How to Create a Roku Channel?

Roku, the leading brand in hardware digital media players, provides numerous content to various devices to stream online. According to the latest report, there are more than 55 million monthly active users of the Roku channel in the United States.

This is just a glance at the growing popularity of streaming devices. And if you are also a member of the OTT industry, you can easily understand this growing trend. Launch your own Roku channel and improve your audience reach, customer experience, and business revenue.

Here, we will guide you on how to develop your very own Roku channel, but in a simple and fast manner. And before we proceed, let’s have some more information about Roku. What it is and Why you must create your own Roku channel.

What is Roku?

It is an OTT device. It lets you stream live and on-demand video content on your TV.  The users got access to a set of streaming channels called Roku channels. The hardware which streams such channels is called a Roku device.

Apart from TVs and soundbars, there are four more types of Roku Streaming Devices, Roku Express HD, Roku Streaming Stick Plus, Roku Express 4K. However, the most popular Roku devices are Roku streaming sticks, smart TVs, HDMI sticks to plug into your TV, etc.

Why Should You Create a Roku Channel?

It is very important to develop your own Roku channel; Roku TV apps occupy a great part of the global OTT market. As declared in the latest report by Statista.

In the third quarter of 2020, In the US, Roku devices have been used to stream 17 billion hours of video content, itself. The company earned about $388 million U.S. dollars in total sales in 2019.

While these figures are growing all around the globe,  making your own Roku channel

will not only secure your place but also will give you competitive benefits in the global OTT marketplace.

How To Create a Roku Channel?

Here’s how you can create your own Roku channel:

Best Overall Method: Lease a Roku channel

The quickest and most money-saving way to create a Roku Channel is by leasing a Roku app. It helps in focusing on perfecting your video content and also helps in running the business smoothly. It also saves thousands of your dollars from going into the hands of developers to keep you up with the rest of the industry.

These are the top 10 features and services you should be looking for while choosing an OTT provider:

1. Global payment gateways and in-app purchases.
2. Full audience ownership.
3. Live streaming capabilities.
4. Free maintenance and updates.
5. A technically hands-off solution.
6. Customizable and branded apps.
7. Protected content and secure downloads.
8. Marketing tools for business growth.
9. Bulk video uploading.
10. A fully customizable video streaming website alongside your apps.

The price and particular attributes of your channel will differ for this process. And all this depends on the OTT provider you choose. In various conditions, it will take about a few weeks or up to 6 months to launch your channel.

Best Free Method: Direct Publishing

Roku Direct Publishing is Roku’s service that helps in creating your channel –

Here’s how it works:

You will have first to set up Roku customer, developer, and billing accounts. After that, log in to the Roku Developer dashboard. You must create your channel under the “Manage My Channel” tab.

Take care of these 3 critical technical tasks before your channel is ready to go live:

1. Set up a content delivery network (CDN): This third-party server contains your video content. He delivers it to your viewers through your channel. Prices range from $20 to $1,000+.
2. Create a “content feed”: It will tell your CDN where it has to stream your content. Try to hire a developer who knows Roku’s Niche Code language. Its prices range from $60/hour to $100/hour.
3. Set up a web-hosting service: It takes your feed online. It works as hosting any website. You can also use a video or web-hosting service. Prices range from $10/month to $100/month.

Even after your Roku channel is up and running, there are many moving parts involved in this process, and you need to pay attention. It can consume a lot of time, and it’s costly too.

Roku Direct Publisher is free, but you must spend money on the services you need before creating a Roku channel.  This method costs between $30 to $1,000+ per month (developer fees not included), and it will take a few weeks to go live.

Best for Customization: Hire a Developer

This last method looks too complicated. If you have a healthy budget, you can hire an agency or developers to create a customized Roku channel and launch your OTT service.  This method just looks complicated, but it is the easier one.

If you hire a developer, you can build your app to your perfect specifications from scratch without having any knowledge of coding on your side.

It usually takes 3 to 6 months to go on-air because it’s a full-on app development project. This will cost you anywhere near $10k to $20k. This will depend on what features you want in your app.

The above-estimated cost is just for the development, and you’ll still have to pay monthly expenses for running the app, support, maintenance, and hosting. Therefore, if you choose this method, keep yourself prepared to spend.

Launching a Roku Channel With Third-Party Services

Now that you are familiar with the 3 methods by which you can launch your own Roku Channel without knowing to code on your side, let’s have a deeper look into the fastest, easiest, and cheapest option: leasing an app.

If you want to go with a cost-friendly option, a technically hands-off service, and a ready-to-go platform, creating a Roku Channel with Third Party Services is the right choice.

With them, you will just get more than an app, you will get a complete OTT platform. You will get the team’s full support, and they will keep updating your app to ensure it runs optimally.

Here are some steps to create a Roku channel –

1. Set up your account and place an order to develop your app.
2. Add content to your video website.
3. Set up your Roku Developer account.
4. Tell the team about your app requirements.
5. They will review your submitted app requirements and ask for any incomplete assets.
6. They’ll build your app, and you must test it and provide feedback.
7. Your app will be submitted for approval on the Roku Channel Store.
8. After the publication of your app, launch it to your customers and celebrate!

Conclusion

As you know now, there are multiple ways of building a channel, and it is sensible to select the one according to your budget, availability of time, and resources. It also depends on the set of requirements you want to have. Though, the first process is the most appropriate one, whether you are extending your OTT business or starting a new one.