Important Considerations For Roku Channel Development

Roku is a high-end streaming media player that dominates the OTT market. It comes in several variants and remains a popular choice for streaming over-the-top content across multiple screens. According to Statistica, Roku had close to 40 million monthly active users (see the chart below) in the first quarter of 2020 in the US alone. It makes Roku the most extensively used streaming device in the United States. The recent data from Park Associates revealed that Roku streaming platform comprises almost 40% of all OTT users worldwide. That being said, Roku provides vast opportunities for content creators, distributors, and media companies to explore its platform capabilities.  

Source: Statistica

However, developing a high-quality Roku channel might be tricky, especially in the absence of a seasoned OTT app development company. This blog post highlights the important factors to consider for Roku app development. 

Also read Building Multi Screen OTT Platform for On Demand Viewing Access

 

Requirements For Roku App Development

Roku is a public OTT platform that allows content publishers, distributors, and broadcasters to develop and launch their own streaming channel. In doing so, they can attract and engage viewers from across the globe to build a strong viewership. Furthermore, Roku lets you monetize content to generate revenue streams and increase ROI. 

There are mainly three ways for building a streaming channel on Roku:

• Hire freelance Roku developers

• Setting up an inhouse team of developers

• Availing services from a Roku app development company

Hiring freelancers can be a cheaper alternative but it has several setbacks as well. First and foremost, it’s hard to figure out whether or not the hired freelancers will provide you the desired output in the given time timeframe. Sometimes you have to compromise with the product quality, not to mention the lack of transparency and communication gaps. Besides, freelance developers may be handling multiple projects in parallel and you can’t rely on them to keep the project details confidential.  

Setting up an inhouse team is a good way to get things done if you have a good budget and flexible project timeline. However, the expenses can exceed depending on the geographical location as well as the payscale of your country. Add to that the additional expenses of training your staff, hardware costs, maintenance costs, workspace expenses and more. 

Outsourcing a Roku app development company seems to be the best approach as it lets you save time, cost, and accelerate the development process. Besides, you get more transparency, proactive support, and better control over the project. 

Roku App Development Cost and Time

Coming to the cost, it more or less depends on the following factors:

• Project requirements (Tech stack, number of resources, etc.)

• Features to be implemented

• Estimated project timeline

• Geographical location of the service provider

Rather than having a fixed cost, a majority of independent Roku developers and OTT app development companies charge you on an hourly basis. The average hourly cost of developing a Roku channel again comes down to the geographical location of your service provider. For instance, OTT software development companies based in the US, UK, and some Western European countries may normally charge between $80 to $250 for their services. At the same time, there are South Asian countries like India that provide you the same services at a shoestring budget, with average hourly charges between $20 to $50. 

Developing a streaming channel on Roku takes less time than building a full-fledged streaming application like Netflix. That being said, you can develop and launch a simple direct publisher channel in less than five weeks of time. 

Content Hosting Rates For Roku

Once your channel is ready, you must pay monthly or annual hosting charges to keep it up and running. Roku enables content publishers to avail streaming services from any type of hosting provider. It includes Online Video Platforms (OVP) like Zype, Vimeo, Kaltura and Content Delivery Networks (CDN) like Akamai, Edgecast, and AWS. 

Source: Roku

You can choose to pay hosting fees either monthly or annually. Normally, annual charges are significantly lower than the monthly rates. It is advisable to choose your hosting provider beforehand to avoid complications. 

You may also be interested in reading Developing a Music Streaming App Like Spotify

 

Channel Monetization and Revenue Model

Once your channel is live and you have a reliable hosting provider, you can consider monetizing it to generate steady revenue streams. Roku provides several monetization features, depending on the type of Roku channel you have. However, the monetization techniques may be different for the channels supporting Direct Publisher or Developer SDK. Roku lets you earn through video advertising and offers a fixed revenue model where you get 60 percent of the net revenue. 

Key Takeaways

• Decide whether you want to use Roku Direct Publisher to launch your channel or build a custom streaming channel for better reach and visibility

• Roku Direct Publisher lets you create a basic streaming channel with limited capabilities 

• Custom development is more preferable as it lets you build a fully functional channel from the ground up using Roku’s native APIs, libraries, and development toolkit

• Comprehensive development and testing is essential to achieve desired product quality

• Custom data integrations will help you achieve better visibility and wider reach

• You can seek support from the vast community of Roku developers if required

Avail Our Roku App Development Services To Build and Launch Your Streaming Channel

We are a seasoned OTT app development company that specializes in building feature-rich Roku channels to deliver uninterrupted streaming experiences. Our developers are skilled at brightscript programming to develop high quality streaming channels for Roku with custom features. We have successfully completed several full-scale Roku projects for clients from across the globe. For project related queries, reach us out at [email protected].

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