How To Start a Streaming Service Like Netflix and How Much It Costs?

Create a streaming service and go up against Netflix — it is ambitious, right? With Internet-connected TV, anyone can access limitless movies, shows, and even live programming in an instant. But what makes a streaming service successful?

Though Netflix dominates the market with expansive libraries and more plans than you can count, it also leave some possible space for innovation? Read this article to discover the benefits of streaming service development, its features and steps to reach the success of a streaming service like Netflix, Disney+, or TikTok, the cost to build a streaming service, and other essentials.

A streaming service is an online platform that provides on-demand audio, video, or live content over the Internet. It uses adaptive bitrate streaming, cloud infrastructure, and Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to help users watch it smoothly on different kinds of devices.

Today, building a streaming platform has enormous potential due to the outstanding popularity of video streaming and services like Netflix. According to DemandSage, a data reporting and analytics solutions provider, there are some interesting statistics showing that:

• About 67 million Americans prefer Netflix to other services
• Netflix has 282.7 million subscribers in 2024
• Netflix users spend 62.1 minutes each day on average consuming content
• Netflix's revenue was $28.76 billion for the first 3 quarters of 2024

As the video streaming industry is popular nowadays, establishing your own streaming service is a profitable opportunity. New platforms can capture and keep audiences through the use of cloud technology, adaptive streaming, and personalized recommendations. When implemented correctly, a streaming service can be a lucrative business opportunity, potentially taking on the industry giants (e.g., Netflix, Disney, Hulu) by providing innovative features and a customized user experience.

Netflix is a Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) service and video streaming giant with an enormous library of TV shows, movies, and cartoons. Subscribers pay a recurring monthly rate, granting them unlimited streaming across many devices, like Smart TV, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS.

The platform has an accessible interface, so it feels easy navigating it. Subscribers have a chance to experiment with the service free during the initial month, while later subscriptions and payments are charged automatically. If you subscribe via iTunes, payments are automanaged by your account.

Netflix is constantly introducing content, providing content creators with an immense user base. If you're considering building your streaming business, Netflix is one source of inspiration for video streaming app development.

But its capabilities are somewhat greater than it seems at first:

• You can list the content in the already existing library or use an integrated search feature
• With the help of the CineMatch system, Netflix can offer you new TV shows and films according to your preferences
• The app makes it possible to create up to five separate profiles in a single account
• It offers a lot of streaming videos

Various profiles allow your friends or family members to have their own personalized Netflix experience that is built on the basis of their preferences. You can also add your search categories to your service. If you're wondering how to make a live streaming app, integrating personalized recommendations and user profiles can significantly enhance engagement. You should rate films viewed; then, the app will sort out films you like more precisely.

We will list the main steps you should undertake to start a business like Netflix.

Haste makes waste, so you don't need to build your own streaming service quickly. First, you should determine the type of your streaming specificity. Video streaming service on demand is a general concept; you should understand what niche in this area you choose. What types of movies or TV programs your website or mobile app will contain, you plan to build a streaming service for kids, and it will include cartoons and developing TV shows.

It is essential to make your choice. Of course, you can create your own streaming service like Netflix, that will cover all potential viewers, but a personal specificity of your service may become your punch line.

When you plan to find out how to create streaming service like Netflix, you should determine what your content will be. Because content is the foundation of video streaming services and it depends on content how attractive the service will be.

First, you should choose how often you will update your content - daily, monthly, or weekly. Will you add part of the TV series or everything at once, as Netflix does? Will your content be partially available for free, or will it be necessary for subscribers to pay to watch?

Of course, you need to follow all guidelines and rules, and we all should abide by law. That is why you need to get licenses for all types of content you plan to stream. How can you do it?

First of all, you have only two ways to get the license for public performance:

• You may rent the movie directly from a distributor that is authorized to grant such licenses;
• Or you may contact the copyright holder directly.

Both options are appropriate, everything depends on your opportunities and individual particularities each of this option has. If you plan to rent a movie or TV series from an authorized distributor, there are two major distributors in the USA: Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC) and SWANK Motion Pictures. If you choose a second option when build your own streaming service, you need to contact a studio that is a right holder of a specific content, and negotiate with them.

Note: Keep in mind that there are different types of licenses. For example, one studio will sell you right not for the whole TV series but only for one season. It can be even more convenient since if you see that this TV series is not popular on your website, you will remove it and won't extend licensing for the next season.

As for expenses, if you plan to start your own streaming service as Netflix, you will need to spend billions of dollars on content licensing. For example, the company typically spends less on content licensing and production than they earn, so everything is paid off. However, of course, you will need to start small and monitor the development of your business, and if everything goes well, you will be able to buy popular films and TV shows that are usually expensive.

Here you should make a decision on what design and general style your website or app will have. You have two ways to create a style of your service:

• Use a style similar to Netflix, find some ready-made templates and offer software development company to use them in your service;
• Create your own style from scratch with professional designers at the software development company you cooperate with. They will render you robust UI/UX design services to build a unique style for your future streaming service.

As you understand, the second way is preferable. It is much better to have your own personal style than copy existing models. Netflix has its own design, so you'd better keep up with this model as well.

You will find information below regarding platforms you should choose to create your own video streaming service, but we will discuss it in more detail. If you plan to start your own streaming channel, you should also keep in mind to create a mobile app. We don't need to provide you with statistics, everybody knows that the majority of users spend more time using their mobile devices rather than PCs and other gadgets.

It means that a mobile version of your service will be preferable for such users. You may think a responsive or adaptive website version will be enough, but it is a big mistake. A native mobile app on iOS/Android gives users a more personalized and convenient experience.

When planning how to build a streaming video website, it’s crucial to consider a cross-platform approach that includes mobile apps for iOS and Android, as these provide a seamless and optimized viewing experience that a responsive website alone may not fully achieve.

And the second one here is finding out your target audience. This is essential for creating a successful streaming business. You can do this in various ways:

• Social media. Social network favorites Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great ways to promote your service. Share interesting streaming content via these social network favorites so viewers are watching and you build an audience.
• Use YouTube. A video streaming leader, YouTube is also a powerful brand-building tool. Harness it to build trust in your brand and convey the uniqueness of your service.
• Arrange newsletters. Offer prospective buyers an elegantly worded email that includes an easy-to-follow, informative description of your product. A well-presentable, attractive letter has the ability to get them to visit your platform.

For those wishing to start their own video streaming service, it is crucial to follow a step-by-step guide while connecting audiences. Having an accessible and user-friendly interface together with compatibility across multiple devices will result in maximum exposure and customer satisfaction.

Thus, you will find your audience quickly. And then you can proceed to the business model you should keep up with to understand how to create your own streaming service.

To start a streaming service, choose a professional software provider with expertise in developing media solutions. When selecting a technical partner, you should consider the company’s location and hourly rate, customer reviews on platforms such as Clutch and GoodFirms (for example, you can check client reviews about cooperation with Cleveroad on our Clutch page), and check the company’s portfolio with previously created media streaming solutions.

The main part of your cooperation with an IT provider will be building a streaming platform upon your requirements. As a rule, developers work on software in several stages, designing and building each part of the application. Also, the process of creating a streaming service is accompanied by QA (quality assurance) and testing. After the development part, QA engineers perform some additional tests to ensure all the platform’s features work correctly.

Once you've released a TV streaming service, prioritize collecting user feedback. Knowing the demands of potential customers will allow you to perfect your platform as well as optimize the user experience.

The video streaming niche has aggressive competition, and by reading reviews, you stay ahead by launching features that provide you an advantage. Also, if you've created a well-developed customer base, you're able to provide support across different devices, so you're reaching out to an expanded customer base.

To build a successful streaming service, it is essential that you continuously develop your platform. Consider what streaming services offer that makes them appealing to users. If you wish to start your own video streaming business, focusing on innovation and customer care will assure future success and profitability.

You should consider the following: the more features your streaming service has, the more expensive it is. So for the beginning, it is better to add the core features only into the first app version, to reduce its cost. Additional features can be added later when the app and website become popular.

Now let's discover the core and additional features to build a streaming service.

If you are considering streaming service development, it is important to focus on the features that are truly necessary so that you can roll out a complete product without going overboard. Starting with essentials will save costs and grow in-scalably on adopting user needs.

Payment gateway. If you are intended to create a streaming website as well, in this case, we advise you to use payment gateway like Stripe or Braintree. Each payment service shall have PCI-DSS compliance. And such gateways providers as Braintree and Stripe PayPal also offer their native libraries for both Android and iOS.

User profile. Here users can add their favorite movies or something like that. Also, it is possible to add more people to your account in order for them to watch their own content in a Hulu-, or Netflix-like streaming service.

Content search. Selection of genres, selection by user reviews. You can check what your friends watch and what films they like.

Chat and comments. Give users the freedom to interact with each other and share impressions from watched movies and TV series. You can achieve this by implementing features like chats and allowing them to leave comments.

Push notifications and settings. These notifications are an extremely useful feature to stay in touch with users. For example, you can notify them once a new TV series or show is released. The settings mean the selection of audio track, subtitles on/off, play/pause, rewind, volume control, etc.

Multiple language support. The user base is the key to success for this kind of online service. The more languages the Netflix-like app will support, the more users you have.

Admin panel. It should be available obligatorily since you, as an admin, will have access to all content to manage videos and users, edit videos, block users if necessary, and so on.

Let's now take a look at possible features you may add to the product after building a streaming service and its release or even before the release.

• Social sign-in. Capability to share news and reviews via social media.
• Reviews and ratings. You can rate a television program or movie, forming your own rating based on your portal users' opinions.
• Live streaming video. Live broadcasting of specific TV programs, shows, sports events, etc.
• Content recommendation algorithm. Netflix has the CineMatch system that provides users with content that is more interesting for them. You can integrate something similar into other services like Netflix, Disney+ or Hulu.
• Geo-blocking. Due to different restrictions in separate regions of the world, some of the available content in your app can be forbidden in these regions. So if you want your app to be available in as many countries as possible, you should consider this feature.
• Download feature. Users can save content on their tablets/smartphones/PC to watch it even when there is no Internet connection available.
• Video quality. According to the client's requirements and the technical features of his/her gadget, they can choose a quality rate.

Building a streaming platform like Netflix, Disney+, or TikTok requires a perfect mix of basic and premium features to win over and retain users. Let's now break down the total cost of streaming service development and ascertain what influences the overall budget.

Launching a new business resembling the Netflix model does not guarantee immediate astonishing success. However, you can create a competitive streaming service if you choose the correct monetization model, monitor key metrics, care about security measures for your streaming software, and many more.

Monetization of the video platform is performed based on the subscription model, so you can propose variable plans for your viewers. For example, you can charge a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee. But you shouldn't forget about free trial versions in Netflix-like apps for a month or more. You can either propose to subscribers all the video library or only its part. It allows you to control monetization.

There are several ways how to make a movie streaming app profitable:

• Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD). You can ask users to purchase a subscription to access content for a month or a year.
• Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD). By implementing this model, you can offer users the ability to watch videos on the pay-per-view basis.
• Hybrid. You can combine SVOD and TVOD models to reach a wider audience.
• Memberships. This model is similar to SVOD but it gives you an opportunity to provide viewers with additional benefits.

Furthermore, you should consider multi-currency support and integration with several payment gateways to allow subscribers to pay with their local currency.

To make a streaming service profitable and efficient, you should monitor metrics and maintain the efficiency of your platform. For example, among the KPIs for a Netflix-link service are:

• Subscriber growth. This metric allows you to analyze the increase for the selected period compared to a previous one of the same length, allowing you to conclude the popularity of your service.
• User retention rate. It estimates the number of users using your application after installation.
• Viewer engagement. This metric allows you to estimate how engaged and interactive visitors are with your platform.
• Customer acquisition cost. It’s vital from an economic point of view and allows you to calculate the cost of customer acquisition.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). This metric is the total income a business can expect from a customer over the entire relationship period.
• The average revenue per user. This is one of the critical indicators of success and allows you to estimate the average revenue per customer. The higher this indicator, the more successful your platform is.

Here you will find the list of the main tools that should be used for building a streaming platform. Underneath, we’ve listed an approximate list of technologies the Cleveroad team typically uses to create live streaming solutions.

Note: This tech stack is not final. It was created for showing possible tech ways regarding how to create a streaming platform. Get a consultation with our specialists to define the tech stack that fits your idea.

You should protect your service from any unwanted intrusions from third parties. Here are some safety precautions you can count on:

• Token security prevents access to unauthorized third-party sources
• Domain restriction blocks content for specific domains and avoids inserts into another platform
• Geo-restrictions allow you to block content for certain areas and protect copyright
• SSL encryption provides secure transmission of data between the server and users
• Watermarks help you protect your copyrights

How to build a streaming platform like Netflix? You should know that your streaming service should keep with some important requirements that ensure the proper functionality of the service, and, respectively, it directly impacts users' engagement.

Stable storage. Today cloud hosting is fairly considered the most reliable storage for any type of content. All your videos should be stored on a good and well-tried hosting to provide users with seamless content delivery and a trustful experience.

Good network connectivity. Mind to apply Content Delivery Network (CDN) to create stable connectivity and prevent server overloading, give users a shorter request time, and so on. If you need to know what CDN is better to choose, our specialists will give you a useful hint about what is preferable in your case.

High bandwidth. The combination of reliable video streaming protocol and CDN will ensure high bandwidth and a low probability of lagging. Adding video in 4K resolution should equip your service with a stable and high bandwidth.

Choose your video streaming protocols. There are many streaming protocols like WebRTC, HLS, and RTMP, and each has its benefits and drawbacks that should be considered. Developers can help you choose an acceptable video-streaming protocol in your specific case.

Developing a streaming platform is expensive but can vary based on functionality and sophistication. The cost to create a video streaming application balances generally from $30,000 to $200,000+.

Important note! Please take into account that all costs are rough, and the final price of your streaming service may vary. Everything depends on your specific requirements. Moreover, to the indicated price we also include meetings and code documentation processing.

The design should be both attractive and easy to use. It is a guarantee of success. So, for the development of a TV app like Netflix development with the core functionality, the cost may be the following:

If you’re wondering how to start a streaming service with extended functionality, you should be ready for greater expenses.

Thus, according to the information above, you can easily imagine how to start a video streaming business and how much it will cost. And it can become profitable if you are intended to follow the correct marketing strategy and ready to invest the required sum amount.

But for proper development of the app itself, you should trust the high-skilled development company that can implement your ideas accurately within your requirements and desires. So please get in touch with us anytime, we are always at your disposal!

We have extensive expertise in creating streaming applications for various businesses. Recently our portfolio was replenished with a project that digitalizes the popular movie rental service - Blockbuster.

Our customer is the TDC Group company, the largest Danish telecommunication service provider. In 2013, the enterprise acquired the rights for Blockbuster, an iconic US company known for video and game rentals, to launch a video streaming platform in the Nordics. The company wanted to transform the current business model and create a video-on-demand platform to deliver movies and TV series via the Internet on a paid basis. The client approached Cleveroad as an experienced media software development company to:

• Receive a comprehensive video-on-demand platform, localized for the Nordic region, that allows viewers to buy and rent video content within the TVOD (or pay-per-view) model.
• Replace the outdated Android and Android TV apps to recreate a core business process and satisfy end-users expectations about the new product solution.
• Get a responsive on-demand video platform ensuring consistency across devices and optimizing the media experience for everyone.

As a result, our client got a high-quality TVOD streaming platform that allowed the enterprise to digitize the traditional video rental business and offer on-demand video services online. The service has hundreds of thousands of subscribers in Denmark and is rapidly increasing a solid client base across Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Within six weeks, 10,000 people subscribed to the service.

Now let us introduce our company and tell you more about IT services we provide.

Cleveroad is a high-tier technical company specializing in developing various technical solutions for businesses of all industries. For more than ten years on the market, we have helped hundreds of companies find modern technologies and custom software to boost their performance.

By cooperating with us, you can get many benefits, such as :

• A team of specialists with extensive expertise in the media domain: media and entertainment software, Video-On-Demand, live streaming platforms, VR/AR-based apps, and more
• Practical expertise in implementing media streaming integrations, such as Vimeo, Agora, Twillio, and others, to offer a more comprehensive streaming experience to end-users
• Flexible cooperation with several models for you to choose from: IT staff augmentation services, dedicated development team services, project-based model, etc.
• Free Solution Design Workshop stage with our media domain specialists to help you in planning, implementation, and launch of your streaming service.
• Experienced developers and QA specialists able to provide robust, quality, and fault-tolerant media streaming service

If you want to create your own streaming platform and you're not sure where to start, contact us! Our experts will advise you on media streaming service building and help you to develop a solution for distributing your media content at low latency to viewers worldwide.