How to Build a Subscription Streaming Service Like Netflix in 7 Easy Steps?

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The market demand to create a subscription streaming service like Netflix is the byproduct of people’s willingness to ditch cable TV. In fact, a Report from eMarketer predicts that there will be 80.7 million cord-cutting households in the US in 2026. As churn rates rise, people will start exploring subscription streaming services as alternatives.

However, creating a streaming service was challenging a few years back, unless you had a significant investment, extensive content libraries, and technical nitty-gritty. Fortunately, those bottlenecks don’t exist anymore.

You can create a subscription streaming website like Netflix, produce uncompromised video content, both live and video on demand (VOD), and maximize earnings with a proper monetization model.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the process of launching your very own streaming service, break down its immediate benefits, and discuss the cost it incurs. 

What is a Subscription Streaming Service?

A subscription streaming service is an online platform that gives access to a video library for a recurring subscription fee (monthly, quarterly, or annually). Instead of providing one-time access to the content library, like a pay-per-view service, the subscription offers unlimited access, depending on the specific subscription plan.

Content owners leverage subscription services with carefully curated content to create a steady stream of revenue. Viewers can pay, pause, and access content whenever they want on several devices, including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and gaming consoles.

Why Create a Subscription Streaming Service?

Creating a subscription streaming service is beneficial for content owners, broadcasters, and media companies because of its predictable revenue, efficient customer acquisition, and endless customizations. Subscription services offer a direct way to build brand loyalty through personalized experiences, direct communication, and loyalty programs.

Many content owners prefer subscription services because they often curate and improve content libraries. Rather than asking viewers to purchase every time a new content title is released, they use a software subscription model, which lets them make improvements without hindering the customer experience, which makes life easier for end users.

 

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How to Start a Subscription Streaming Service Like Netflix in 7 Steps?

Here’s the exact roadmap to go from concept to a fully-launched subscription streaming service in 7 steps:

1. Identify Your Niche and Target Audience

For those who wonder how to start a subscription streaming service, identifying and understanding your target niche and audience is the first actual step. 

A buzzing niche has constant traction and growth potential. You can monitor the buzz behind every niche, including key metrics like cumulative interest, region-based interest, related topics, and queries. 

What To Do?

Use tools like Exploding Topics and Google Trends to measure audience interests over any niche over time. For example, use this term (categorical documentary) to track demographic interest in this niche. You can interpret the data yourself; 100 remains the peak interest in a specific date, time, and location, whereas 50 means half as popular.

After that?

Monitor social forums like Discord, Reddit, and Quora to know what your ideal audience sounds like. Look for specific terms and queries they search answers/solutions for; this might help you offer what someone is missing.

2. Design the Perfect UI/UX

An easily accessible subscription streaming service comprises all the necessary aspects and basic principles of UI/UX. Convenience is the cornerstone of any video streaming platform, and the interface that carries convenience is the differentiating factor.

Navigation is mandatory to achieve improved usability of the video streaming platform. Design navigation items in a way that you want an average viewer to explore. For example, if most users land on your platform to watch recently released movies, you can place a “New Releases” row at the top so they discover trending titles without scrolling.

3. Build Your Video Library

A successful streaming service relies on a solid video library. Regardless of whether you already own a content library or are about to create one, you need to look at two things:

One, you can create original content. But it does require a lot of time, resources, and effort. On the other hand, as the name implies, you needn’t worry about time-specific licensing issues with original content, as it holds no barriers for use.

Two, you can source/license your content from production houses or third-party content companies. While implementing this, you need to be careful about the underlying hidden fees and copyright issues.

ProTip: Start small with content and consider what you can afford while starting your own subscription streaming service. Remember, you can always scale up after.

4. Choose Your Monetization Model

With the perfect UI and content library ready, it’s time to figure out the proper monetization strategy. Consistent revenue is how you can scale up your subscription streaming business. 

Like Netflix, content owners can deploy a subscription-based (SVOD) monetization model for generating recurring revenue. You can also use the advertising model (AVOD) that grants free content access with advertisements stitched within (pre-roll or mid-roll). 

Apart from these;

* TVOD (Transactional Video-on-Demand): Pay-per-view pricing for specific content.

* Hybrid Model: Combination of all major video monetization models, including subscriptions with advertisements (SVOD+TVOD), advertisements with subscriptions (AVOD+SVOD), or a mix of all (SVOD+TVOD+AVOD).

5. Choose Your Platform Wisely

While starting your subscription streaming service, you may be tempted to launch across all platforms (mobile, web, and smart TV). Continue with this strategy at the peril of drying up your budget in a matter of weeks. 

Before deciding, explore where most of your target audience consumes content. This way, you can launch your streaming service on that specific platform first, and then launch on other platforms.

If the bulk of your target audience consumes content on a smart TV, try launching the smart TV app version of your streaming service.

Why VPlayed?

VPlayed is a self-hosted, whenever-customizable video streaming solution that allows content owners, broadcasters, and media enterprises to launch their branded subscription streaming service. 

It is always advisable to hire a professional platform that has tested and done things in the video streaming industry. 

VPlayed swiftly addresses the requirements of businesses that wish to scale up their operations. Moreover, built-in video content management system, adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming, faster time-to-market, and complete platform ownership are undeniable characteristics of the platform, VPlayed.

Step 6: Choose Your Hosting

Your content library is ready, your platform choice is ready, and now you have to choose the infrastructure (On-premise or Cloud).

Get your choice wrong, and you will witness spiraling costs, buffering complaints, and a negative viewer experience. If you get it right, you can offer an impeccable streaming experience. 

While choosing, you need to consider some factors: bandwidth requirements, target demographics, and budget constraints.

Step 7: Launch Your Streaming Service

After building your content library, choosing your platform, and picking the infra set-up, it’s time to launch your subscription streaming service like n\Netflix. You can use your streaming platform for multiple testing strategies: measure streaming metrics, playback quality, and load testing. 

Some content owners may focus on launching their streaming service on a single platform. Focusing on a single platform can simplify the development process and reduce costs. However, this approach may limit your potential viewer base. 

Developing a cross-platform streaming service that ensures good visibility and the potential for more users. Consider your target audience and resources when deciding which platform(s) to launch on.

Upon satisfying results, you can start your subscription streaming service to a limited number of users (beta testing). Seek valuable insights and implement them to embellish the subscription streaming platform.

Benefits of Starting Your Own Subscription Streaming Service with VPlayed

Let us break down the benefits of employing VPlayed to create your own streaming service in the growing market:

1. Endless Customization Options

Generic platforms modify your vision to suit their infrastructure and characteristics; however, VPlayed puts creative control in your hands with comprehensive customization capabilities. Unlimited customization freedom means your subscription streaming service doesn’t resonate with someone else’s vision. You can customize color schemes, layouts, user flows, and navigation to reflect your brand.

2. Lifetime Ownership

How about incorporating a platform with no recurring fees? That’s possible with VPlayed. With just a one-time license fee, you can own the streaming platform forever. While you own your streaming platform, you also enjoy complete control over the revenue.

3. Third-Party Integrations

VPlayed’s flexibility of supporting 200+ integrations means that you offer your viewers a connected subscription streaming experience. Google Analytics for valuable insights, Mailchimp for targeted marketing campaigns, and Stripe for payment gateways. You can integrate more tools to deliver an impeccable streaming experience.

4. Global CDN

This enhances the responsiveness of your streaming service by serving user requests from the nearby video streaming server. It decentralizes the traffic from the host system, thereby reducing the latency issues.

VPlayed uses a global CDN to bypass one of video streaming’s biggest challenges: latency. The multiple, distributed servers cache the content while the platform minimizes load times, thereby ensuring reliable content delivery even during peak traffic.

Avoiding slow load times should be the top priority of your subscription streaming service, which VPlayed’s global CDN helps you realize with immediate effect.

5. Security Protocols

Your content and user information are the goldmine for your subscription streaming service. Compromising on both aspects can be fatal for your streaming business.

VPlayed’s built-in digital rights management (DRM) forbids unauthorized copying of video content (like taking screenshots). With encryption, token security, domain restrictions, and SSL certification, VPlayed safeguards your video library to its maximum capacity!

6. Video CMS

The Video Content Management System (video CMS) is the engine of your subscription streaming service. This is where you can manage, organize, and categorize video content. 

VPlayed’s video CMS helps you add metadata to your video assets, video sitemaps to improve discoverability, and add performance reports of content.

7. HLS Video Player

The video player is equipped with adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR) technology to optimize the playback, depending on the receiving device’s internet bandwidth. VPlayed’s HLS video player facilitates buffer-free streaming, enhancing the viewer experience.

8. Video Analytics

They assist in real-time monitoring of audience viewing trends, from analyzing previous data to geographic viewing patterns that answer business-related questions for upscaling growth. 

Make business decisions based on the authentic data, ensuring content strategy remains relevant for the audience. Monitor platform performance with analytics reports time-to-time, making important platform optimizations, infrastructure decisions, and feature enhancements. 

How Much Does It Cost to build a Subscription Streaming Service?

Starting a subscription streaming service like Netflix can cost anywhere from $15,000 to over $100,000, or even more, depending on the functionality and sophistication. A basic platform with limited features might cost between $15,000 and $40,000, while a complex, feature-rich app could cost upwards of $100,000.

But an alternative and more affordable option is to use a white-label solution, where you can build your subscription streaming service with pre-built software that can be customized to your needs.

A white-label solution costs between $50,000 to $75,000 and gives you flexibility in design, functionality and integrations at a fraction of the cost of developing from scratch.

Here are some factors that affect the cost:

1. Platform (Web, Mobile, Smart TV): Developing for multiple platforms will increase the cost. A single platform app will cost around $10,000 to $25,000, while a multi-platform subscription streaming service will cost more than $50,000. 
2. Features: Advanced features like personalized recommendations, offline viewing and multi-language support add to the cost.
3. Licensing and Content Acquisition: If you plan to start a subscription streaming service, purchasing rights will cost between $1,000 to $50,000 or more depending on the content.
4. Storage and Bandwidth: Depending on the user volume, you will need sufficient cloud storage and bandwidth which will cost $5,000 to $15,000 annually.

All in all, using a customizable white-label solution gives you the balance of affordability and flexibility to launch a streaming service without the big cost of building from scratch. If you are thinking of White label solution then VPlayed can provide the platform to you to create a streaming service.

To Sum Up: 

This concludes our discussion on the quest to create a subscription streaming service like Netflix, from identifying your target niche to building a content library, and choosing your monetization model to picking the right infrastructure setup.

Creating a subscription streaming service requires careful planning, from understanding your audience to implementing robust technology infrastructure. 

While the subscription streaming market is bustling with competition, there are still opportunities for services that offer unique value positions and cater to underserved audiences.

Whether you choose to launch a new subscription streaming service or upgrade an existing one, the key is to start with a clear vision and remain agile. 

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