How To Build A Live Streaming App Like Twitch

Last Updated on January 21, 2022

Twitch is a live media streaming platform engaged with gamers who love to broadcast gaming sessions. Since its launch, the platform has gained popularity with millions of users, including 3.8 million broadcasters. Twitch is well-known for watching or broadcasting live & pre-recorded videos with 15 million daily active users.

Players can usually add audio comments when broadcasting the videos using the webcam displayed at the screen corner. Also, users with similar interests may be involved in live chat with gamers, which builds a real-life experience in the digital world.

You can make use of this live streaming platform for video games live-streaming and for many other reasons like hosting demos of new upcoming games, hosting e-tournaments, using game tutorials, and interacting with users & instructors in real-time. Along with these, Twitch works as a software development learning platform where many communities and programmers stream their online projects and discuss them through their work.

Twitch offers a platform to anyone interested in casting lifestyle about their subject of interest, including music, food, creativity, and stream their activities online and allow others to watch in real-time.

How Does Twitch Work?

A Split Screen window will enable users to check what is displayed on the streamers screen when they live to stream the content. But also, you can see & hear them play through a smaller window on the corner of their stream. Twitch users can also purchase games through the direct links available in the streams, allowing streamers to get a commission for sales and sell the products using the affiliate links.

Twitch offers subscription features for the users who find themselves more invested in this platform, starting from $4.99. The subscription feature enables you to support your favorite streamers and the ability to watch one ad-free channel.

Why Invest In A Live Streaming App Like Twitch? (Market Size & Stats)

A live media streaming app like Twitch is an all-time money maker as the user interest will never go down in apps that offer visual content. Most people believe that Twitch is for gamers which are not valid. Twitch is for everyone who wants to broadcast or watch online content.

As the entertainment industry is getting a buzz with live streaming, the number of people participating grows day by day. Live streaming apps enable users to watch their favorite videos anytime.

They can also share or comment on the videos and connect with communities around the globe. Also, they get full control over the online video streaming app to decide what they want to watch and when. Key benefits of investing in this kind of live-streaming apps are:

• Increase Brand Loyalty.
• Real-Time user engagement
• Easily capture user attention
• Hassle less broadcasting

Live streaming is a rapidly growing market at its peak and has increased by 99% in between a year from April 2019 to April 2020. In this duration, many streaming apps & platforms see a significant rise in audiences and revenue, but instead, Twitch is a leader among them. Twitch resulted in watch content of 9.3 billion hours, of which 63% of users are of the 18-34 age range.

Monetization Opportunities Offered By A Streaming App Like Twitch

If you are creating a live streaming app, you want to generate income through it. So here, we have categorized some best monetization opportunities to grow potentially.

1. Subscription

You can offer some additional privileges to the users who purchase one of your subscription plans, like an increase in the number of hours they can stream the content, quality of videos, storage, bandwidth, and more.

2. Banner Ads

Placing a banner ad on your streaming app is another way to generate money from the advertisers. The business owner will provide you with a banner image advertising their business, and you need to offer them a small place for that.

3. Video Ads

Similar to banner advertisements, video ads are place videos and advertise other businesses among the visitors of your app.

4. Sponsor Listing

You can also charge the users to sponsor their streams on your live streaming app. By offering them a top place on your app or in some relevant searches.

5. Affiliate

You can also earn commissions by selling products used in the video streams using your affiliated link.

Must-Have Features In A Streaming App Like Twitch

A live-streaming app like Twitch must-have features that make it incredibly powerful and appealing for users to choose our platform. Most of these features like Login/Registration, Onboarding, Search, Ratings, Chat, and Categorization are available in all apps. Let’s have a look what are the features you need to have in your streaming app.

• Registration
• Onboarding
• Video Library
• Watch lists
• Live stream
• Chat
• Security
• Search Bar
• Ratings

Advanced Features To Add In A Live Streaming App Like Twitch

To make your app stand out among competitors and gain user attention, you need to have some advanced features that help you understand what your visitors are looking for and what allows them to create & watch for engaging content. Here are some of the advanced features you can add to the streaming app:

1. Social Login & Signups

In Addition to an email signup, you can offer signup & login using Google, Facebook, or other popular channels. It saves users time and helps us get user information and the content they usually like to watch.

2. Push Notifications

This feature lets you re-engage with your visitors and promote the relevant offerings by sending them notifications when they subscribe or see exciting content streams.

3. Analytics

To track how your streaming app performs, you need to integrate it with analytics. So you will get a real-time update of visitors and how each channel is performing in terms of views, engagements, traffic, and categories.

4. Monetization

If you want to earn from this app, you can monetize it by offering various subscription plans depending on user needs for watching and accessing premium content. Also, you can enable donation features so the user can contribute to your app.

5. Screen Mirroring

Casting a screen to your TV or other device is an advanced feature that users will like in their applications. Using this feature, they can cast their video screen to another device for larger pictures and more appealing 4K visual content.

6. Cloud-Based DVR

With cloud-based DVR, you can offer subscribers the flexibility to record their favorite video streams & TV shows and watch them later from anywhere they like.

7. Schedule live streaming

If your live streaming app users get features of scheduling their live event, they can engage with more people interested in watching the relevant video content. Scheduling a live stream informs the visitors ahead of time that you will be going live at a particular time.

8. Loyalty Program Integration

Offering small perks and referral programs may increase growth in the visitors and revenue of your streaming platform.

9. CRM Integration

Integrating a CRM system into your streaming app offers users advanced functionality in sharing the videos they like with their partners, communities, and employees and tracking user engagement and statistics.

10. Voice Assistance

Like most applications, you can add a voice assistance feature to your app so the users will not face any difficulties searching for their favorite content.

11. Behavior Tracking

This is the most fantastic feature for streaming apps. You can track users’ behavior for the videos they are watching and send them notifications for recommended videos using the recommended engine.

Steps To Build A Live Streaming App

Before developing a live streaming app, you should make a strategy that works best for you. Below we have posted some essential steps that you can take to achieve your goal.

If you want to develop and manage an application with a long-term goal, the ideal choice is to hire the best app development company.

Step 1: Choose a Team

To develop a live streaming app, you need to search for a development team with the experience and capability to build the streaming apps from scratch. But this will cost you very high for a single application.

If you want this project in a time & cost-sensitive manner, you can outsource this project to a team that offers you flexibility. Also, you will stay updated with the progress and work going on in your project.

Step 2: Pick A CDN

This is an essential step for server scaling and building a streaming app. If you think you don’t need it for your app, then think about it from a future perspective, and you will find it beneficial. CDN ensures smooth and error-free delivery of your streaming content.

Step 3: Select A Hosting Provider

You need to go with a reliable hosting partner to offer streaming services smoothly to your users. Quality of hosting is important when you grow with visitors and thousands of users watch the content simultaneously.

Step 4: Storage Management

All your app data & streamed content must store in a secure place that makes it easily accessible for users to watch and stream their favorite media content without distortion & failures. The cloud platform is the best option for live streaming apps as they offer scalable, cost-effective, and manageable services.

Step 5: UI/UX Design

Appearance plays a vital role in attracting users to go through your app even if the content they are looking for might not be available there. So, you may need a skilled & creative UI/UX designer that will create your app which has an appealing look for your streaming app to engage with users.

Step 6: Add Features

First, create an MVP version to ensure that the services and features you provide will get attention from users. You can try out different elements that are unique and not available in competitors’ apps to grow your visitors.

Step 7: Quality Assurance Testing

Customers believe in what they experience on your platform. You need to ensure that users don’t face any issues because it will move them towards alternative apps available in the market. That’s why quality assurance testing requires before making your application live for users.

Streaming Architecture With WOWZA Streaming Engine

How Does It Work?

Technical Stacks To Build A Live Streaming App

Here you can find the list of app development technologies that may use to build a live streaming app

• Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, Oracle
• CDN: Cloudflare, Amazon Cloud Front, Open Connect
• Programming Language: Kotlin (for Android) & Swift (for IOS)
• Hosting: Amazon EC2
• Streaming Protocol: Adobe HTTP, RTMP, M2TS, Apple HTTP Live Streaming, WebRTC, RTP/RTSP.

Top Live Streaming App Similar To Twitch

Here are some of the best alternatives of streaming apps like Twitch available in the market:

1. Youtube

The Google platform Youtube is one of the best alternatives for streaming app. It has many features and capabilities like Twitch for gamers & streaming partners. Streamers can chat and interact with each other in every gaming/video streaming channel. Also, streamers can generate revenue through the Google Adsense monetization channel.

2. Vimeo Livestream

This offers a platform to broadcasters around the globe to live to stream their events. You can live stream the content with Vimeo as easily as you can upload the videos.

3. SmashCast TV

The Smash partner program makes it easy for streamers to create content and earn revenue. Also, it offers many tools & features with guidelines to help new users with their streams. Smash users must need to be 18 years old and have a verified PayPal account.

4. Mixer

This platform is more than game streaming. It enables users to co-stream their content with four others, similar to Xbox Live or PlayStation live. The mixer is most popular among users who needs alternatives to Twitch.

5. Brightcove

This is among one of the oldest video platforms in the gaming sector. Brightcove’s offering includes live streaming, cloud encoding, and video-on-demand services. Also, this platform’s analytics & video marketing tools are valuable to capture leads and understand their audience behavior.

Cost To Develop An App Like Twitch

It’s pretty hard to define the exact cost of app development like Twitch. However, we can get an approximate idea of the cost based on four factors, i.e., Geography, Reputation, Project timeline, and hourly rate.

The app’s geographic segmentation and reputation management play an essential role in defining the audience size and database. Also, if you have decided on a timeline in which you want to build & launch your application, it will increase the cost because you need to increase the number of resources working on your app.

Now the most important factor that is hourly rate varies according to the country of the app development team you have decided to hire, for example:

• Australia: $50-$150
• North America (US & Canada): $50- $250
• South Asia: $10 – $80
• Eastern Europe: $20- $150
• Western Europe: $30- $175

So if you like to move forward without compromising the overall functionalities, the cost will lie around $20000 to $35000. While integrating third-party APIs and advanced features will increase the cost from $30000 to $50000.

Post-Launch Marketing Strategy

Once your live video streaming app is built and launched successfully in the app store & play store, the next step you have to do is promotion. To connect and engage your existing audience, you need to shout out on social media platforms and subscription emails.

After that, you have to create an app marketing strategy and choose to reach your potential audience and delight them with your offering.

If you want to build a video streaming app then get a hold of our team. Emizentech is an experienced and well-known app development company that can create a robust app just for you.