Complete Guide on Building a Live Streaming Platform

People are opting to stream education and entertainment content from their convenient place. Leading live-streaming platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch have always been comfortable digital platforms to stream live classes, conferences, or any other business events.

There is more value in building your live-streaming website as this business has an alluring promise of getting good returns. If you own a live streaming platform you will have multiple monetization options.

Interesting stats about the most promising live-streaming platforms

• In 2021, more than 8.2 billion hours were spent on many leading live-streaming platforms globally.
• The number of active users of live video streaming platforms is expected to reach 164.5 million by 2024.
• 85% of marketers are preferring to stream video content about their product.
• During Covid-19, a 300% increase in live-streaming events has been recorded.
• Sites that hold more than 50 videos have gained immense traffic.
• 44% of viewers have shifted to live-streaming platforms from traditional TV.
• 13% of growth has been recorded on live-streaming in 2021.

What is a live streaming platform?

A live-streaming platform allows the broadcast to host multi-media digital content and will let viewers watch them in real time. Live-streaming services include featuring live sports, live events, and shows, on-demand videos, TV shows, and movies.

TikTok, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live are a few examples of online streaming platforms. If you become a sole proprietor of a live-streaming platform you will gain more control and can monetize your streams.

Live video streaming – Benefits

You just need to take a look at the benefits that your live-streaming business is going to get you. This will make feel assured about your decision of building the streaming platform. As soon as you adopt this in-app technology, you can be going to gain a competitive advantage over your competitors.

Better brand visibility – Any business can gain more attention through live-streaming and users can be easily attracted to the live content which results in higher brand visibility. You can get real-time engagement with your audience.

Build a stronger community – Through live-streaming, you can let users have face-to-face interaction that will help them to create a bonding or to build a community. Viewers can interact with live streamers through chat and can have better communication.

Gain analytical insights – The performance of every live-streaming video can be analyzed with the help of advanced analytics. You will have insight into various metrics like the number of views, shares, location of viewers, and many more.

Multiple monetization opportunities – Live-streaming platforms can benefit you in getting better revenue by adopting multiple monetization strategies like paid ads, premium subscriptions, pay-per-view, and many more. Since the returns are high, live-streaming platforms have a strong future.

How to build a live-streaming platform?

The real challenge of a live-streaming platform is the development process. More attention and strong technical knowledge are required to build the platform. Here we can guide you through the essential steps involved in running your live-streaming business.

Frame your USP

USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is the pillar for marketing your brand. First, you need to frame your USP and should make sure it stands ahead of the competition in the market. You need to understand that your USP is going to be your marketing statement that differentiates your platform from others. So, more attention is needed while creating a USP for your brand.

Set your platform requirements

Live-streaming platform needs more preparation before you start your development process. You need to be clear about what type of content you are going to stream on your platform. Who are your end-users and who will have the access to the streams are to be identified. Be more particular about your streaming quality as you know that users may lose interest in your platform if the quality is not good.

Choose your monetization model

You need to monetize your streaming videos to make your business survive. The main objective of any business is to make money. Setting the right revenue model determines the success of any online platform. The most common and successful revenue models are listed below.

Third-party advertisements – Allowing any other brand to advertise their product or service on your platform and get paid for ads. This is the most common model that assures better revenue.

Freemium model – Users can get registered for free and you will charge them for accessing advanced features. This will get you more users as it is free to start with and they will be tempted to pay and get more features.

Subscription model – You will let users choose any of your subscription plans and make them pay for it and access the entire platform. You will get a recurring amount as the user will keep subscribing again and again.

Choose a CDN

Everything is based on the content. So, the content delivery network is a major part of building the best live-streaming platform. CDN can enhance your video quality and can reduce latency. You need to be clear about whether you want to have your CDN or just need a managed service that offers CDN support. Having your CDN will give you full control over going for managed services.

Set up your own domain and hosting

Keep in mind, we are not going to stream our videos on any existing live-streaming platforms like YouTube. Instead, we are going to stream them on our domain. So choose the right domain that will support your brand name and also go for a reliable hosting service and get your live-streaming to go live.

Promote your live-streaming platform

Now your live-streaming platform is deployed and your audience can visit your platform and avail of your services. But you need to let your audience know that you are living for that you need a proper marketing strategy to promote your live-streaming website. Make use of social media channels and also go for Google AdSense.

Must have features of a live-streaming platform

Features are the point of satisfaction that will retain your customers and will let them share their positive experiences with others. While building a live-streaming platform, we need to take more time in framing features. Some of the mandatory features are listed below for your reference.

Social media login – Getting registered should be a hassle-free process for any user. You need to allow users to log in through their social media accounts. This will reduce all unwanted form fillings and will make users feel relaxed while registering with the live-streaming platform.

Interactive UX – 65% of the bounce rate happens mainly because of poor UX and UI. If the bounce rate increases, you may lose your audience reaching your platform. So, make sure you have an interactive UX that will retain your visitors to your streaming website.

Advanced search functionality – The search option will let viewers get to the live stream they want to watch. You cannot let them search for as long as they are not searching for on-demand video content. They are searching for live content which may end anytime. So, offer the best and most advanced search functionality.

Ratings and reviews – These are the main liberty that every viewer would expect from a live-streaming platform. Allow your viewers to share their opinion about your website and let them rate your video streaming service through your platform.

API integration – You may need to integrate third-party APIs with your existing live-streaming platform. Your website needs to support API integration that will help you to simplify your streaming business operations.

Customer support – Proper customer support is the key to business expansion without spending. Your platform should be integrated with multiple communication channels that will let viewers instantly get in contact with the team. Make sure your platform has live chat, messengers, and email support.

Social media sharing – Viewers will always be curious to let their friends know what live-streaming videos are being streamed and what they are watching. So, social media sharing feature is mandatory that will let them instantly share videos with their friends and this will also get you more audience.

Multiple security options – Security is the major aspect that has to be focused on with full attention. Embed your platform with military-grade security protocols that will protect all users’ data and secure the platform from all malware attacks and DDoS attacks.

Post-stream management – After live-streaming a video, you need to organize the video for an on-demand video service. This has to be done through a streaming automation process that will be taken care of in the post-streaming service.

Multi-screen compatibility – Viewers may use any of their devices to visit your live-streaming platform. It is mandatory to have a device responsive design that will give the same look and feel when accessed with various screen sizes.

Real-time analytics – Always track your platform performance through metrics that will give you accurate numbers on several aspects like the number of viewers, which video has gained more views, and many more. These analytics will support you in leveraging your streaming business to the next level.

Escalate your live-streaming platform into a lucrative business

Developing a platform to broadcast live videos and audio is quite a challenging one. But stats and trends prove that the live-streaming business has a strong and commendable future.

You need to build a scalable and gain recurring income through all your streaming videos. Appkodes can support you in accomplishing your business mission. You can completely lean on our service to fulfill your business vision.

Appkodes is a certified software development company with more than a decade of market experience. Our in-depth industry knowledge will assure start-ups and businesses of all sizes get enterprise-grade IT services.

We can build a live-streaming platform from scratch and even we have a readymade live streaming script that you can instantly launch and start your streaming business with less time and budget. Get connected with our team and avail the most cost-effective video streaming solution – bigo clone.