How to build an app like YouTube & It's Cost

YouTube being the prominent player has changed the video streaming & Sharing industry to the whole with 500 hours of new content uploaded every minute. Youtube allows uploading videos in all the genres like Music Video, Web series, Vlogs, Short Movies, etc.

Before jumping into the details of How to make an app similar to YouTube let us clear some basics first.

Some Stats around Youtube :

With over 2 billion users every month and 1 billion hours of video streaming every day. There is no competitor insight. With around 46 million monthly users Netflix stands in the second spot. i.e one fourth of youtube users.

Some of the Things & Features to consider before developing an app like YouTube :

Expected average monthly user -Expected no. of Average monthly user of the application will help you in deciding how strong your backend should be? Only with a strong backend will you be able to handle heavy user inflow during weekends or holidays. If your service does not perform as per user expectation due to a heavy user base during a particular time period then it would result in user dissatisfaction and can lead to a permanent user loss along with their influencer group.

Live Video Streaming Feature – The latest feature useful for the content creator to engage in a better way with its targeted audience is a must for a video sharing & Streaming platform. This feature helps the platform as well as the content creator in developing a loyal fan base for both sides.

Video Recommendation - Based on the user history this is one of the most important features to drive engagement. This feature works on complex algorithms that only an expert agency or organization can help you with. Considering the watch history of the user they should be suggested with a video of similar interest. This feature improves user engagement which will help us in our next step.

Revenue Generation - A final motive for developing anything is how an organization would financially benefit in terms of increasing its revenue. So one of the major options is to help businesses in targeting a specific audience based on their demographics. so a video streaming platform can be useful to the user as well as the business who is paying the streaming platform to run video campaigns for a specific set of the target audience. This feature too requires a complex algorithm.

After considering the above major point a detailed plan needs to be prepared to help the team in better execution of the project till its successful launch.

If you are considering developing a video a streaming app like YouTube then I would suggest you get in touch with Mobile App Development Agency.

Let us consider some Points& Features with which the cost is directly proportional

User Base – The user base of the platform is directly proportional to the cost of making the platform as higher the user base the greater its backend capabilities requirement and thus greater its cost. You would require the latest technology with high specification backend capabilities for excellent user experience especially when user traffic is high during weekends or holidays.

Live Streaming Capabilities : Live streaming in video sharing platforms requires a completely different technological requirement which further adds up to the cost. Live streaming helps the content creators interact with their audience in real-time for which a real-time streaming protocol system is required.

Video Recommendation : One of the most important factors which drive engagement and thus increases the time spent by a user on the platform is video recommendation. A video suggestion feature as the name suggest fills the user Homepage with video suggestion based on the users interest. To add this feature to your platform you would require a technical algorithm expert agency or company that is capable to design an algorithm that will increase user engagement. To tell you the truth algorithm improvement is an ongoing process, so this feature won’t add a huge initial cost to your overall budget as it’s a recurring cost.

Business Model : One main thing to consider would be to how will you generate revenue. YouTube generates the majority of its revenue from an advertisement placed on the Beginning, Middle, and at the End of different videos based on users interest. Youtube has recently launched a premium service in which the user pays a monthly or yearly subscription price for using the platform ad-free.

Jack Larson, Digital Marketing Executive at WebClues Infotech