How to Build a Video Streaming Website
The media and entertainment industry has always been at the forefront of tech innovation. An unspoken law reads, either change or die. That’s what the incumbents like Disney, Fox, Comcast, and Time Warner are still figuring out. That’s what streaming video services like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu have got covered. But before you learn how to build a video streaming website, here’s a story.To get more news about
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Story time
Once an underdog in video rentals, Netflix approached the then major player, Blockbuster, about selling 49% of the company to act as an online arm for the video-rental giant. Netflix estimated its worth at $$50 million. ‘Loonatics!’ laughed Blockbuster folk, ‘Isn’t that a bit over-the-top?!’ Well, they were spot on! Over just a decade, Netflix transformed into a $47 billion video streaming service to deliver over-the-top (OTT) video content!
Downloads suck! The waiting. The storage space. And you want your movie RIGHT NOW! Well, video streaming service is your oxygen. It transmits data as a continuous flow, so you can watch or listen almost immediately. In fact, streaming files can be hard to save (yeah, your copyright is safe). They disappear as soon as you’re done. So a streaming video website is akin to television. The only difference is the medium – it’s delivered via the web (aka ‘over the top’). So what does it mean to build a video streaming server?
Why not?! YouTube’s initial concept of a video sharing site has evolved to perfectly house both pre-recorded and live streaming options. Netflix and Amazon Prime specialize in on-demand video. Hulu is in-between. But live streaming is also big on Facebook and other social networking sites. SO BIG you have no idea! Let’s clarify. On-demand video is pre-recorded and compressed. It’s stored on servers and delivered to one or multiple users ‘by request’. But even if you didn’t ask for it to play (remember those annoying ads that start playing by themselves?) it’s still ‘on-demand’. Duh! Live streaming is a whole other story. It’s captured, compressed, and transmitted in real-time. Of course, you need huge computing resources and oftentimes specific hardware support. But who doesn’t like sports, news, or concerts – LIVE?! Never miss an event in your life! Isn’t it cute? Live stream to someone special (one-to-one) or to the whole tribe (one-to-many), and even get feedback (two-way). Wonder what happens after live videos are no longer so… erm… ‘live’? Periscope and Snapchat leave them up for 24 hours (FOMO, you know), FB keeps them forever.
Video streaming works by breaking a video into small chunks and sending them via the net to get reassembled and played at their final destination. In case techy parlance like ‘streaming protocol’, ‘codec’, or ‘container format’ scares you, here’s a journey metaphor. Imagine you are a delivery service transporting goods, like clothing, in bulk (the goods are the video). The codec will be a machine that compresses the clothing into a bundle to save space. The container format is a boxcar where these bundles are packed in. And the streaming protocol is the railroad tracks, signals, and drivers that deliver it to the destination. So there! You’re smart enough to know how to start a video streaming website. But wait! What about the ‘why’?
The video streaming market is estimated to be a $70.5 billion industry by 2021. There’s a huge potential for video-on-demand (VOD) platforms in education, media & entertainment, e-commerce, healthcare and other areas. Moreover, 80% of consumers agree that corporate live videos are engaging, add credibility and humanize the brand. Live streaming is catching on in business, transforming the ways social media marketing campaigns are run. Businesses are broadcasting live video streams for product demos and tutorials. Nonprofits are using live streaming to bring major events to a larger audience. Media organizations are streaming live news. Sporting leagues are using live streaming to bring matches to their fans, wherever they are. Governments are using live broadcasting to comply with open-meeting laws. Religious groups are using streaming media to grow their congregations. And you can, too!
video streaming website Whatever are your business objectives, models, or use cases, it’s your prerogative. How you’re going to attract the audience, what sort of videos you’re going to stream (professional, user-generated), or how you’re going to monetize the site (subscription, ads, pay-per-view, or some other ingenious way), is outside the scope of this article. Hope, as a startup, you don’t fall for the temptation of building another streaming service like Netflix but go for an online tech company that distributes video and acts as a streaming platform for creatives. If your users are co-creators, the proper technical implementation is the bottom line. So how to start a video streaming service? Here’s a minimum feature-set for a video streaming website development.
