Development of an OTT platform for live streaming
Development of an OTT platform for broadcasting football matches
The task:
The client—a football association—set the task of creating a modern OTT platform for live streaming of matches, accessible across various devices (web, smart TVs), with scalability and centralised content management.
Key requirements:
- A single platform for streaming matches and video content
- Support for Smart TVs (Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Android TV)
- Centralised management via an admin panel
- Stable performance under high load (match day)
- Integration with external data sources (fixtures, events)
The problem:
Prior to the project launch, the client lacked a unified digital platform for streaming:
- Disparate solutions with no centralised management
- No Smart TV apps
- High reliance on third-party services
- Limited scalability
- Risk of outages during peak loads
Solution:
The Piplos Media team has developed a fully-fledged OTT platform, comprising:
1. Web platform
- Responsive web interface for watching live streams
- Catalogue of matches and video content
- Live streams with real-time updates
- Integration with fixtures and tournaments
2. Smart TV apps:
- Android TV
- Tizen
- webOS
Native interfaces have been developed for each platform, taking into account the UX patterns of television devices:
- Remote control operation
- Leanback navigation
- Optimisation for large screens
System flowchart:
Data flow: Content source → Backend → API → Web / Smart TV → User
Development stages
- Analysis and design
- Requirements gathering
- Architecture design
- UX for TV and Web
- Backend development
- APIs for live streams and content
- User and access management
- Integrations
- Frontend (Web)
- Platform interface
- Live match pages
- Responsiveness
- Smart TV app development
- Android TV
- Tizen
- webOS
- Testing
- Cross-platform testing
- Load testing
- Publication
- Google Play (Android TV)
- Samsung Apps
- LG Content Store
Development methodology:
The project was implemented using Kanban:
- Continuous delivery of functionality
- Flexible priority management
- Rapid response to changing requirements
Design flowchart:
UX/UI principles:
- Simple navigation via the remote control
- Minimal steps required to view content
- Focus on content
- Consistent UX across all platforms
Technology stack and rationale
Frontend
- JavaScript (Web + Smart TV)
- Flutter (Android TV)
Why:
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Reduced development costs
- Fast time-to-market
Backend
PHP (Symfony)
Why:
- Suitable for high-load systems
- Flexible architecture
- Rapid API development
Database
MySQL
Why:
- Reliability
- High performance
- Easy to scale
Result:
Following implementation, the client received:
✅ A unified OTT platform ✅ Web and Smart TV coverage ✅ High-load resilience ✅ Centralised content management ✅ Increased audience reach
Timeline
Total duration: ~3 months
Breakdown by phase:
- Analysis and design — 1 week
- Backend — 2 weeks
- Web frontend — 1 week
- Smart TV applications — 2 weeks
- Testing and release — 2 weeks
Project team
- Project Manager — 1
- Backend developers — 2
- Frontend developers — 1
- Smart TV developers — 1
- UI/UX designer — 1
- QA engineer — 1
- Business analyst — 1
Key benefits of the solution
- Scalable architecture
- Support for the Smart TV ecosystem
- High performance
- User-friendliness
- Flexibility for platform development