How To Build a Live Streaming App: Features, Monetization, and More

Live streaming app development is a profitable investment today, as streaming services account for 40.3% of total television usage. People are increasingly favoring streaming platforms for viewing content over traditional cable TV or websites. It’s happening due to the huge access to content libraries. The user chooses what he or she is interested in, and the algorithms help them with it. This makes people stay longer on the platform and brings popularity and money to the owner of this platform.

In this article, we will dive into live streaming app development and consider aspects such as features, monetization strategies, and proper development pipeline. We will also share valuable tips on how to make your app reliable and successful.

Live streaming application is a platform that lets you watch and share content online in real-time, like live TV. Whether it is gameplay or a live podcast, the viewers will instantly get it, which is the main feature of such applications. In purpose, such an aspect becomes a crucial part of live streaming success. Moreover, live streaming creates an immediate connection between creators and audiences, providing engagement and a sense of community.

With the popularity of streaming, video streaming app development is also increasingly in demand every year. The prospects of such a market are very promising.

Before diving into live video streaming app development, you should first study the market you are going to enter. And the live video streaming market has something to surprise you. So, we’ve gathered for you the most interesting statistics on the live streaming market.

According to Demandsage, 28.5% of Internet users worldwide watch live streams weekly, which literally means almost every third. It might seem strange, but Adamconnell reports that 22.7% of people primarily use social media to watch live streams, which even more shows the demand for live streaming among users. Furthermore, about the average daily simultaneous live streaming audience, it is over 3 – 3.6 million.

Popularity among users always supposes a big market size, and video streaming is not an exception. Per the CMI research, the global live streaming market is expected to record a CAGR of 23.2% from 2025 to 2033, which is $712.9B.

As you can see, the live-streaming market is a very promising place, and if you enter it with a well-thought-out application, you will definitely get a return on your investment.

Let's start with the basics. Live streaming is a live video broadcast of certain events available for viewing in real-time via the Internet and is one of the best and most efficient ways to report from the scene. All broadcasts are hosted by streamers who use different applications divided into several types. divided into different types. There are so many different live streaming apps floating around the most popular app stores. So, if you plan to find out how to build a streaming app, we suggest finding out more about kinds of video streaming apps.

Well, it’s one of the most popular types of streaming media. Such a type of live streaming app consumes you to watch videos in a real-time mode. It’s recorded and broadcast simultaneously. You can build a live streaming app that broadcasts how users play games (Twitch), how they talk about different things, or even how they simply answer questions online (Periscope, Instagram Live, Facebook Live).

The principle is the same — users can listen to music in the app without downloading it. Everything is simple. Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music are the most popular live streaming services for listening to music you can find today. If you're interested in how to create a music streaming app, understanding the features and user experiences offered by these platforms is essential.

This one makes it possible for users to watch TV series and movies without downloading them on devices. However, a distinctive feature is that they can pause content, resume, and rewind it. As a rule, users have to pay for a subscription to have access to the live video content. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video are leaders in this area.

The final streaming type that allows users to watch TV online. But, when they switch to on-demand video streaming services, they lose their favorite TV shows, sports channels, series, and so on. That’s why companies create a video app with TV broadcasting. Hulu, YouTube TV, and Amazon Prime Video are video-on-demand platforms, but they also have plans for TV live streaming.

Live streaming apps can also vary by area of focus. Some of them are used for work purposes, others for personal needs. But most of them combine both directions.

There are certain points that you should avoid, and our goal is to tell you about possible pitfalls. So, here are the most important steps you should undertake to create a live streaming app.

If you want to create a streaming app and maintain it for the long term, an in-house development team may help you. However, this approach requires high costs, as you will need to rent an office, equip it, and then start the long and tedious process of hiring employees. In addition, if you do not have technical knowledge, you will need the help of a tech recruiter who will help you carry out the hiring process and find the necessary specialists.

Outsourcing can be a perfect option, especially if you’re on a budget. You can hire those specialists you lack for your project - for example, turn to the staff augmentation model to expand your in-house team or hire a fully dedicated team to develop your product. This strategy is attractive because of its cost flexibility. With outsourcing models, you pay only for the work done, avoiding equipment costs, rent, and social benefits. Moreover, outsourcing gives you access to talent worldwide so that you can choose the most cost-effective option possible. For example, the average hourly rate for a developer in Central and Eastern Europe (a popular outsourcing destination) is about $50 per hour, which is significantly less than approximately $150 per hour in the US.

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, and it’s a must-have step if you want to scale your server and develop a live streaming app. Even if you think that you don’t need it, try to think ahead of time, and you will probably see that it will be a useful option. You will need to pay additionally for CDN, but everything will be paid off. It will ensure flawless delivery of content without interruptions. Your development team should help you make the right choice.

Also, to build a video streaming app that will be fault-tolerant, you have to choose a reliable hosting that will ensure smooth streaming services for your customers. The quality of hosting may not be so important for a start, but once your app is getting more popular, the number of users will grow and one video will be watched by thousands of users simultaneously. To ensure that users will have a quality video delivery, you should have a strong server infrastructure. A good option is to use a ready-made cloud solution like Amazon S3.

All your content should be stored in a reliable place that makes it possible for users to watch a video without failures and unexpected distortions. We believe that cloud services are the best option for live streaming app development. They are scalable and save you money on buying hardware.

Also, you should mind that appearance means a lot, and users will judge your streaming service according to their first impression. So you should use high-quality UI/UX design services or find an experienced software development company that offers all services on a turnkey basis. You can analyze your competitors’ live streaming apps and what UI and UX they have for now. UX in your software should be intuitive and not overloaded with tons of images.

Moreover, in order to test your features and make sure that your service will be interesting for users, create an MVP version — an app for streaming with a minimal feature list. If you don’t know what features your streaming app should contain, our next section will spell everything out.

Customers won’t forgive your mistakes because today’s market offers a lot of alternatives. Using quality assurance services is vital for a live video streaming app development because if something works improperly, a customer will stop using your service and find something more reliable.

Users expect good performance, especially when it comes to live streaming, where even a short delay can ruin the entire experience. Extensive quality assurance builds up their trust and loyalty not only for its reliability but also amongst your audience. Testing an application enables a seamless experience, thus maintaining continuity and satisfaction in users.

Impressed by the success of giants, don't jump in feet first, and don't stuff your streaming app with all features at once. It makes more sense to create an app like Minimum Viable Product (MVP) first. When you create a video streaming app, it helps you to understand how viable your application is and what it lacks at the initial stage.

What should be the MVP of a live streaming application? Here are the main features without which such an application can’t exist:

The basic feature the developers must include in video streaming platform development is user registration. It lets people create accounts to use the app. It should be easy to sign up using an email address or social media account. This helps users get started quickly without much difficulty. The login system should also include a password to keep their accounts safe.

A personal profile is a simple way for users to manage their accounts and show who they are. It should have basic things like a username, profile picture, and a short bio. The personal profile makes it easy for users to feel connected and part of the app. For this stage of streaming app development, it just needs to cover the basics to work well.

Online streaming is the main part of the app where users can go live. The app like streaming, should let them start streaming with a simple button and without needing to set up anything complicated. The stream should run smoothly, even if their internet isn’t the best. This makes it easy for users to share live content with others.

To build a live streaming app, it’s important to involve comments. They let people talk during the live stream, which makes it more fun and interactive. Users should be able to type messages in real-time while watching. It helps create a connection between the person streaming and the viewers. The comments section should be easy to use and always visible during the stream.

Search lets users find the streams they want to watch. The video streaming app builder company should add a simple search bar where users can type keywords like a stream title or user name. Also, you have to provide some filters to find new content that will match users’ tastes. Some of the sorting options can be location, interest, broadcast topic, popularity, and more.

The server is the hidden part of the app that handles the process of live streaming app. It changes the live video into a format that works on different devices. The server side makes sure that everyone watching can see the stream clearly. The server system should work well enough to support live streams without interruptions.

That’s all for now. Users can register, broadcast, search for other users, and comment streams. This way, you get a skeleton of your application, which is enough at the start.

What’s next? After getting a positive response and making sure that the project is viable, you can develop additional features.

In this section, you will find out what features you can add to your application in the process of live video streaming app development to make sure it’s competitive with other players on the market.

To build a live streaming app’s MVP, it’s enough to make one registration option. It can be a social login or simple registration with a phone number/email address and password. Also, you need to add the password reset feature via email or a text message. For example, to make a video live streaming app, you can add several signup options via social networks. That’s how users can log in using their Facebook or Twitter accounts. Remember that everything, for both an Android and iOS app, should be fairly simple and clear. Usability is one of the main success factors of your application.

Another question to solve during the live streaming app development process is to decide what kind of personal information will be in user profiles. We previously said what you can add in the beginning and what you can add after developing the MVP:

• Date of birth
• Location
• Interests
• Feed preferences

Personal information allows users to monitor streamers' popularity, find people who follow similar people, and share the same interests.

To get deeper into live video streaming app development, you should understand the whole concept of streaming. Streaming is transmitting an audio and video file from a server to users. It is possible due to various streaming protocols. The most well-known protocol for live streaming is real-time messaging protocol (RTMP). This protocol works simply and precisely. A Media player contacts the server to establish a connection. Then, the server reacts to this response and returns a video file. It can be broadcast live to an unlimited number of users simultaneously. The only condition is a high bandwidth on both sides.

How to create a live streaming app that will encourage creativity? Implement a donation system. Apart from payment subscriptions, donations are the main source of streamers’ income. Viewers who enjoy the broadcast can support the streamer with a sum of money on a voluntary basis. The main advantage of this feature is that users can apply a message to their donations that will be seen on the stream. It becomes a way of paid communication with the streamer. You can use third-party tools or develop your own to implement the donation system.

Chatting is an essential feature to include if you want to build a live streaming app. With the help of live chat, streamers can communicate with their audience. That’s how broadcasters get the feedback, and viewers keep in touch with their beloved influencers. Chat is very important for streamers because they can monetize video content. For example, Twitch streamers with many viewers can grant chat access only to their subscribers. This way, they unload the chat for comfortable conversations and earn additional money. Also, streamers engage the audience to subscribe with unique chat emojis and a chat status that depends on the subscription duration.

Remember to take into account the bandwidth of every user. Some users may have a weak internet connection, so your web or mobile app for iOS and Android should be able to switch video quality. On the other hand, users with a high-end internet plan may want to watch the video with the highest possible bitrate. This range in quality will show that you treat every user equally and attract more audience to your website. Therefore, the live streaming app development company of your choice should know how to handle the video encoding algorithms and make optimized server queries.

Any application for online video and audio conferences has a screen-sharing feature these days. To show the contents of your screen, you can broadcast the image to your partner. Screen sharing is useful for various tutorials and streaming games. Video games for desktops and consoles captured the world's attention a long time ago. Now, game streaming is a vast niche with thousands of popular streamers, millions of viewers, and large sponsorship investments. This niche became popular due to simple screen sharing, so invest some development time in this feature. I bet that if you diversify your video and audio content with some games, it will make your livestream app stand out.

One of the peculiarities of live streaming is that streams are spontaneous or scheduled. It’s somehow similar to TV shows — if you miss one episode of the series, it’ll be hard to understand what’s going on in future episodes. For the sake of user convenience, you have to think about stream schedules and notifications during streaming app development. Actually, any app should come with this feature because it’s quite simple to implement. Users get push notifications on their devices when a broadcast starts. So when a broadcaster decides to start streaming, their subscribers are invited to join. No matter if they are using the app at the moment.

There are some important things you should consider while creating your streaming app, except its development. Let’s look closer at the most important things.

Developing a video streaming app you definitely want your app to be talked about. For a successful launch, your live streaming application should generate some fuzz. Even before you finish video streaming app development, you need to run an advertising campaign to get more people to know about your app. For these purposes, it is worth using various channels such as social networks, blogs, and so on.

In social networks, you can create your brand’s community, which will start attracting potential customers and disperse the hype around your live streaming application. You can buy ads from more popular groups to draw attention to your product and brand. Besides, you shouldn't forget about streamers. Buying streams is a common way to build high attention to the live streaming platform. You can agree with the streamer about several paid streams on which he will invite his audience and stream with native advertising.

Developers use programming languages to create a live streaming app’s logic. To customize your app, they use custom video players, video file encoding, and payment integration, all of these features mostly rely on programming languages. The database stores the user information and VODs of previous streams. Flawless database structures and optimized queries are things that grant constant access to video streaming content.

Here’s an example of the technology stack our engineers use to create a live streaming app:

• Programming languages: Swift, Kotlin, Java
• Content delivery network: Cloudflare/Amazon CloudFront
• Hosting: Amazon EC2
• API server: Node.js
• Media processing platform: DaCast, Wowza
• Streaming protocols: WebRTC, RTMP
• Database: MySQL, Oracle
• Push notifications: Firebase Notifications
• Messaging queues: AWS Simple Queue System

Moreover, you’ll have to choose an app platform. The streaming application can be native or hybrid. Native one is an application designed for a specific platform, for example, iOS or Android. The code of the application is created using the programming language adopted precisely for this platform. A hybrid one is an application that is supported on multiple platforms simultaneously. It’s built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Focusing on the native live streaming app development, you’ll have to choose a platform your first version will be created for. Depending on your target audience or budget, you can use web or mobile development services. Furthermore, each platform has unique requirements. The iOS app development trends consume stricter guidelines, while Android must accommodate diverse devices. Web platforms provide accessibility but may miss native features. Choosing the right platform early impacts scope, cost, and timeline.

Let's be honest. When you’re looking to create a live streaming app, you want to generate income using various monetization strategies. So, it’s time to take a closer look at such an important live streaming app development aspect.

You can use one model or combine them to align your business demands. For example, you can show ads and offer to buy a subscription that will allow you to get rid of the ads.

To build a live streaming app, you also need to secure your content and provide compliance with legal requirements. It lets you make sure that users can enjoy seamless streaming without worrying about their personal data or pirated content.

To protect your content from unauthorized access, consider implementing digital rights management (DRM) systems. DRM ensures that only authorized users can view or download your content. You could also use encryption to safeguard your video streams. This way, even if someone tries to intercept your content, it will be unreadable without the proper decryption key. Also, you need to negotiate licensing deals with content creators, movie studios, or record labels to avoid potential legal issues. Without proper licenses, you risk facing hefty fines and having your app taken down from app stores.

Creating a streaming app is a difficult process with many pitfalls. But, the professional software vendor with experience in developing streaming solutions will help you create a robust and secure application.

Cleveroad is an experienced media software development company with 13+ years of experience, headquarters in the EU, Estonia. We offer high-quality and industry-savvy software solutions for live streaming, Video-on-Demand (VOD), content broadcasting, AR and VR apps, etc., to help media businesses enhance competitiveness and help deliver memorable user experiences.

We offer various media software services, including custom software development, software testing, DevOps, CDN, cloud, engineering, and big data. Also, we implement 3-rd party integrations providing out-of-the-box services, such as live streaming, VOD, transcoding, content delivery, and real-time messaging to optimize development time and budget.

We have extensive experience in developing media live streaming software. To demonstrate our expertise, we would like to present one of our recent cases - a versatile Video-On-Demand Platform called Blockbuster.

Blockbuster is a Danish company that provides local markets and other Nordic countries with home entertainment solutions, and they wanted to develop a streaming service delivering movie rental services online. The company needed a technical partner for:

• Creation of a video-on-demand platform localized for the Nordic region and realization of features like enabling viewers to purchase or rent high-quality movies and TV series.
• Development of a VOD streaming platform that looks and works great across multiple screens, devices, and platforms, as well as functionality integration enabling video streaming from mobile devices to TVs.
• Designing a responsive on-demand video platform, ensuring consistency across devices, and making a high-quality UI design to ensure solid groundwork for wide user adoption.

Cleveroad has built a feature-rich VOD streaming solution with enhanced search functionality, that allows users to find the best matching films based on the filters applied. Also, our team implemented online payments through the payment gateway. Integration of the pay-per-transaction services allowed a one-time payment for viewing video content on-demand.

As a result, our customer received a cross-platform video-on-demand app that allowed to ensure substantial business growth by providing a comprehensive streaming experience for users. The service has hundreds of thousands of users in Denmark and is quickly increasing its audience in other Nordic countries. Thanks to the cloud infrastructure we used, the maintenance cost of solutions decreased by 50%. Moreover, the customer acquisition/retention rate increased by 20-30%, and our client received 10,000 new subscribers to the service within six weeks.

If you want to start your own live streaming app with a reliable tech vendor, contact us! Our team with 13+ years of experience in media software development, is ready to create a multifaceted streaming application to help you engage users and boost your competitiveness.