Versatile Video-On-Demand Platform

A streaming platform that provides fast and high-quality transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) to its customers.
Industry
Entertainment
Team
4 members
Project state
Started in 2020
Country
Denmark

About a Project

Our customer is a Danish company that provides local markets and other Nordic countries with home entertainment solutions, including movie rental services. The services were offered primarily at video rental shops and didn’t allow business scaling. The company wanted to transform the current business model and create a video-on-demand platform to deliver movies and TV series via the Internet on a paid basis. The client chose Cleveroad as an experienced media software development company to jump-start a project with.

Project idea

  1. Develop a streaming service allowing for delivering movie rental services online
  2. Build a scalable and high-performing streaming solution with cross-platform capabilities in mind
  3. Create intuitive and fast-loading UI designs that ensure brand excellence and user engagement
 

Project challenges

  1. Creation of a video-on-demand platform localized for the Nordic region. Realization of the features enabling viewers to purchase or rent high-quality movies and TV series
  2. Development of a VOD streaming platform that looks and works great across multiple screens, devices, and platforms. Functionality integration enabling video streaming from mobile devices to TVs
  3. Designing a responsive on-demand video platform ensuring consistency across devices. Making a high-quality UI design to ensure solid groundwork for wide user adoption and high customer conversion
 

Results

  1. A feature-rich VOD streaming solution aligned with the client’s business model enables multi-tier revenue streams based on rentals and purchases. Long-term value creation through business digitalization
  2. A video streaming service with cross-platform capabilities for TV, PC, and mobile devices. It allowed the customer to ensure substantial business growth by providing a comprehensive digital experience for users
  3. The new UI design concept was approved by the customer and used in the frontend development of the VOD streaming platform. The high-quality user interface that meets the company’s marketing and customer service objectives
 

Business Challenges

Our customer is the TDC Group company, the largest Danish telecommunication service provider. In 2013, the enterprise acquired the rights for Blockbuster, an iconic US company known for video and game rentals, to launch a video streaming platform in the Nordics. The first business model was to let people rent movies primarily at video rental shops. The client wanted to digitize the traditional business to provide movie renting services online on the TVOD business model. Initially, the customer had ready-made Android and Android TV apps that didn’t meet the users’ expectations. The client wanted to update those solutions as well as create separate versions to make it possible to access video content seamlessly on different devices. So, the company needed an experienced technical partner who could:
  1. Build a comprehensive TVOD streaming platform to digitize the traditional home video rental service. It was needed to deliver a high-quality product to replace the existing solution, attract new users as well as preserve the loyalty of the existing consumers to ensure business growth and expand its market.
  2. Reengineer Android and Android TV apps to recreate a core business process and satisfy end-users expectations about the new product solution. It was also required to create versions to support more platforms to reach a wider audience and expand the market share to get more profit.
  3. Develop a top-quality streaming platform that operates on the TVOD model allowing users to rent/purchase content on a pay-per-view basis. It was necessary to implement a flexible and scalable IT architecture design to ensure solutions perform successfully under high user growth.

Project in Details

We’ve designed on-demand video streaming services, created a completely new UI, and ensured solution performance across the devices

Business Architecture

  1. Fully-featured and responsive transactional VOD streaming service. Users can join the platform and use it as a traditional home video rental service with the difference that the films are provided not on disks, but online. It allows viewers to watch high-quality movies and TV shows on demand.
  2. The enhanced search functionality is the core of the solution: it allows users to find the best matching films based on the filters applied. The search bar employs a specific algorithm to index many relevant parameters, including keywords, content descriptions, casting, categories, and genre.
  3. Online payment through the payment gateway was built into the platform. It was needed to enable users to rent or purchase movies for watching. Integration of the pay-per-transaction services allowed a one-time payment for viewing video content on-demand, whether temporarily (rental, pay-per-view) or permanently (electronic sell-through).

Product Essentials

The system modules developed are integrated with each other to ensure the smooth and logical flow of movie renting and purchasing for viewers.

Development in Detail

  1. The customer required an outstaff team. First, we did a careful project analysis, including code review, tech stack review, and regular meetings with Tech Leads and Account Managers to adopt all the project’s needs. Then, we put a project team together with the experience and proficiency level needed for efficient working on the client’s project. The outstaff team was managed entirely by the client’s company. The Cleveroad experts were able to jump into an unfinished project, cover all the project challenges, and provide great results by releasing a solution meeting business needs.
  2. The Cleveroad’s design team changed the old UI and created a completely new user interface to enable seamless “service-client” interaction while preserving all the existing information. Our specialists focusing on responsive design undertook the task to streamline the UI for mobile and web solutions. Even though improved UI design was introduced to ensure consumer satisfaction, the visual style reflected in the user interface was fully preserved and in line with the сustomer’s vision.
  1. The Cleveroad’s design team changed the old UI and created a completely new user interface to enable seamless “service-client” interaction while preserving all the existing information. Our specialists focusing on responsive design undertook the task to streamline the UI for mobile and web solutions. Even though improved UI design was introduced to ensure consumer satisfaction, the visual style reflected in the user interface was fully preserved and in line with the сustomer’s vision.
  2. We were working on the product with cross-platform capabilities in mind to optimize the media experience for everyone. Our development team rebuilt Android and Android TV apps, created iOS and Apple’s tvOS apps from scratch, and a web version considering best practices and patterns for software development. Cleveroad experts also integrated media players, using Chromecast SDK (for Android) and Airplay SDK (for iOS) to enable video content casting from mobile devices to TV ecosystems.

Technology stack

See the ways how the development team implemented the project’s requirements

Results Obtained

We’ve successfully developed a TVOD streaming service with cross-platform capabilities that allows our customer to cater to a large audience and achieve goals set

Business automation due to a digital solution

We built a high-quality TVOD streaming platform that allowed our customer to digitize the traditional video rental business and offer on-demand video services online. The solution considers all the needs and preferences of the target audience while strengthening the loyalty of the existing ones. The service has hundreds of thousands of subscribers in Denmark and is rapidly increasing a solid client base across Sweden, Finland, and Norway.

Software maintenance costs reduction by half

The Cleveroad team performed a migration from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. It allowed the customer to optimize the streaming operations, reach all-time low streaming latency, and scale up business performance while maintaining zero downtime when dealing with rapid user growth. As a result, the number of no-fault-founds was reduced by 8 times, with software solutions maintenance costs cut by 50%

Clients attraction/retention rate growth by 20-30%

The company received a high-performing product with cross-platform capabilities. The solution allows the company to broadcast quality video content to multiple users on a pay-per-view basis. The combination of convenient navigation and appealing UX design contributed to an increased user satisfaction rate several times over. Within six weeks, 10,000 people subscribed to the service. Blockbuster ensured high-quality delivery for users