Video streaming has become part of everyone’s daily activities ever since the start of Youtube. The development of mobile devices has made video content more accessible to people, whether on a long bus ride home or while waiting in a coffee shop. By 2021, an average person is expected to spend 100 minutes a day watching online videos.

Nowadays, several streaming platforms are available in every country. With the recent pandemic, online streaming consumption worldwide increased while Netflix became the top streaming platform.

In Japan, most people still prefer to watch movies and shows on TV. However, the younger generation has become heavy users of online streaming platforms for its convenience. Part of its appeal is the convenient access to these streaming sites and other forms of entertainment in one device. But this type of service wouldn’t be possible without the work of IT engineers.

IT Engineers in Video Streaming App Development

The influx of viewers on these video streaming platforms causes servers to shut down. It’s an IT engineer’s task to fix this and other similar issues to keep viewers entertained while staying at home during the pandemic. Their job also includes the maintenance and development of more features that would best fit any device used for this service.

Building a Video Streaming Platforms

IT engineers have to be versatile in this field of work. Not only do they handle several data, but they also are working on different specializations of IT work. If you are looking forward to working in Japan’s video streaming market, you have to know the necessary tools and information to develop online video streaming platforms.

Machine Learning Algorithms

Algorithms are necessary for any streaming services. It helps recommend to users a selection of movies they might want to watch based on their viewing history or analyze a user’s rating to improve the platform. Therefore, IT engineers must be equipped with knowledge in machine learning algorithms to provide the best user experience.

Cloud hosting

IT engineers working on a video streaming service handle several types of data and video content. Keeping the servers running is an integral part of the work. Instead of using a single server, companies prefer cloud hosting platforms to balance the load. If one server fails, another server kicks in and keeps your video streaming service running.

Moreover, cloud hosting platforms allow quick access to video content, and it’s easy to increase their space. They are also a cheaper option compared to purchasing hard drives. Therefore, IT engineers must be familiar with several cloud hosting platforms to provide clients the best options for their video streaming service.

Computing Architecture

Developing a video streaming platform requires a complex architecture. A cloud architect is responsible for designing the features necessary in an online video streaming platform, such as the search engine, recommendation system, caching architecture, and A\B testing, with cloud computing.

Network Connection

Depending on the project’s scale, video streaming services must be integrated into a content delivery network (CDN) to handle significant traffic. CDNs serve a large portion of the internet today, including graphics, scripts, downloadable media files, software, live streaming media, and on-demand streaming media. An IT engineer must know the content delivery techniques needed to be applied in the service.

Security

Customers have to input sensitive information like credit details in a subscription-based video streaming platform. IT engineers must have vast knowledge in cybersecurity to prevent these important data from being accessed by anyone.

Also, the security of the video streaming service includes the monitoring of server failure. IT engineers will have to develop safety precautions in accessing accounts on different devices. They also deal with domain restrictions and watermarking for extra live stream security.

Other Skills

IT engineers must be equipped with the necessary programming languages, primarily PHP, Ruby, and JavaScript. They should have experience in web or mobile application development, basic TCP/IP knowledge, and be capable of handling network and server designing. Experience in live streaming protocols such as RTSP, RTMP, WebRTC, HLS will give you an edge in the industry.

Development Process

IT teams work together for more than 300 hours, depending on how big the video streaming service is. They have to work on several functions and designs to provide customers the best user experience. Here’s a breakdown of the tasks of each stage in the development process.

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  • User Registration
    It takes about 32 hours to work on the registration feature in a video streaming platform. The task includes testing of the email confirmation and addition of login options.
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  • User Profile
    This part of the process takes a shorter time. In 16 hours, engineers brainstorm and apply the account’s functions and personalization, such as editing names, uploading photos, and showing a user’s preferred genre, actors, and movies.
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  • Subscription and Payment Gateway
    In this part of the development process, the team and the client will choose the best monetization model, whether as pay-per-view, advertising, or subscription, and preferred payment method for the video service. The application of the subscription and payment gateway features takes 80 hours to accomplish.
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  • Notifications, Content Search, and Reviews and Ratings
    Push notifications remind users of the new movie or series available and advise them of subscription notices and options. Moreover, the search bar needs to provide several options, such as genre, ratings, and more, to provide the best video content selection. The application of these features will take 88 hours of the team’s time.
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  • Design
    This part of the process is the most demanding of all. IT engineers must produce the best layout to provide a seamless user interface to all types of devices. The whole process could take 100 hours or more since it involves several confirmations from the team and the client.

Conclusion

The market size of Japan’s paid streaming services reached 277 billion yen in 2019. With the recent pandemic, video consumption is set to increase as people spend more hours on their mobile devices and computers. The doubling of the market size from 2015 to 2019 shows that Japanese consumers are embracing this new form of entertainment.

As more subscribe to video streaming platforms, the need for better content and features in these services arise. Therefore, it is expected that the need for IT engineers will increase in the industry, opening several opportunities for foreign IT engineers to fill.

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Sources:

https://theappsolutions.com/blog/how-to/app-like-netflix/
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https://www.computersciencedegreehub.com/faq/what-is-computer-architecture/
https://interestingengineering.com/how-exactly-does-netflix-recommend-movies-to-you
https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/video-marketing/video-marketing-statistics-to-know/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/04/11/digital/streaming-isolation-apps/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1097284/japan-svod-market-share-by-service/
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