"Go LIVE" is a new trend.
Have you ever thought to use live video streaming to build your brand?
Over a decade back in 2008, an event streamed live on the Internet from San Francisco and Tokyo which started a new trend and changed the future of social media. It was YouTube Live.
YouTube brought first live video streaming service to the world and offered the audience to interact in real-time.
In 2015, Periscope came out as a popular live streaming app and got much attention that later Twitter acquired this app.
Then in 2016, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook live and offered users a new way to interact on social media with their loved ones.
Welcome to the golden age of live streaming.
Today, smartphones have become a new TV for audience and marketplace for businesses. Internet celebrities are using the power of live video and redefining social media trends.
Live video streaming entered the world by storm. Brands are using live streaming to reach the masses. Businesses are now looking for live streaming apps to provide real-time solutions to their customers.
Don’t believe it? Let the data speak.
Image Source: livestream.com
Live video streaming applications are in high demand and considered a big thing in the video marketing strategy. People lack patience and want immediate solution on the go. This is where live broadcasting app comes as the best option.
On social media, a user armed with a smartphone and a social media account and by using Facebook live or Instagram live stories, he or she can channelize their own live experience.
Here is this blog, we will guide you on how to develop a live video streaming app for your specific business purpose.
Live streaming is a real-time online process where audio and video simultaneously broadcasted. Periscope, YouTube live, Facebook Live, Instagram Live Stories are the apps that provide live streaming features to users.
Choose a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to scale your server. It helps your app deliver real-time content at a faster and easier rate without any interruptions.
A reliable host is required that can ensure flawless streaming services for your customers. However, at the initial stage, you may don't need quality hosting. But once your app is gaining popularity with a large number of users, you will need to set up a reliable hosting that can support live video streaming for thousands or millions of users.
Big live streaming apps use cloud storage platforms such as Google cloud platform, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Cloud services to store the media data. Storing all your data on a hard-drive can lead to data corruption, so you should go with cloud storage platforms for your live streaming apps.
Download the live streaming SDK from your online video hosting for Android/iOS.
Developing live streaming apps requires a lot of work. Whether it is a native app or open-source live streaming software, defining the basic features for your app before its development begin will help in further app testing. Creating an MVP model of the app can help you with this.
Your App's UI/UX influences users to utilize your app. You can either hire a mobile app development company or a professional UI/UX designer for creating a compelling UI/UX design. Analyze your competitor’s live streaming apps and see what latest UI/UX they are using now.
Real-time video streaming can bring exciting revenue outcome. And the future of live streaming seems vibrant that many brands have already started investing huge in live streaming services for web and mobile platforms. You can use any of the following ways to monetize your live streaming app.
Utilize live streaming SDK tools and API to develop the mobile app. At this stage, you will design your app that represents your brand and gives the best user experience.
Include HLS support to your live streaming application. This system brings pixel perfection quality to view live videos in both platforms web and mobile. You can also integrate your app with other advanced players as well.
Could platform gives robust scalability to run video business smoothly. You can choose premium server (paid subscriptions) for long-term scale.
Enable an adaptive bit-rate streaming to adjust pixel quality corresponding to the bandwidth. This adaptability feature gives a seamless video watching experience across all screen sizes.
It should stream live videos to several mobile devices ranging from smartphones to tablets.
A perfect live streaming app must provide maximum flexibility to real-time video streaming, on-demand video requirement, and social media live streaming. If you are developing a hybrid mobile app for Android/iOS, make sure your developer team build the app dynamic in nature that runs flawlessly on all across mobile OS.
Your app must allow users to record or download their favorite videos to watch offline without any data consumption.
Adding this prominent feature will advance your app in creating brand awareness. Broadcast video content on live mode across multiple social media channels and it will help you enhance views and engagement.
Set up AES encryption, DRM and IP based access control to protect videos from security breach and unauthorized access.
Engage users before they engage in app's videos. Allow users to create their personal user profile that include helpful demographics and information for your future marketing. You can include these demographics for:
a. Full name
b. Profile picture
c. Username
d. Subscription plans
e. Date of birth
f. Location
g. Interests
h. Feed preferences
Users love to chat. And when they go live, they want to chat more enthusiastically. Therefore, enabling a chat feature during live streaming mode will help your audience communicate with their audience. Chat allows you to collect users' feedback and reviews which can be helpful in improving your app's functionality.
Choose a trustworthy server that can support your app's live streaming functionality. Server-side platform enables broadcasters to convert their live streaming into on-demand video while keeping them relevant even after the end of streaming.
Additionally, the server you choose for live streaming, it should be capable to decode and stream video to users or audience in the right format. The common standard video format is:
1. 264 and MPEG4- for iOS
2. 264 and VP8- for Android
People demands High-Definition (HD) videos. Streaming 25 HD images per second needs a large amount of storage space both on server and user sides. For instance, 60 seconds of 1280x720 video needs around 1GB memory space. Hence, you will have to compress this data. And to do this, you can use codec.
Codec is a general term for the compression/decompression algorithm which is supported on devices by default. Codec vary for different OS platforms, but most companies use the normal compression format- H.265 video standard.
You need to set video quality as per the internet bandwidth requirements that allow users to watch video without latencies. The required bandwidth varies depending on the video codec you select and the compression efficiency.
Select the right bandwidth for your live streaming app, and check whether it meets your country’s average bandwidth speed.
You want your app get maximum number of users. At the same time, keep in mind that your app should provide live streaming services that do not crash in case of large number of viewers. You should create a strong and dynamic broadcasting system or server that can handle great number of connections simultaneously.
Allow users to search for ongoing live streams so as to join in quickly. This expands app’s reach to maximum users on the platform at the same time when users need.
People get easily bored of watching the same type of videos on social media. By providing them some filters to let them find new video will draw their attention to your app and increase its online visibility.
Many live streaming apps like Zoom, YouTube, Facebook allows users to share their live video streaming with other users at the same time. This feature has become a trend due to its easy-to-share benefit and allowing others to view the same live video.
Live video is the future of online content. It empowers your brand to stand out from the crowded marketing presence and fuels user engagement via real-time experience. You can build high brand loyalty using live streaming apps.
Viewers love live video. And knowing how to make the best out of live broadcasting can pave the way for new business opportunities. Live streaming lets you stream on and dream on.
Now, it's your time.
Are you using live video streaming apps for your business? Or want to consult on how to use a live streaming app in marketing?
Collaborate with our certified mobile app developers at eSearch Logix who master in developing live streaming apps for your brand. Give us your requirement and get a free quote.
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