Video On Demand Business: Here’s How To Start Effortlessly [2026 Update]

The supremacy of videos has made today an excellent time for video production companies.

As we enter 2020, rising technologies are continuing to transform the way content is produced and consumed.

New formats, affordable equipment, and modern requirements are setting up mini revolutions across media and business.

Video production and video editing services, in general, are gaining more significance with most of the businesses preferring to present their services with the help of interactive video content.

There are valid reasons for such popularity:

• Best info exchange platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Vmix, etc. share video projects;
• A well-made video is the easiest way to attract user attention.

From a relatively humble beginning as DVD sellers, Netflix has grown into one of the most influential streaming services on the planet.

Netflix was one of the first to explore the potential of consumer streaming technologies and the transition to a subscription-based video-on-demand model.

Online video now accounts for over 82% of all global internet traffic, making video the most dominant content format worldwide.

The global Video-on-Demand (VOD) market is projected to exceed $190 billion by 2026, driven by subscriptions, mobile viewing, and original content.

Consumers now spend over 19 hours per week watching online video content, across mobile, desktop, and connected TV devices.

Why you must create your own VOD platform?

As a video production company that is into producing high-quality content, do you wonder why it is important to create a VOD platform on your own?

Yes, it definitely offers some extra benefits that you may get from any other channels.

The industry is thriving

An antenna no longer limits today’s viewers.

An internet connection and a mobile device is the only requirement needed to access a VOD platform.

As it is accessible 24/7 and the world is open, why not try your hands in this thriving industry.

Offer personalized services

To offer personalized services to your customers, having a VOD website on your own will help largely.

You can target the right audience with niche content, which they will love to explore.

Offering personalized options increase user engagement and help to grow your audience base.

Reach a wider audience

If you target to reach out to a global audience, having a VOD website for your business can help.

It helps you to spread your business efforts beyond the limit of geography by offering content to users across the globe.

A new source of income

Setting up a VOD platform for your video production business can be a new source of revenue.

You can offer access to users via subscriptions, offer specific content for a price, or even get sponsorships from brands to place ads in your video content.

With more users willing to pay for unique content, you have immense opportunities to make money.

You just have to choose the right video-on-demand platform providers to create an all include VOD platform for your business.

You can monetize via:

• Subscriptions (SVOD)
• Pay-per-view (TVOD)
• Advertising (AVOD)
• Sponsorships & brand placements

Niche VOD platforms now outperform general platforms in ARPU (Average Revenue Per User).

What to consider before starting your own video on demand site

Before learning how to start a video-on-demand website, there are some important things to consider.

Plan your video content

To create your own Netflix-style platform that attracts a loyal audience, high-quality video content is essential.

You can either:

• Buy rights to existing high-performing content, or
• Produce original, niche-focused video content

If you choose the second option, consider crew, budget, scripting, and audience intent.

This factor narrows down to two major ways in which compelling content can be sourced to your platform.

Either buy the rights of well-performing videos or produce your own video content that is viral-worthy.

If you are opting for the second method, you need to consider prime factors like crew, budget, and script appropriate to your audience base.

Original content now accounts for over 60% of subscription retention on successful VOD platforms.

It is also significant to invest resources to make your VOD platform’s UI user-friendly, responsive, and attractive.

Manage your videos

No matter how great your video content is, without a proper management system, it is difficult to thrive in the industry.

An efficient organizing and management system for your content is equally important to establish your presence in the industry.

Analytics play a major role in managing your VOD site. Everything from search tags based on genres, artists, instruments, to real-time algorithms aggregate the reach of your videos among your viewers.

Your VOD platform should support:

• Metadata & tagging
• Categories & genres
• AI-powered analytics
• Viewer behavior tracking

Choosing the right monetization strategy

The long-term success of your VOD platform depends greatly on how wisely you monetize it.

Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) remains the most profitable VOD model globally.

Though VOD businesses often rely upon transactional VOD models, there are other payment models like subscription on-demand and ad-based models, etc. as well.

Selecting what works great for your target audience is also critical to deciding how you get your returns.

Viewers are increasingly willing to pay for niche, high-value content, not just mainstream entertainment.

Hybrid VOD platforms grow 2x faster than single-model platforms.

Current video production trends

Video production trends change with respect to customer demand and response.

With rapid innovations in video production technology, video production, and post-production processes have undergone many significant changes over the years.

From developments in virtual reality and 4K video production, there is a lot happening in the industry.

4K video has become the new standard for premium streaming platforms, while 8K adoption is emerging.

We have also come a long way from watching videos on DVDs to digital video streaming services.

Here are some of the current trends in video production:

Video continues to remain in-house

Businesses will continue to create their own videos, as it makes sense for most business video products.

Businesses also depend on video production companies to make top-quality business videos for them.

Integration of video with marketing

Earlier, the video was a stand-alone element for many businesses.

However, video marketing has now been integrated with other activities as well.

For example, videos need to go through a localization process and have to be well optimized for SEO, as it helps to build a strong landing presence.

Metrics

It is difficult to manage what you can’t measure.

Videos are a great business, but if you cannot evaluate their performance, you can’t understand whether the videos are making an impact or not.

Understand how people are engaging with your videos through open rates, a/b tests, call-to-action completions, etc.

Analytics will help you know which videos stalled and which ones excelled.

Some videos will become popular and even viral, but it doesn’t mean that everything else will be.

It’s paramount to consider the factors that make a video popular or unpopular.

Shorter continues to be better

While there isn’t any right length for a video to perform well be it non-commercial or commercial, short videos are the new trends.

Your videos must only be as long as you need to make your point and not a second longer.

There will always be expectations with videos according to the goals such as entertainment, training, post-sales support, or any other business application.

As small screens are taking over PCs as primary venues to watch online videos, the attention span of viewers is becoming less.

Considering all these aspects, the shorter, the better.

Pre-production holds all the value

If you are looking for innovative solutions on how to start a streaming service like Netflix, it is mandatory to have the right concept, message, and the most appropriate style to present your videos.

Having some video up on your site used to be a goal some time ago. However, today, pre-production is where all the value is.

If you don’t start your video production by identifying specific goals that your video needs to accomplish, then probably you are wasting all your time.

No amount of shooting and video editing is going to save a video that doesn’t have a valid message to deliver.

Personalization and customization

We are still a couple of years away from technology enabling us to mass customize the video delivery.

However, there is no doubt that personalization and target content is the future of video.

Broadcast viewing is being replaced by personalized mobile viewing.

Heck, many businesses use YouTube for broadcasting their videos.

This means a video targeted to a mass audience is going to have less value and impact.

Virtual reality

With big players developing virtual reality technology and developers working on implementing VR technology, there are many advancements in virtual reality tech in the past few years.

Using virtual reality is the current trend for brands to communicate with their customers in a new way.

4K videos

Ultra high definition (UHD) or 4K videos are a great invention in video production that delivers the best in video quality.

As opposed to HD which is 1920 x 1080 pixels, 4k has a standard resolution of 4000 pixels, which allows you to shoot even the finest details and deliver better color depth.

While we are entering into an era of 5k and 6k videos, producing 4k videos is becoming a standard.

Video-on-demand business models – Here’s what makes them successful

If you take the winning video-on-demand business models, Netflix has one of the best in the market.

Netflix now has 260+ million paid subscribers globally, making it the world’s largest SVOD platform.

Netflix generated over $33 billion in annual revenue, largely driven by its subscription-based VOD model.
Source:

Simply put, they are pioneers in the world of subscription-on-demand (SVOD).

However, what makes Netflix so popular and how does that apply to you as video content creators. 

Subscription business model

A popular video-on-demand platform like Netflix follows a simple and effective subscription business model.

Let’s get into how it works:

• Users register on the platform;
• They receive 15 days or a 1-month free trial;
• Users subscribe for a flat monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee to access the services;
• Viewers can unsubscribe at any time.

This business model allows video on demand websites to earn a scalable and reliable income.

If you are looking for fundamentals on how to make a movie website like Netflix, subscription on-demand is one of the best business models to follow.

Accessibility

VOD platforms like Netflix can be accessed by anyone, anytime and anywhere. Viewers can access their favorite TV shows and movies, from any location or device through an internet connection.

All this video content will be on-demand and can be consumed according to the interests of viewers.

Original content

The best part of Netflix is their creative originals.

They have their own originals like Stranger Things or Master of None, which created a buzz among the online audience.

Having a variety of original content convinces the audience to subscribe to the service repeatedly.

If you have a look at the price of the DVD of Master of None 1^st series, its price is more than the highest monthly subscription of any VOD platform.

Viewers will be willing to buy a monthly subscription to watch the entire series.

For example, if your viewers love your originals, they are unlikely to cancel the subscription as it means they cannot access new episodes.

This can be helpful to compel your viewers to come back for more.

How to create your own VOD platform and sell videos online?

If you want to know how to start a company like Netflix, it is surprisingly easy to create a VOD business.

Over 75% of households worldwide now subscribe to at least one streaming service.

Mobile video consumption has grown by more than 400% in the last decade, removing dependence on traditional TV.

There are just a few essentials to consider before you go live.

Let’s look at the things you have to follow to launch your own VOD platform to sell videos online.

Choose a valid niche

If you are a video production company planning to create a movie streaming website, the first thing you need to do is to pick a suitable niche.

Your niche is a specialized area based on which you can create exclusive content.

Even if you think you have an innovative niche idea, make sure that it is clearly defined and well refined.

Don’t take it as if you are not targeting a wide audience, this will help you to attract the right customers to buy your videos.

While choosing the niche, ask yourself whether you have valid expertise in the niche, and will you be able to make a steady income from this niche?

Create a Netflix style website

The best setup to create a Netflix-styled video platform is a Netflix type of website, isn’t it?

You can either build from a white label VOD platform solution or build your own VOD business from scratch.

Create your apps

VOD apps allow your viewers to access your content on different devices and small screens.

Users just have to download the app, log in, or access all your videos in a single place.

Exactly like how you use YouTube on your mobile devices.            

Find your target audience

With the right niche, original content, VOD site, and branded apps in place, the next step is to find your target audience.

How you present your VOD business to your audience finally comes down to your audience.

You just have to choose the right techniques that direct you where user attention is.

You can leverage social platforms like Instagram, using Instagram video ads, and Facebook to reach a wide range of people.

Emails are also another great way to reach out to your potential customers or to connect with your clients online.

To create a movie streaming website of your own mostly comes down to great programming back-end tech work.

Instead of hiring an entire team to build your VOD site from scratch, there are other intelligent options like Netflix clone open-source that are on par with movie streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu.

Must-have features for VOD platforms

To understand the reasons behind the popularity of the VOD platform, we need to know about the features of a VOD website.

Here are some of the significant features you need to include it in your VOD platform.

Sign-up and login

This is one of the most important features of any video-on-demand website. You must offer your users different ways to register.

Try to include social logins like logging in via google account and Facebook.

Must-Have Features for a Modern VOD Platform:

• Secure sign-up & social login
• User profile management
• Smart search & filters
• AI recommendation engine
• Offline downloads
• In-app purchases
• Multi-profile support
• Multi-device compatibility

User management

User management is an essential feature of any VOD platform.

Your website must offer users access to update personal information, edit their user profiles, reset the password, manage the subscriptions, manage multiple profiles under a single account, browse viewing history, etc.

Intuitive Search

Offer an intuitive search with the relevant filters that help your users browse their favorite videos in the best way possible.

Recommendation engine

Do you know that the majority of content users watch on Netflix is suggested by its intuitive recommendation system?

It not only helps to save millions for Netflix to market content, but it also helps engage users by helping them find their favorite content easily.

An intuitive recommendation engine can be a game-changer for your VOD platform.

Offline access

Offering your users, the ability to access video content in an offline mode is a convenient feature.

It helps to access the content on the go, even in the absence of a stable internet connection.

In addition, users can save on bandwidth while watching videos offline.

In-app purchases

You can include in-app purchases to allow users to make a purchase without moving out of the app.

This ensures that your users won’t struggle with buying subscriptions through mobile apps.

Out of the box features

Uniqueness always helps to establish a significant presence in the industry in no time. Incorporate unique features and functionalities into your VDO platform to bring in more viewers.

Try deploying distinctive features like intelligent rewind option, co-viewing, or chatting options, etc. to empower your viewers towards an interactive viewing experience.

Multiplatform support

Your VOD platform must be accessible from the broadest possible types of devices.

Implementing multiplatform support is not enough, ensure your site functions well and is responsive when accessed from any device.

Conclusion

Creating your own VOD website is no simple task. However, along with it come bigger outcomes.

With online video consumption accelerating rapidly, launching a niche-focused, feature-rich VOD platform in 2026 presents massive opportunities.

Ensure you fend the needs of your audience through the VOD website with custom-awe inspiring features and functionalities that woo them to your platform.

Focus on:

• Quality content
• Clear monetization
• Personalization
• Analytics-driven decisions

Done right, your VOD platform can become a scalable, global, and profitable digital business.