Approach To Planning And Strategy
The platform we helped design encompassed different modules. These modules consist of remote video recording, chrome plugin, and mobile app for shooting users’ own video, creating campaigns and analytics.
To understand how the system is going to work on a holistic level, we approached the planning process with design thinking. We created a user persona, task flow analysis and high fidelity wireframing.
Creating A Seamless User Experience
We kept in mind the entire process of acquiring users and retaining them, and that is why we created a seamless user experience. With this, we made sure to create a unique and seamless user experience in the app.
Key Features
With a set process for the live streaming app development, we have integrated unique features into the app, that is sure to set it apart from its peers.
Patented Remote Shooting
The unique platform offers various modes for shooting videos, catering to client’s every need. The client gets the option of direct or remote video recording. The entire experience is user-friendly, seamless and convenient, certainly a leap towards the next-generation of video-shooting, directing and promoting.
Online Video Editing
No matter what the reason is for making the video, the client gets to be in the director’s position.
The application is loaded with customization options which makes sure that the video is unique and engaging.
Campaign Management
The platform is not only for shooting and editing videos. Businesses can create engaging business campaigns using videos as promotional events. With the app, the clients can facilitate end-to-end process with perfect guidance and assistance.
Social Media Marketing
With the app, users would be able to simultaneously share their video on various social media as well as perform mass mailing. It is the perfect social media marketing tool.
Tracking And Analyzing The Viewer Base
The app includes a business-centric analytics segment that will allow the clients to gain insights on the important statistics about their viewer base.
Content creators on this platform can get information about user view count, region wise views, view time, call to action, engagement percentage and many more.
Lightweight Browser Extension
Users don’t need to install a heavyweight software to use it on computer. The app has a lightweight chrome plugin that enables them to record HD videos straight from their desktop through webcam.
3rd Party Integrations
The web app development ecosystem keeps on evolving and we have made sure to adopt to that growth. The platform comes with right kinds of 3rd party integrations such as Hubspot, Amazon S#, Stripe and many more.
Want to learn more about this platform? Know about it here.
What’s Your Take
Live streaming is definitely taking over social media today, and you have to act fast if you want a piece of this cake. Here is the summary…
With the right live streaming app, brands and companies out there can reach more clients. And that right live streaming app can very well be your app. By creating a live video streaming app you will not only gather quick success but also give the people out there a chance to hit it big with live streaming.
So have no doubts about it. Have a live streaming app idea? Shoot us your query here!
