How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Video Streaming App like Hotstar?
We had seen the days when televisions were in short supply and the government used to operate only a few channels on TV. As time passed and new technologies arrived, private TV channels entered the global market. At first, private channels were broadcasted via cables and then to ‘Direct to Home’ connectivity i.e. popularly known as DTH.
Thankfully, then, the Internet came into the world, and on-demand video streaming, which transformed the way the television and entertainment industry works. With the present 4G technology and very soon 5G, internet broadband connections are hugely available at high speed. Therefore, cable TV is probably not the top choice for the audience.
Nowadays, people are very busy in their tight schedules, and they don’t even have enough time to watch their favorite TV programs, shows, movies, etc by sitting at home.
To help and make them happy, the most popular video streaming apps like Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime have entered the market. These applications help users watch their favorite videos on the go, at work, at home or even while traveling somewhere.
Currently, the global market of video streaming apps is increasing at a rate of 40% per year and leading apps like Hotstar, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. are expected to generate 70 billion dollars (Approx.) revenue by 2024.
Today, in this blog, we are going to discuss one of the topmost web broadcasting apps called ‘Hotstar’. We would like to cover its uses, its features and the cost of developing an app like Hotstar.
What is Hotstar and How Does It Works?
Hotstar offers video content in several popular languages such as English, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, etc. The web broadcasting app hosts live sports, TV shows, live sports, films, etc. for million+ users. One can download the application either from Android or iOS devices.
Hotstar has a greater affinity for customers because they can access shows that entertain all genres of audiences. Their success lies behind covering content for people of all ages and adhering to the rapid growth of the web medium. Its worldwide market value is $ 300 million.
Premium members of Hotstar have the facility to enjoy local TV shows in multiple languages before telecasting on television. But, non-premium members can watch local programs and some movies a day late. Make sure the sports pack is active if you are a sports lover and would like to watch live cricket, Kabaddi, hockey, football, etc.
The VIP pack is ice in Cake news for sports lovers across the country as they can catch their favorite leagues in the world. Indian Premier League, Pro Kabaddi League, English Premier League, Bundesliga, F1, Grand Slams, etc. have gained huge fans all over the world. People love to watch their sports leagues effortlessly without any interruption.
Best Features of Web Streaming Apps like Hotstar
- Video Library
The video library includes TV Shows, movies, videos, and other content for audiences of all age groups. For Instance, Hotstar has content related to TV talk shows, serials, drama, etc. , films genres like action, thriller, romance, etc., sports like highlights, live streaming, highlights, and News like live, latest, trending, etc.
- Multilingual Content
Hotstar offers video content in more than nine languages. If you wish to get a large number of subscribers and viewers, you need to have multilingual including English and other local languages you wanted to target via the live streaming application.
- Search and Explore Option
If you would like to develop an app like Hotstar, you must also add a search and explore option in your mobile application. With this feature, you can find any show, movie, or program easily by just typing the name. It helps improve viewers’ experience and save time as well.
- Scalability
In video streaming apps like Hotstar, there should be unlimited options in the search menu to see what viewers are interested in and the same is easily possible if you would like to add a new one. This means that the application should have a high level of scalability.
- Privacy Option
Some people don’t like to share a few anything of them with others and this option is needed for such kind of users. This feature enables users to restrict others users from opening the watch list. If you don’t want to share your watch history with your friends, you can simply activate the privacy controls.
- Multiple Screen Mirroring
This feature is required to get a large number of viewers. Multiple screen mirroring option enables users to see videos on various screen including TV, Laptop, iPod, and mobile with an internet connection. So, make sure this feature will be there in your web streaming app.
- Reporting Features
Reporting feature helps you track personalized details of users such as downloaded videos, liked and shared video content, and watched videos.
These reporting options with built-in analytics help personalize users’ suggestions and offers and improve the viewer experience.
- Payment Options
Last but not least, payment features in necessary for video streaming apps. This feature should have multiple payment options to avail of prime or VIP memberships. Along with net banking and card transactions, you can also include other famous payment gateways like Paypal, Phonepe, GooglePay, etc.
The Hotstar app also has some additional features such as hosting, data sync, prizes, push notification, design disintegration, etc which determines the cost of mobile app development.
Factors That Determine the Cost of Developing Video Streaming App
- App Platform
In general, the fee to develop an app for an Android device is high because it has a high level of fragmentation and required to put much time and effort. But, for developing an application on an iOS device takes less time and less money compared to Android. If you want for both, you should invest more amount than you expected. So that users can download app from both Google play store and iOS store.
- App Design
Undoubtedly, mobile app developers and UI/UX Designers have put great efforts and added more user-friendly features and creativity to make this live streaming app Hotstar a winner in the global market. So, if you also want to add such kind of features, attraction and user-friendliness on your app, you should invest more in developers and designers.
- App Size
The cost to make Hotstar Android or Hotstar iOS completely depends on the application developers’ team size only. If the team is less, the cost would be less. If the team has more employees, your cost would be little more to develop an app like Hotstar.
Conclusion – How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Video Steaming App like Hotstar?
As said earlier, the development cost of a web broadcasting app like Hotstar or building a video streaming app may vary depending on the features, and requirements that need to be included in the mobile or web application. If you want to include all the before-mentioned features in your application, the development cost will be obviously high.
The Hotstar-like mobile app creation also depends on budget constraints and time and the hourly charge of the best app developers who makes you dream app into reality. The cost of building an application like Hotstar also relies on where you are going to develop your app. If you hire developers from India, the cost is lower compared to other developed countries like USA, UK, Australia, etc.
Why FuGenx For Creating An App Like Hotstar?
Hire a leading mobile app development company like FuGenx Technologies, to have the best and most user-friendly web streaming app like Hotstar. We have a professional, strong, creative, flexible, and experienced team with whom you can always associate.
For any queries related to mobile app development services, or how to build a video streaming app, please feel free to contact us.