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How Much Does It Cost to Create a Short Video App Like Tiktok?

Fun, entertainment, excitement, variety of content, knowledge, and satisfaction when these all characteristics combine in an app, it’s not hard to attract traffic. Tik tok is this type of app. It would be a lie to say that you don’t know this app. Even, several people want to know about the short video app development cost and how to create an app like Tik Tok?

The app has content available for all types of users. Whether you want to share knowledge from a specific field or deliver a message to people, this app allows you all. In 2019 the app generated revenue of around $350 million, and in the year 2020, it increased surprisingly to $1.9 billion. Today you can notice, several short video apps like Tik Tok are available in the market.

And they are generating impressive profit along with entertaining the people. If you also have plans to develop a similar app, this blog can provide you with all the necessary information. These are, what is a mobile app development cost, its common features, how to make a short-video app, and other crucial information.

So, what are you waiting for? Just scroll down the blog, and start gaining information to come up with an amazing app.

What Is a Short Video Application?

Before you take any step to hire an on-demand app development company, you need to know what is exactly a short video. Generally, the videos on Youtube and many other similar apps are lengthy. Sometimes you stop watching in the middle because you need to be patient while doing so.

The case is different when it comes to Tik Tok like apps. You get to watch amazing videos in just 15 seconds. And not only this, if you don’t like the video, you can swipe and watch the next one. In a short span of time, you get a lot to watch.

Basically, only short-time videos are allowed to be made in this type of app, that is why people call it a short-video app. After the successful business model of Tik Tok, there is a flood of apps similar to tik tok. Here are some good ones for you, so that you can have better ideas for your app.

Have a look!

• Instagram
• Likee
• VivaVideo
• Byte
• Dubsmash
• Snapchat
• Youtube Shorts

These are examples of apps developed on the android platform. If you want to hire android developer you can ask him to make your app similar to them. Let’s have a look at some more examples below.

• iMovie
• Boomerang
• Magisto
• Splice
• Twitch

If you want to hire iOS developer, know about the above apps. It is because they are also made on the iOS platform.

But doing this is not enough, you need to be aware of what exactly drives the popularity of an app. Since you want a Tik Tok alternative, you should read what makes this type of app famous.

Why Are Short-Video Apps Popular?

Your family members, friends, and office colleagues, mostly young ones, often like to make short videos. It is because they can deliver more information in a short time. Out of 10 people, 8 have at least one short-video app on their phones.

These types of videos are just easy to distribute. They can become trendy in a short span. The unlimited replay convenience in the videos also drives them to become viral. These types of videos are great for marketing purposes as well. However, it’s the beginning of using such platforms for marketing reasons. It can have a boom in the future, so be optimistic.

Another reason for the popularity of an app like Tik Tok is the file size. Because of the short video length, it takes less time to share and upload the file. As per one of the New York Times articles; User value, long-term user value, platform value, and creator value would be the four important goals of the developers of the Tik Tok app.

Make sure you focus on these goals when you create an app for yourself. This mobile app development guide will introduce you to some of the common features you must include in your app. These are the basic ones, and without them, you can’t call your product a short-video app. So, read them in the below section.

Which Are the Common Features to Create A Short Video App Like Tiktok?

• Short Musical Clips- You can upload a short video on the app. The time constraint for making a video can vary as per the type of the app.
• Amazing Effects- As you see in the Tik Tok app, people can use different types of filters. It helps them to have a more customized video.
• Live Streaming- You can create and share videos in real-time using the live streaming feature. But this type of video can’t be saved in most apps. You can include this feature in your TikTok alternative.
• Duet Option- If the person enabled the feature ‘Duet’ in his account, you can make a duet video with his videos.
• Social Media Sharing- As the name implies, you can share the videos on different social media platforms.
• Video Editing- It’s a process to improve the video in the way you want. With the help of several options, you can enhance the video.
• Privacy Setting- From the perspective of security, this feature is a must. If you want to hide or include only some people, you can. And the ‘Hide comment’ option is also available.
• Sound- You can use the sound of others’ videos in the background of your videos. It’s an amazing feature to make video attractive.
• Likes & Comments- It’s a common feature and the best to increase engagement. You can like, dislike, and comment on the videos.
• Parental Guidance- In this feature, parents can keep eye on what and how much their kids use the short videos. They can set limits for their children on using the app.

Now you know the important features to resolve your query ‘how to develop short video apps?’ You must read about the market of short videos before you start making an app. It is important that you have an idea of what’s going on in the market and is there any future growth or not.

The next comprehensive detail will help you to have a bird’s eye view of the short-video market, and as a result, you can make a better decision.

Overview of Short-Video Market

Users are getting attracted to short-video and online streaming more than before. And the growth was evident during the pandemic because people were at home most of the time.

Gaining social exposure with the help of such videos is easy and beneficial. And it’s good for eCommerce sites to promote their products on online platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube shorts, and others. The messaging has also become easy, resultant, the reach of the customers increased more than ever before.

“YouTube TrueView” is a type of advertising technology. In which you can either watch or skip the advertisement. You must have noticed this type of technology while watching YouTube videos; you can skip the advertisement after 5 seconds. Moreover, you can also include this type of technology, but make sure you know how much it will affect your short video app development cost.

Short videos are good for user engagement and bring more traffic. But, you need to know that long videos offer more qualitative and detailed information. So, both have their importance. Like YouTube, you can also provide facilities for both long and short types of videos.

There are some forms of the market using such videos. Maybe you are aware of some of them. Have a look.

Paid Ads:

As the name implies, the advertisers, company, or brand can show their products’ ad clips in a particular time slot.  And the concerned company pays the ad publisher.

Influencer Marketing:

This type of marketing is done after collaboration between content creators and the brands. These content creators have a huge fan following, therefore the reach of the product to the audience can increase.

New Videos:

You must have seen, every day, a lot of new videos come. It is because the audience likes to watch something new. Thus, regular upload of the new videos keeps the customer retention rate intact. An app like tik tok does the same thing for its users.

These are the important marketing ways. So, are you ready to make an app alternative TikTok? Until you know the cost to develop an app, you can’t answer the question. Isn’t it? So, without any delay move ahead and know how much does short-video like tik tok costs.

How Much Does Short Video Apps Like Tik Tok Cost?

It’s easy to make a short video, edit, upload, and share, but do you know how much time and effort is needed for short-video app development? Whoever wants to run a business with the help of websites and apps, will not hire a company until he has ideas about the development cost.

Factors that affect the final cost of app development

• Operating Platform- As you earlier read in the blog that different apps are developed using different platforms, so this factor is important to determine the cost. You have to make sure whatever platform you are using will offer you a cross-platform application.
• Features- What features do you want to include in your app? It also affects the final cost of the tik tok clone app. You can decide it as per the services you offer to the users.
• Size and Time- A top mobile app development company will always discuss the size and time of building an app with you. The bigger the project size, the more time and money it will take.
• Security & App Testing- Today most of the developers also make sure that they offer you a secure website. They do app testing and ensure its functionality.
• Development Team- If the size of the project is big, the development team will also be big. And the time and efforts can increase simultaneously. So, the development team affects the cost of the app.

Now have a look at some stats about app development costs.

• The US user base for Tik Tok increased by 85% in the year 2020 (Statista). And in the same year, Tik Tok had around 66 million users in the USA.
• And according to the businessofapps website, an app development cost is approx 40,000 to 60,000 dollars.
• But the price can vary as per the features you want in the app. And many factors also play a crucial role to determine the cost.
• For a complex app, the price can go around $300,000.
• The app development period is around 2-3 months and sometimes it is 3-6 months.
• But, if your project is complex the time can go more than 9 months.

Since time is a crucial factor, keep eye on the mobile app development cost variations due to it. Likewise, platforms also affect it greatly. Read below to know how to choose the correct platform for app development.

How to Choose the App Development Platform for Short Video Apps?

‘In which platform should I develop an app?’ Most of you struggle with this question. To make the right decision, you must know about the iOS and Android operating systems.

• iOS: It’s an acronym for the iPhone Operating System, used in Apple devices. So, you can understand it would definitely go expensive if you develop an app in this system.
• Android: It’s an open-source mobile operating system. So, it’s freely accessible and this makes it cost-effective, unlike iOS.

Now, you can decide which operating system would be best for you. Have a look at some of the effective app development platforms below. These are technologies used to develop an app.

• Flutter
• React Native
• Ionic
• AWSmobileSDK

From the functions, features, security, and designs of the app, everything matters a lot.  So, you should not ignore knowing about the operating system and app development platforms. For an app like Tik Tok use the latest technology so that you can provide a fresh and upgraded experience to the users.

Also need to know how having this type of app can help to earn profit. When you read about the business model, you can understand it better.

How TikTok Makes Money? (Tiktok Business Model)

Tik Tok must have an excellent business model because it attracted one-third of all social media users. More than 3 billion downloads; this is a record set by Tik Tok till now. So, it becomes very important for you to know its business model.

The business models of short video platforms are:

• Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD): The viewers have to pay for the content on-demand. It depends on pay-per-view.
• Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD): The users have to pay to subscribe and watch the on-demand videos. It can be for months and a year.
• Ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD): This service is cheaper because the advertiser can run an ad in the entire video at any time. The user has to pay nothing to watch such videos.

So, this is a comprehensive view of the business model for all types of short videos. Now move ahead and know how Tik Tok makes money.

• Top view ads
• In-feed ads
• Branded hashtag ads
• Tik Tok coins

There are many more features that you can read about before going for any top development company.

You would be shocked by knowing that tik tok made revenue of approx 1.9 billion in the year 2020. It was surprisingly more than last year’s (2019) revenue. And not only this, Tik Tok monetizes its more than 700 million users worldwide.

So, this is all about the development cost of tik tok like apps. Now scroll down to know some important questions that people have in their minds when it comes to developing an app.

FAQ

These are some important questions that people ask most of the time or have issues about.

Wrapping Up:

Here are the final words about the blog. We hope you liked reading it and gained crucial information regarding app development for an app like tik tok. If you still have any doubt contact us and talk to our experts.

Stay tuned for more amazing blogs.