Building a Custom VoD Platform from Scratch

Today, the way people interact with video content is evolving. Rather than adhering to the constraints of traditional broadcasting, users increasingly prefer solutions that offer more freedom and flexibility. This shift applies not only to entertainment but also to educational and business content. The Video on Demand (VoD) model is poised to revolutionize media consumption, offering users greater control over when and how they engage with content. In this article, we’ll explore the VoD model in depth and share practical insights on building a custom VoD platform.

Video on Demand (VoD) refers to a video content distribution model that allows users to select, watch, and stream content whenever they choose. This flexibility stands in contrast to the limitations of a fixed broadcast schedule. VoD content is stored in a digital library and delivered over the internet, enabling users to access a wide range of material. Depending on the platform, a video on demand solution can offer movies, TV shows, documentaries, live events, educational videos, and much more.

Currently, we can observe the growing popularity of video on demand services that seem to be gradually replacing traditional television.

In 2024, the global video on demand market is expected to achieve a revenue volume of $182.40 billion. By 2027, the market size can reach $231.50 billion. This figure indicates that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the forecast period from 2024 to 2027 will be over 8%.

As for the regional division, analysts expect that the United States will enjoy the largest revenue in 2024. It can be around $80 billion this year. 

The biggest players in this market are Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, and Paramount+ among others.

The number of viewers who prefer VoD solutions is also gradually moving to new heights. In 2023, this number was at the level of 2.8 billion. In 2024, it is projected to reach 3 billion. And the forecasts for 2027 presuppose that nearly 3.4 billion people will use such services.

With this user base growth, the user penetration rate is expected to increase to 43.2% by 2027 from 38.3% in 2024.

Without any doubt, the entertainment industry is the one that benefits the most from this technology. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that the use cases for videos on demand are limited to this sphere today.

Let’s take a look at some other business domains that may be interested in launching their custom VoD platform.

Education

Educational institutions and online learning platforms can use VoD to deliver lectures and training videos. Thanks to this, learners can access materials at their own pace. Moreover, many businesses opt for this format for internal training. This allows employees to access information at any time. It is highly important for international and/or remote teams.

Healthcare

A medical establishment can launch a custom VoD platform to deal with patient education, professional medical training, and internal communications. Such a format provides great convenience and flexibility to both patients and medical staff.

eCommerce and retail

Retailers and eCommerce platforms can use VoD technology to deliver product tutorials, unboxing videos, and customer testimonials. It helps people to make more informed purchasing decisions.

Travel and tourism

The travel industry can utilize videos on demand to provide virtual tours and share travel tips. This approach enhances the traveler experience and ensures access to informative and entertaining content before and during their trips.

Real estate

Real estate businesses can record virtual property tours as well as create videos for agent training and client education. Such videos let buyers view properties remotely and provide agents with flexibility in learning.

While there are numerous VoD platforms available for businesses to publish their content, many prefer to rely on custom VoD platform development services. Launching a custom solution can be a time- and resource-intensive project, but companies across various industries are willing to invest in such digital products. Why? The key reasons lie in the benefits that custom platforms can provide:

• Flexibility and Customization: Custom platforms allow for practically any features needed to address the preferences of a specific audience.
• Branding: A custom VoD platform enables businesses to maintain consistent branding with unique design elements, user interfaces, and user experiences that reinforce the brand’s identity.
• Monetization: With a custom solution, businesses are free to choose and combine monetization methods. Options include subscription-based (SVoD), transactional (TVoD), advertising (AVoD), or hybrid models.
• No Third-Party Dependence: Owning a VoD platform means companies don’t need to rely on third-party services for content distribution, monetization, and other functions.
• Analytics and Insights: A custom platform provides valuable insights into viewer behavior, engagement patterns, and content performance. This data helps companies adjust content strategies and marketing campaigns to align with trends.
• Seamless Integration with Existing Solutions: Custom VoD platforms can be integrated with existing CRM, marketing automation, or payment systems, ensuring enhanced functionality and smooth operational workflows.
• Better Control: With their own VoD solutions, businesses have full control over the content and ads they publish. This autonomy allows them to manage their brand’s reputation and be accountable for what they make publicly available to their audience.

At Cogniteq, we have been successfully working in the software development market for more than 15 years. We know the importance of a clear vision of the project realization plan. That’s why we have prepared the following process description with all the major steps for you.

Elaborate the concept of  your solution and determine your audience

You need to get a full understanding of the idea and goals behind your project. What type of content will you publish? Who and how will interact with it? What tasks will your content have? Will it educate people or entertain them? You should answer all these and many other questions. To get some inspiration, you can analyze the market. It will be helpful to familiarize yourself with the existing platforms. From the perspective of a user, you can determine their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you to enhance your own ideas.

Do not forget to think about the business model and decide on the ways to monetize your content.

Find a reliable tech partner and plan your project realization

At this step, you should establish collaboration with the team that will be responsible for the tech part of your project. This team should have relevant expertise and knowledge in your domain. Together with these experts, you need to discuss the functionality of your platform, approaches to its development, as well as the technology stack to be used.

It will be also necessary to choose whether your content library will be self-hosted or you will rely on a third-party enterprise video hosting platform.

Build a VoD website

This task is usually assigned to a development team and includes a lot of substeps. It’s vital to think not only about the functionality of your platform but also its UI/UX design. You should make interfaces visually appealing and intuitively clear.

Moreover, you need to introduce solid security measures (like encryption) and ensure that your platform will be compatible with various devices.

Create your content

Here, approaches may greatly differ based on the specificity of your solution. It is possible to release many videos simultaneously. Or you can produce and upload your content to the platforms step by step. 

It is also vital to regularly update your platform and add new content in order not to lose your audience.

Test and deploy your platform

Test your platform under heavy traffic to ensure it scales well, and check video playback and other features. When everything is ready, it’s time to make the solution publicly available.

Maintain your platform and promote it

It’s necessary to continuously monitor the performance of your platform, regularly update it, fix bugs, and introduce enhancements based on feedback from users.

You should also find efficient methods to attract your potential audience. To do this, you should invest in SEO, social media, email marketing, and partnerships.

When you are planning to build a video on demand website, one of the main things that should be considered in advance is the budget of your project. The issue is that there is no available information regarding the project costs that will be precise enough to rely on.

You can find only very approximate figures. It is so because the final amount is calculated based on a wide range of factors. It means that even quite similar projects may require not equal investments because of the difference in their technology stacks, development approaches, and some specific functionality.

Here is a list of the key aspects that you will need to take into account:

• Software cost;
• Hardware cost;
• Video production cost;
• Payment flow cost (will greatly differ in accordance with the chosen monetization model);
• Other operational costs, including software maintenance, hardware rental fees, and marketing expenses.

To name any more or less precise figures, it is necessary to know your requirements and expectations. That’s why we recommend you prepare specifications and turn to a development company to get a quote. For example, at Cogniteq, we can not only provide you with estimates but also offer efficient ways to optimize your expenses without sacrificing the quality of your software solution.

Today, video content performs not only entertaining functions. It also plays a significant role in education, corporate training, marketing, sales, healthcare, customer support, and other domains. 

Over the years of our work in the market, we have accumulated unique expertise in building digital solutions for different industries, including products powered by video streaming and other related technologies.

Our experts deeply understand the modern standards for VoD solutions and can help you successfully bring to life any of your ideas.

If you want to learn more about our services, do not hesitate to contact us. We are always open to new projects and will be ready to help at any stage of your project realization.