If you’re like everyone else, you’re spending over 24 minutes every week only to decide what to watch. Most people now agree that having this many choices has become overwhelming for them, and they often spend more time finding what to watch than should be necessary. And with the growing number of streaming platforms, this number has all the probabilities of going up further.
This is why when Watchworthy launched its recommendation mobile app back in March 2020, viewers jumped on board without any hesitation. The app using personalization, offers curates an automated watch list for viewers, collecting shows from all the OTT platforms they are on.
The app even allows the users to redirect to the relevant app when they select the show they want to watch next. This way, users now only have to log in to this app to know which show they would want to watch, and just like that, start watching it with a single tap.
Such seamless experience has made the app a massive success among users. And if you’re planning to invest in a similar solution, know that now is a perfect time.
The pandemic and the lockdowns it induced have brought a huge surge in the global OTT market. Just within a year, it grew to become an industry of 161 billion USD with an astounding CAGR of 55%. Add to this the fact that there aren’t that many such apps in the market now. So, with market demand high and the competition at the lowest, investing in a content-based recommendation mobile app is the most lucrative decision you can make right now.
Watch worthy – Personalized TV Recommendations App: An Overview
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An eponymous product developed by Watchworthy, the recommendation app is a rare app that brings the power of robust recommendation algorithms to mobile phone users. With most streaming platforms now available on mobile phones, it was only the question of time when such an app would come to be launched into the market.
Since mobile technologies aren’t yet strong enough to process the ML algorithms efficiently, the app launches a mobile browser to offer its services. The browser fetches data from servers that themselves are processing inputs and generating results and then show them on the app interface. The app’s backend is therefore responsible for simply fetching the data, and the processing would mostly be taking place on the cloud analytics server only.
As such, the app is able to offer pretty incredible features like quick show quizzes, smart search discovery, personalization, review analytics, behavior analytics, screencasting, API integration, etc.
It is clear that developing a TV show recommendations app like Watchworthy will be an interesting and rewarding process. And since now we know enough about the app, we’re all set to begin the development.
Steps to Develop a Recommendation App like Watchworthy
It is clear that Watchworthy is a pioneering app in the market that is bringing the incredible powers of recommendation engines to mobile phones. Therefore, to develop a similar app, you too will need to take some revolutionary steps and see what you can do to create a similar but better experience for your users.
Research Target Market
Recommendation engines are not a new thing in the market. However, the processing requirements of these engines make them incompatible with the present mobile technologies. As a result, there is little competition in the market, and you’ll have to research everything available.
Since there aren’t many similar apps available, your primary subject for the study would remain Watchworthy. Other than that, you should invest time in studying the target audience, different OTT platforms, entertainment market, advancements in ML technologies, and the new updates with reviews and rating platforms. Eventually, you want your app to have the best of all, and you can do that only when you evaluate the market comprehensively.
Hire an AI Mobile App Development Team
It is clear that to develop an app as full of features as Watchworthy, you will need to put in efforts. The skillsets required for the mobile app development are quite varied, and hence without a proper process and team, the project can take forever to release. In most cases, for such an app, you can run a successful development process with a team of
Project Manager
Business Analyst
ML Developer
Android Developer
iOS Developer
UI/UX Designer
Backend Developer
Data Analyst
Data Engineer
QA Engineer
The ideal way to create such a team is to hire a mobile app development company. The company will provide you with all these personnel without causing you any hassle. Alternatively, you can hire all these team members individually for your own in-house team. However, the capital required to manage recruitment and assets expenses can quickly become overwhelming and eventually unnecessary. In any case, when you hire such a talent pool, be mindful of the technologies you may require to complete the project.
- Swift
- Kotlin
- MongoDB
- ElasticSearch
- Neo4J
- Redis
- Python
Now, based on the other custom requirements, your team can append more technologies.
Select Features for The MVP Version of The App
When it comes to developing a content recommendation app, possibilities are endless. This is why it is suggested that instead of losing oneself in all the potential functionalities, the developers should instead focus on the few key ones so that they can launch the app as soon as possible. Such a lean version of the app is called an MVP or a Minimum Viable Product. For an MVP version of a TV shows recommendation app, you can use the following features.
User Account Management
Since the app is all about personalization, user registration and easy login facilities are essential. Like all modern apps, you should allow your users to log in and sign up with the app through social networking channels, including their Google, Facebook, or Snapchat accounts.
Recommendation Engine
For the app’s main functionality to work, you will need to develop a recommendation engine. The in-built tool will need advanced ML algorithms that can be too much for a mobile processor to handle. This is why, until the mobile device technologies become more advanced, you will have to do all the processing on cloud servers, generate the personalized results there and then fetch and show it through the app interface.
Personalization Quiz
For first-time app users, the recommendation engine will need some input to process and generate results. Later the app will gather this information by analyzing behavior analytics, but in the beginning, users will have to provide some answers to help the AI narrow down the choices. You can simply ask your users to like or dislike different genres of shows to lead your model in the right direction.
Smart Search
Apart from the shows shown on the quiz, users must also be able to search their favorites through the smart search option. The search bar can be placed on the top of the interface to make it more intuitive. And whenever a user types in a few words, it should be able to autofill in the details. The search itself should not be limited to the titles of the show. Users must be able to search with artists, genre, and the cast of the show.
Master Watchlist
With over 200+ streaming services’ shows enlisted in its database, Watchworthy allows its users to create a master playlist where they can add shows from all the different popular streaming platforms. For your app to create such a similar smart TV experience, you too will have to append your database with as many streaming services as are expected by your target audience.
Grow Your Content Recommendation App
With your MVP developed and deployed, you’re all set to distinguish your app by adding more features to it and employing more growth procedures.
Make Your App Full-Featured
The first thing you need to do after launching the MVP of your App is to begin the next development iteration to develop and deploy more features with the next version. Here are the remainder of the features from Watchworthy that you should add to your TV recommendation app.
Smart Filter: While trying to discover new shows, apart from search, users must also be able to filter through the results downsize the options quickly. The filters you can use for the purpose are streaming platform, release year, artists, genres, and season.
App Integration: Your users should not have to face the hassle of switching from App to App after finding what they want to look for. Ideally, once the user has decided on what they want to watch, they should be able to watch it with a single tap. For this to happen, you will need to integrate your app with the different streaming platform apps that yours support.
App score: Not all shows you enlist after running users’ preferences through your ML model will have the same relevance. They will be assigned some relevant scores based on which the model will rank them. To further empower your users to make a better choice, you should also show them these scores on the interface itself.
Ask a Friend: Most people like to watch, and then talk about what they have watched with their friends. Making it easy for your users to connect with their friends while making their what-to-watch decisions can give them a more wholesome experience. Besides, this way you will be able to increase your user base organically.
Screencast: Allowing your users to cast their screen on a device with a bigger screen is yet another interesting feature that can increase your app’s value exponentially. It will help your app to become the go-to place for users’ whenever they want to watch anything from any of the platforms.
Add Additional Features
While Watchworthy is an impressive app and users will definitely look to install similar apps, developing an exact clone might not do the trick for you. You see, Watchworthy is already quite a popular app in its niche. So, unless you offer something extra to your target audience, you will have a hard time convincing them to choose your app over the already popular one. Here are some additional features that can make your app stand out from the competition.
- Since the app is all about recommending TV shows to watch, offering users reviews details from popular platforms like Rotten Tomatoes can make the app more useful.
- Users can also be given an option to review the show on the app itself, allowing them to post the same review on multiple platforms.
- The app can be made more extensive by adding more channels from more languages across the globe.
- Like Spotify and other popular streaming apps, you can also offer your users the ability to create share their playlists to help the app platform grow with UGC.
- Watchworthy has had some performance issues, so by offering better efficiency with your app, you can acquire a more satisfied user base.
With these additional features, you can finally deploy your app on the app marketplaces and then generate some hype around it.
Also Read : 6 Amazing Use Cases of Recommendation System
App Marketplace Optimization
Around 1900 apps are uploaded on PlayStore every day. For iOS App Store, the number is 830. Clearly, too many apps are getting published daily, making it highly probable for yours to get drowned under the heavy competition. This is why, when launching an app on the app marketplaces, you should put optimal efforts to ensure an easy discovery. To do so, you should conduct proper keywords research around your app’s functionality and then optimize its meta details with them. The goal is to ensure that yours rank among the first few search results whenever someone searches for a ‘TV show recommendations app.
App Marketing
Launching an app on App marketplaces these days is not sufficient. Watch worthy has a huge user base, and your app won’t be able to garner the same without investing in app marketing. One of the most proven ways to market an app to your target audience is through video ads. As per an individual study, 94% of app users have confirmed that they have installed the said app after viewing its video ad. Now that’s a huge percentage of people that clearly portrays that video ads do work. Other than that, you can do content marketing for your app to create more buzz around it. Doing so will also help you get out as much information on the use of the app as possible.
Final Thoughts
With more people using OTT platforms as their primary means for entertainment, apps like Watchworthy are going to become more popular with time. The app functions on a recommender engine, which uses machine learning algorithms to filter and suggest TV shows based on users’ preferences and tastes.
Since the app uses advanced ML tools, you cannot simply hand the job over to an individual developer. You will need a complete team, so hiring a TV recommendation app development company with ample experience developing AI/ML solutions is your best bet.
Matellio, with over a decade of experience in developing bespoke mobile apps and a forte in creating AI/ML solutions, is your ideal partner for building an app like Watchworthy. Our experts will even help expand the features of your custom Watchworthy clone app to make it even more valuable and irresistible for the target audience. All you need to do is send us your requirement through this form, and our team will respond to you with a complete project timeline, feasibility, and a free quote. Alternatively, you can contact us directly to book a free consultation session with our experts so you can brainstorm your ideas directly with them.
