How much does it cost to build a broadcasting app?

Standard price for a broadcasting app: $30,000

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What is a broadcasting app?

A broadcasting application is a web or mobile app that enables users to publish audio, video, and other types of content. Broadcasting applications may also include the ability for broadcasters to view statistics on their audience reach, number of views, total minutes watched, and other performance metrics.

Broadcasting apps are similar to other personal media creation apps like blogging and social media sharing apps. Periscope, Meerkat, Facebook Live, and YouTube are all great examples of broadcasting apps.

Here are some recent broadcasting app examples built with Crowdbotics:

  • Commercial live streaming from drones to your smartphones

What is the typical cost to build a broadcasting app?

A broadcasting app usually costs $30,000 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $10,000 or as high as $50,000. A broadcasting app with a low number of features (also known as a "minimum viable product", or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality.

For example, here are some recent broadcasting app price quotes from Crowdbotics:

  • $30,000

How long does it take to build a broadcasting app?

A broadcasting app usually takes 400 hours to build. However, a broadcasting app can be built in as few as 133 hours, or in as many as 667 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, or non-standard release platforms.

For example, the most recent broadcasting apps built with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:

  • 667

How to successfully grow your broadcasting application

Broadcasting apps have a unique growth strategy because they function differently than other types of apps. Broadcasting apps like Periscope and Meerkat attract new users by broadcasting live, and their content is more likely to be shared on social media than other types of videos. When users share a broadcast with their friends, the broadcast app will prompt the friend to install the app in order to watch it.

Risks and challenges of building a broadcasting application

Broadcasting apps (including live streaming) face the same legal risks as other social networks, namely, content regulation and liability for user behavior. Most broadcasting apps will want to take extra precautions to ensure that the content they are broadcasting is not infringing anyone else's intellectual property rights. In addition to these legal concerns, broadcasting apps also face the risk of user harassment during live broadcast sessions. This can happen via two channels: users can send abusive messages directly through the live video chat session, or users can post hateful comments in real time on the player page. Broadcasting apps should take steps to mitigate this risk by providing robust mechanisms for reporting abuse and offering privacy settings for blocking abusive users.

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Some of the descriptions on this page were completed with AI assistance. Learn more here.