Video Streaming App Development Costs 2023

Developing a live streaming app costs between
5 000 EUR
and
500 000+ EUR.
And it takes between three weeks to 24 months.
Here is why:

There are different options to pay monthly/annual fees for a set of features or own the platform, which means paying for custom development and support. In all cases, there are fees for hosting the content, the platform, and the bandwidth.

Subscription-based streaming services: The total cost for such a streaming solution depends on several variables, and the approximate range is pretty wide. However, we could still frame it between $5K and $10K monthly.
Hiring a video streaming solutions development team: Depending on the technology stack, seniority, and engagement time frame, the average per man-day price for an experienced software developer specialized in this field is about $440.
White-label licensing model: The costs for a white-label OTT platform varies according to the included features and required customizations. The annual charge starts from $150-200K, plus payments to third parties for storage and CDN infrastructure.
Developing a custom video streaming platform: The prices for a similar streaming solution range from ~$500K ~$1,5M depending on the features.

About 1000 viewers VOD	About 10 000 viewers VOD and Live	100 000 ++ viewers Live events Ultra scalable solution
Video player for web	Custom Frontend	Fully-fledged streaming platform
Paywall	Monetization models: AVOD, SVOD	Frontend applications – Web, Android, Android TV, iOS Content Management System (CMS) Bianor Backend Server Cutting tool – Live to VOD Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Delivery Infrastructure
Basic CRM and CMS	Custom CRM and CMS	Support team
5-10K month, plus traffic costs	150-200 K annually, plus traffic costs	500+ K plus traffic costs

To understand which model fits you best you have to start by answering six major questions.

Depending on your resources and development plans, you, as a content owner, can choose from several different financial models and technical solutions. Before jumping into video streaming app development and cost estimation, you should answer the six questions below to understand your needs better.

What content do you have?
What platforms shall the content be streamed to?
What are the viewers’ specifics?
What type of events will you stream?
What is the monetization you’d like to have?
What support model do you need?

mail us at info@bianor.com

Now, when you already have the scope of your project, you can dive deeper and, together with the video streaming app developer, describe the profile of your audience.

Anticipated number of simultaneous viewers – average and peak?
What are the trends after, let’s say, one year?
Is that range of viewers constant, 24 x 7, or fluctuating?
What is the average time viewers spend watching your content monthly?
What is the average number of viewers per live event
Where are the typical viewers located geographically?

Major Streaming Devices

The next in the list is to determine which devices you’d like to cover with your streaming service. In other words, how much flexibility would you like to offer your audience?

Below you can see a list of all major OTT-supported devices. Of course, you can start with a short list and upgrade further over time.

Web Apps	Mobile Apps	Native TV Apps	Native Tablet Apps
Web Browsers	Android	Android TV	Android Tablet
Web Mobile	Apple	Apple TV	iPad
	Amazon Fire OS	Roku
		Amazon Fire TV
		Chromecast
		Comcast X1

see our video streaming-related projects

Glossary of terms

Video streaming app development has professional jargon consisting of several terms and abbreviations. To make it easier for you, here’s a list of some of the most common ones you will definitely encounter.

OTT: Over-The-Top platforms stream video content over the internet at the request and to suit the requirements of the viewers.
VOD: Video on Demand is watching video content when we want and not when the content provider decides to broadcast it.
SVOD: Subscription Video on Demand is probably the oldest and most popular way for monetizing the service. It is identical to the traditional TV offer that allows the viewer to watch unlimited content for a flat monthly payment.
AVOD: Advertising-based Video on Demand is the closest to the traditional television one can get. It is free for the viewer, but the streaming is ad-supported, and advertisements interrupt the content flow.
TVOD: Transactional Video on Demand is the opposite of SVOD. TVOD is the case when the users pay to watch specific content. In a larger context, it is also known as pay-per-view (PPV).
PPV: Pay-Per-View, the user pays a one-time fee to watch the content; with the purchase, the user also gets either permanent access to the video or a limited number of replays.

Check out a complete video streaming terminology list >>>