The Complete Guide To Build A Live Streaming App? Learn The Best Approach And Tech Stack

The complete guide to build a live streaming app

Live streaming is a powerful marketing tool that allows a business to interact authentically with its audience.

As per predictions published by Grand View Research, the live-streaming industry will witness an increase from $70 billion in 2021 to nearly $224 billion by 2028, a three-fold increase over seven years.

Technical advancements like blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence will improve the quality of videos in the coming years.

Why are businesses interested in live streaming apps?

Live streaming apps allow businesses to share their content with a wide variety of viewers.

They can connect with their customers more engagingly through such apps.

Live streaming apps allow businesses to generate revenue through subscriptions, advertising, and sponsorships.

Businesses can fetch valuable insights from their live streaming sessions. It helps them to take the right actions to increase their sales or brand awareness.

Are you interested in building a live streaming app?

Continue reading to learn about the critical features and appropriate tech stack for developing a successful live streaming app.

What are the essential features of an MVP for a live-streaming app?

Essential features to integrate when building a MVP for a live streaming app

Here are some essential features of an MVP for a live-streaming app:

1. User authentication and profile creation.
2. Ability to create and schedule live streams.
3. Real time video streaming and playback functionality.
4. Basic chat or comment feature for viewers to interact with streamers and each other.
5. Notification system to inform users about upcoming or ongoing live streams.
6. Basic analytics to track stream metrics such as viewership and engagement.
7. Ability to share live streams on social media or other platforms.
8. Monetization options for streamers, such as donations or subscriptions.
9. Essential moderation tools to manage user-generated content and enforce community guidelines.
10. An intuitive and user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate users.

If your MVP succeeds, you will be keen to enhance the software with more advanced features.

What are the advanced features you should implement for a live-streaming app?

Advanced features of a live streaming app

Several advanced features can improve the user experience of a live-streaming app. Here are some suggestions:

Low-latency streaming: Latency is the time delay between the live event and when it gets streamed to the viewer. Implementing low-latency streaming can reduce this delay, resulting in a more real time experience for the viewer.

Live chat: A live chat feature can allow viewers to interact with each other and the streamer in real time. It can increase engagement and make the experience more social.

Adaptive bitrate streaming: This technology adjusts the quality of the video stream to the available bandwidth of the viewer’s device. So viewers with slow internet connections can still view the stream without buffering, and viewers with fast connections can enjoy high-quality video.

Viewer analytics: Providing viewer engagement, retention, and drop-off analytics can help streamers understand the areas that require improvement.

Multiple camera angles: Offering different camera angles can make the viewing experience more engaging and allow viewers to choose their preferred angle.

Monetization options: Streamlining streamers’ content through ads or subscriptions can incentivize them to create more content and improve the app’s overall quality.

Cross-platform compatibility: Offering compatibility with multiple platforms, such as desktop, mobile, and smart TV, can help reach a wider audience and make it easier for viewers to access the stream.

Virtual backgrounds and AR filters: This feature enables users to add AR filters to their video streams or customize their backgrounds, enhancing the visual appeal of the stream.

Screen sharing: Allowing streamers to share their screen can enhance the educational aspect of the app by allowing them to share and teach others how to do something.

Interactive overlays: Interactive overlays can enable streamers to add graphics, polls, and other interactive elements to the video stream, making the experience more engaging.

Advantages of a Live Streaming App

Real time engagement: A live streaming app allows users to interact with their audience in real time, creating a more engaging and immersive experience.

Cost-effective: Live streaming eliminates the need for expensive production equipment, making it an affordable way to connect with your audience.

Increased reach: Live streaming allows you to reach a wider audience by eliminating geographic barriers, as anyone with an internet connection can watch.

Instant feedback:: Live streaming allows you to get immediate feedback. It will enable you to adjust your content or engagement strategies in real time.

Higher engagement rates: Live video generates higher engagement rates than pre-recorded video, as viewers feel a greater sense of urgency to participate.

Improved authenticity: Live streaming offers a more authentic experience, as it allows for unscripted and unedited content.

Increased brand awareness: Live streaming offers a unique opportunity to promote your brand and showcase your products or services to a large audience.

Accessible content: Live streaming allows for creating on-demand content that can be accessed anytime, giving your audience more opportunities to engage with your brand.

Additional revenue streams: Live streaming offers monetization opportunities through sponsorships, advertising, and pay-per-view models.

Enhanced customer relationships: Live streaming creates a personal and intimate experience with your audience, which can help strengthen customer relationships and loyalty.

Use Cases Of Live Streaming Apps

Enterprise & Corporate Communication

The ability to convey ideas in a crystal clear manner determines the success of a business. Live corporate streaming is a powerful tool for executing a company’s internal and external activities.

Companies can use live videos for their new product or service launch. Such sessions offer interactive sessions that can be highly productive.

Healthcare Organizations

Medical streaming services are going to revolutionize the medical field.

Telemedicine and online consultation is already in trend these days.

Patients no more have to wait in long queues to get medical assistance.

Surgeries that require the monitoring of a senior doctor who is not in place use live streaming services to perform emergency surgeries.

Or surgeons can broadcast their surgeries to their trainees.

Fitness Studios

Don’t limit your fitness classes to a particular physical location.

Starting live streaming sessions widens your audience and makes the classes more interactive. Real time workouts will make the sessions more engaging and productive.

Educational Institutions

Live stream apps are becoming increasingly popular in education as they facilitate virtual learning and connect students and teachers.

Students can communicate with one another and ask questions through interactive platforms. It makes each session more enjoyable and effective.

Teachers can post lectures or videos that anyone can access anytime and anywhere around the globe.

The live streaming feature allows organizations to organize events like webinars without requiring participants to be physically present in one location.

Examples of Live Streaming Social Media Apps

Twitch

Twitch is a famous live streaming platform primarily used for video game streaming. People also use it for music, sports, talk shows, etc.

Features

1. Live streaming: The platform enables live streaming of gameplay, creative content, and more interests.
2. Chat and community: The live streaming app chat enables viewers to interact with streamers and each other.
3. Follow and subscribe: The application users can follow and subscribe to favorite streamers for notifications and support.
4. Emotes: Twitch has a variety of custom emotes that streamers and viewers can use in chat to express themselves.
5. Extensions and overlays: The platform offers interactive extensions and overlays for customizable streams.
6. Clips and highlights: The users can make and share clips of favorite streamers.

Instagram Live

Instagram Live is a feature on the social media platform that allows users to broadcast live videos to their followers in real time.

Features

1. Real time broadcast: Live video broadcasting in real time.
2. Add people: Ability to add a friend to your live video.
3. Special Effects: To add filters and effects for live video.
4. Pin a comment: Pinning comments to the top of the comment section.
5. Saving video: Saving the video to your story for 24 hours.

LinkedIn Live

LinkedIn Live is a video streaming feature available to users and pages to broadcast live content, including interviews, events, and conferences, directly to their audience on LinkedIn.

Features

1. Live video streaming: The platform provides LinkedIn users and pages with a live video streaming feature.
2. Real time engagement: LinkedIn Live enables real time engagement with viewers through comments and reactions, helping to foster a sense of community and interactivity.
3. Performance analytics: The users can analyze live video metrics to track engagement, audience, and reach.
4. Professional Platform: The platform offers a platform to showcase industry expertise, build thought leadership, and connect with a community.
5. Brand Awareness and Lead Generation: By providing an authentic and engaging way to connect with audiences, LinkedIn Live can help build brand awareness and generate leads.

Examples of Businesses Using Live Streaming Apps

Shopify

Shopify’s Live Shopping App is a powerful tool for merchants to engage with their customers in real time.

Features

• With the app, merchants can host live streams on their Shopify store, allowing customers to watch and interact with them in real time.
• The app allows merchants to broadcast live streams to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
• Shopify merchants report a 17% conversion rate from live stream shopping events.

Target

Target Live is an innovative shopping feature that allows customers to purchase their favorite items in real-time.

Features

• The feature provides shoppers with a wide range of product information, including product descriptions, images, and pricing.
• The app also features a live chat feature, allowing customers to ask questions and get help from Target’s customer service team.

World Bank

The World Bank Live platform is an interactive platform that provides a wide range of services, including interviews, market analysis, and discussions with global audiences.

Features

• Customers can use this platform to access information and resources related to financial services, such as banking and investment.
• People can receive answers from experts and have a transparent and engaged banking experience.

Udemy

Udemy is an online learning platform that provides customers with a convenient and effective way to learn new skills and gain knowledge through its live streaming service.

Features

• Through this service, users can access a variety of courses, tutorials, and lessons taught by experts from a range of disciplines.
• The service creates an engaging and interactive learning experience.

Fhitting Room

Fhitting Room is High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) studio that provides on-demand and live-streaming classes for users to get an intense full-body workout.

Features

• The live streaming classes allow users to perform challenging workouts from the comfort of their own homes.
• The live classes are pre-recorded. So users can access them anytime.

Tech Stack To Build a Live Streaming App

Find some of the common tech stack we use in building a live streaming app below:

Follow These 9 Steps To Build A Live Streaming App

Step 1 — Identify your target audience

To create a successful live streaming app, it’s essential to understand the

• demographics
• interests
• preferences

of your target audience.

This information can help you design an app with content, features, and user experience that appeals to your audience. It will earn you higher engagement and retention rates.

Step 2 — Select a team

Finalizing your team is a critical step when creating a live streaming app. Ensure your team has diverse skill sets and expertise.

Steps explaining the methods to develop a live streaming app

Step 3 -Select monetization strategies

It is essential to implement effective monetization strategies to make a successful live streaming app.

This can include options like

• in-app purchases
• ad revenue sharing
• subscription services
• brand partnerships

This generates revenue for the platform and its users and improves user experience.

Step 4 — Pick a CDN

A good Content Delivery Network will deliver your content quickly and reliably to users worldwide. It provides a seamless and high-quality streaming experience. So it is crucial to select the right CDN that will allow you to scale your server.

Step 5 — Reliable hosting service

A good hosting provider will offer

• high uptime.
• fast load times.
• robust security measures.
• responsive customer support.

A reliable hosting service ensures that your website or application remains accessible and stable.

Step 6 — Storage solution

High-quality video content requires large amounts of storage. So you will have to.

While selecting a scalable and reliable storage solution, consider the below parameters:

• Speed.
• Security.
• Accessibility.
• Cost requirements.

It ensures a seamless live streaming experience for users.

Step 7 — Engaging UI/UX design

A visually appealing and user-friendly interface enhances the overall user experience. It leads to increased user engagement and retention.

The interface design must be kept simple and intuitive.

Step 8 — Test your MVP

Creating a minimal viable product (MVP) for a live streaming app helps to:

• save time
• reduce costs
• increase the chances of success by testing the core features
• validate the concept before investing in further development.

Step 9 — Iterate your application

To launch a live stream app, market it uniquely, prioritize user experience, monitor metrics, and tailor the UX to improve it.

What are some of the common live streaming concerns?

Some of the most common live streaming concerns include:

Buffering and lag: Live streams can suffer from buffering or lagging issues, causing delays or even complete interruptions in the stream.

Audio and video quality: Low-quality audio and video can be a significant turn-off for viewers and impact their ability to enjoy the content.

Bandwidth Issues: Some live events may experience bandwidth disruption due to large numbers of concurrent viewers. It requires massive bandwidth for smooth live streaming.

Compatibility issues: Viewers may encounter compatibility issues with their device or web browser, preventing them from accessing the live stream.

Tips to ensure high-quality live streams for viewers

To provide a positive user experience, address the above concerns and ensure high-quality live streams for viewers.

Cost to create a live streaming app

The cost of developing a video streaming app varies based on factors like complexity, number of features, team size, etc.

Basic audio video call apps may cost around $15–25K. Applications with more complex features may cost more than $50K.

Approach a software development company stating your prerequisites to obtain a more precise estimate based on specific needs.

Monetization strategies for a live streaming app

Live streaming apps can generate revenue through various monetization strategies, such as:

Advertisements: Displaying ads before, during, or after a live stream can generate revenue through pay-per-click or pay-per-view models.

Subscription-based model: Offering premium content or exclusive access to live streams through subscription-based plans can provide a steady revenue stream.

Pay-per-view model: Charging viewers to access live streams of certain events or content can be a lucrative monetization strategy.

In-app purchases: Offering in-app purchases for virtual goods, such as stickers or emojis, can provide additional revenue streams.

Brand partnerships: Partnering with brands to promote their products or services during live streams can generate revenue through sponsored content or product placement.

Donations: Allowing viewers to donate to content creators during live streams can provide a source of revenue while also building audience engagement and loyalty.

Merchandise sales: Selling merchandise, such as t-shirts or mugs, with branding or logos can provide an additional revenue source while promoting the app and its content.

Implementing one or more of these monetization strategies can help live streaming apps generate revenue and create a sustainable business model.

Our Works

Hybrid remote working app

WorxRemotely is an enterprise-grade SaaS solution developed for hybrid-remote teams. It eliminates the need to use different services by providing a unified platform for communication, engagement, task management, and productivity.

A hybrid remote working app created by RaftLabs

Know more about the project >>

An OTT Video Streaming Platform

A movie rights distributor in India aimed to develop a scalable OTT platform for remote movie theaters and individuals, distributing films weekly via Android STBs.

An OTT video streaming platform created by RaftLabs

Know more about the project >>

Conclusion

Building a live streaming app can be challenging, but using SDKs and APIs can simplify the process. Consider giving RaftLabs a chance if you seek skilled developers or teams that can be easily adjusted to fit your project timeline. RaftLabs engineers can also assist in developing a top-tier app to take your business to the next level.

Originally published at https://www.raftlabs.co.