Beyond the Browser: Mobile Video Streaming Apps in Digital Publishing

There are many ways to distribute video content as a media publisher, from embedding videos into your digital articles to sharing them on social media sites. But if you want to offer your audience a one-stop shop for your brand’s video content, building a video streaming app for mobile phones may be the answer.

Considering how much time people spend on their phones (about 4.6 hours daily, according to a 2024 U.S. study), streaming videos to a mobile app can offer media publishers distinct advantages over other distribution channels. 

 

What Is a Mobile Video Streaming App?

A mobile video streaming app is a mobile application that gives your audience convenient, direct access to your videos. Instead of digging through your website or scrolling through your social media content, viewers can easily find all your videos in one place directly from their smartphones. Depending on the types of content in your portfolio, you may incorporate live streams, on-demand video, or both.

If you decide to build a branded mobile app, you’ll want to get familiar with the more technical aspects of video streaming. Here are some key components of video streaming apps in general:

• Video encoder: Compresses videos for storage and transmission
• Video decoder: Decompresses, or expands, videos for user playback
• Video transcoder: Enables multi-bitrate and adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming, which adjusts video quality based on a viewer’s internet speed for high playback quality
• Content delivery network (CDN): Distributes video content via local cached servers to facilitate faster streams
• Video player: Displays the video file to users for viewing in the app

 

Mobile Video Streaming Apps vs. Embedded Website Videos

But why would you go through the trouble of building a mobile video streaming app?

Is it worth it when you already upload videos to your website? Everyone has an internet browser on their phones — surely they can just watch your videos from a mobile browser.

The short answer is yes, you could simply embed or upload videos to your website and skip the app route altogether. But a mobile app will deliver a better user experience and, likely, better user engagement when compared to a mobile browser. Here’s why:

• Performance: Mobile apps, because they are specifically built to run on mobile devices, typically offer faster and more responsive experiences. They can be optimized for the operating system on the viewer’s device and leverage other mobile-specific hardware and functionality like mobile assistants (Siri, Google Assistant, etc.), cameras, microphones, GPS, and more.
• Analytics and user data: Apps, mobile or otherwise, can deliver more detailed insights into user behavior and engagement when compared to websites. You can use that data to refine your content strategy, improve the user experience, and increase audience retention.
• Offline viewing: With an app, you can allow users to download content and watch without an internet connection, a feature not available through browsers. This offline viewing capability gives your audience more ways to watch, which can boost engagement. This is key when you have mobile users already looking for convenience.

 

Types of Mobile Video Streaming Apps

When creating your mobile streaming app strategy, there are a few high-level decisions to make. First, will your app include live streaming, video-on-demand (VOD), or both? And second, what type of business model will you pursue for the app? Let’s dive deeper into these topics.

 

Live Streaming vs. VOD

Whether you want to incorporate live or on-demand streaming depends largely on the content you already create. If live broadcasts are a mainstay of your brand’s online video content, you’ll want to include them in your app, along with a workflow for recording and uploading live streams once they end. 

If live content isn’t your thing, VOD will be your focus. That said, a key step in video streaming app development is reviewing your overall video strategy. If your brand has always talked about trying live streams, it’s a good idea to build that into the app’s functionality so that you have the option down the road.

 

Video Streaming App Business Models

This comes down to who can view your app and for what price. You have a few options, the most basic of which is to use an existing video streaming app, like YouTube, to upload and share your content. Different subscription and monetization options are available.

If you go the development route, you can decide how to monetize your app:

• Free app: Anyone can download and view your app content for free with no strings attached. To monetize a free app, insert ads into your video streams or place static ads elsewhere in the app.
• Subscription: Anyone can download the app, but some or all of your video content requires a paid subscription to view. This could be tied to an existing subscription to your website/publication or require customers to make an in-app purchase. 
• Paid app: The content is free, but customers must pay for the app when they download it from their phone’s app store.

Finding the right business model starts with knowing your goals: What are you trying to achieve with a mobile video streaming app? Revenue, audience engagement, brand loyalty? Start there, and the other decisions will become much easier. 

 

Why Media Publishers Should Build Their Own Mobile Video Streaming Apps

You could use a third-party service like YouTube as your brand’s video streaming app, but it won’t offer the same benefits as a dedicated, branded app. Building a successful mobile app for video streaming can deepen your relationship with your audience, which is vital for long-term success in the digital media industry. 

Explore the benefits of mobile video streaming app development in more detail below.

 

Brand Awareness & Integrity

When a user constantly opens YouTube to view your content, guess whose brand that’s reinforcing? It isn’t yours. Even worse, your audience can easily run into content from your competitors — they may even advertise on your videos. Having a dedicated mobile streaming app increases brand awareness and strengthens brand loyalty while also reaching your viewers wherever they are (plus, it gives you control over advertising). Your app icon on a user’s home screen is a constant reminder of your content. 

 

Control & Flexibility

Building an app means you can implement any new feature you want, whenever you want, and innovate at your own pace. Importantly, you can fully customize the user interface to deliver a consistent look, feel, and experience to your audience throughout your distribution channels. This includes making your interface mobile friendly for a better viewing experience on the go.

 

Direct Access to Users

A key benefit of a mobile video app is that you can send push notifications directly to users’ devices to tell them about new content they might be interested in. Even if the user doesn’t click on the notification, it can help capture attention and keep your brand top of mind, encouraging future visits. You can also gather first-party data about your users directly from their app activity. When you upload content to an app you don’t own, your insights may be more limited.

 

Revenue-Boosting Opportunities

Building your own mobile streaming app offers many ways to boost the bottom line. You can encourage paid digital subscriptions with in-app paywalls. Apps also allow for more sophisticated and less intrusive ad placements, which can enhance monetization efforts.

 

Next Step: How to Build Your Mobile App

Start by looking at streaming platform providers upon which to build your customized solution. Learn more about what to look for in a platform provider.