Video streaming has now become a part of everyday life. Through the concept of video streaming, personal theatre has gone from being a luxury to a need.

Thanks to market leaders such as Netflix, Hotstar, YouTube, and others who have pioneered innovative business models, you can create your own video streaming service.

For your information, Netflix is on track to make a profit of $558.9 million this year, and its net value has risen from $1.4 billion to an estimated 3.7 billion. Twitch is valued at roughly $1 million, while YouTube is valued at between $26 billion and $40 billion.

Netflix’s Business Plan For A Grand Success

Let’s start with a quick summary of Netflix’s business success because business likes numbers.

In 1997, Netflix had 925 titles available for clients to rent on a pay-per-rental basis. Three years later, the business made a $50 million offer to the top movie rental company, Blockbuster, to purchase Netflix’s service. However, Blockbuster CEO John Antioco turned down the offer, dismissing it as a joke.

In the next three years, Netflix reached 1 million subscribers. The company decided to start making its own content and not rely on its potential video streaming rivals.

Thus, Netflix’s business strategy evolved from the pay-per-rental model to a non-linear one, based on the services the company offers. The year 2020 was particularly important for Netflix. Its market capitalization experienced a 68.25% rise having 195.15 million paid subscribers in the third quarter. As of February 2021, the Netflix market cap is $238.74 billion.

Video streaming protocol is a delivery method that divides a video into small chunks and transfers them to a user’s device. There are many such protocols, with their pros, cons, and use cases:

• Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP);
• Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP);
• HTTP Live Streaming (HLS);
• HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS);
• Microsoft Smooth Streaming (MSS);
• MPEG-DASH.

How to create a video streaming website like Netflix?

Now you know what magic is in charge of making dull evenings fun. So, let’s look at the peculiarities of creating a video streaming service and what the major steps are for creating a website similar to Netflix.

1. Define your specifications: What should you do first before delving into the technical details of creating a Netflix clone? You must define your vision of the future service that will be born.
2. The Audience: Do you want to build a website similar to Netflix that caters to all types of customers? It is an admirable and ambitious goal. But, hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day, either. Your service might become the next Netflix. But first and foremost, identify your target audience. To have a presence in the market, you must give the content that people want to see. Video streaming services are used for a variety of purposes, including entertainment, education, and both. Focus on a specific demographic rather than the general public when thinking about how to develop a video-sharing business like Netflix that people would want to utilise. You must not only plan the content you will broadcast, but also the UI and UX design based on the demographic you are targeting. What matters most is that your platform is as enticing as possible. You should create a user-friendly website with regular updates.
3. Content-type: We should say that the competition between video streaming services is quite tough. Web-based video streaming technologies are rapidly evolving. And streaming services for entertainment seem to be a profitable product idea. But they are everywhere. That is where some novelty could help. When planning the nuances of how to make a website like Netflix, you can concentrate not only on the movies and series. You might look towards education, cybersport, or fitness themes. Also, these are combinable. For example, infotainment mixes learning with some fun. Platforms that stream knowledge-based videos will become more popular in the nearest future. Nowadays, education is becoming a mandatory requirement for steady personal growth. In modern societies, the ability to get new knowledge is a vital characteristic for career success.
4. Entertainment: Examples. Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime. The content here is presented with entertaining and amusing feature films and series. This content brought Netflix its initial success. As they say, ‘Netflix and chill’. However, streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon Prime contain not only entertaining content.
5. Select a monetization strategy: How will you monetize your platform, since we’re on the subject of monetization? This is a crucial aspect of learning how to create a Netflix-style streaming service. You can start by offering users subscription plans. The Hulu platform, for example, provides four tiers, as seen in the diagram below.

Let’s look at some of the most typical revenue models.

SVoD stands for “Survival of the Fittest (subscription video on demand)

Let’s take a look at the subscription-based business first. Streaming websites are frequently connected with this monetization approach. And rightly so, because it has a significant impact on the intricacies of how to launch a service like Netflix. Users can obtain unlimited video material by subscribing to a certain plan on a monthly or yearly basis.

AVoD (Audio/Video on Demand) (advertising-based video on demand)

By inserting their adverts into the video clip, you can earn money from your business partners. You don’t ask your users to pay anything in this model; instead, they must watch non-skippable adverts. Many clients are unwilling to pay to watch films on the internet. As a result, AVoD services are extremely popular. But other viewers can be irritated by advertising. For this reason, you can combine this model with SVoD one, like Hulu.

Examples of streaming services that use ads are as follows:

• YouTube TV;
• Hulu;
• Prime Now;
• DirecTV Now;
• The Roku Channel;
• Apple TV;
• ESPN, and others.

This model is highly profitable if you have a large number of users.

TVoD (transactional video on demand)

This model is also called pay-per-view. Here, you can provide your users with content at a rental (download to rent, or DTR) or for owning (download to own, or DTO).

The first subcategory, DTR, implies that users buy pieces of content for a limited time for a small fee. The second subcategory, DTO, gives users lifetime access to specific content for a higher price.

While the above requirements are simple for a minimum viable product. You may also improve the user experience by including some extra features in your app. To provide a better app experience, we recommend starting with an MVP and gradually adding more functionality.

TecOrb is a well-known mobile app development firm that specializes in user-friendly applications. We make Netflix, Hotstar, and Hulu, among other OTT video streaming websites and apps. Contact our specialists to learn more about our application services. We have a highly skilled team of developers who work to meet our customers’ demands and specifications by testing apps on real devices, emulators, and simulators to deliver the finest system solutions.