Media
50,000 concurrent viewers, sub-4-second live latency, creator monetization from day one.
We built a live and on-demand video streaming app for a creator platform that supports 50,000 concurrent viewers with sub-4-second latency, in-stream chat, tipping, and creator analytics - enabling creators to monetize their audience directly.
Client
A content creator platform
Industry
Media
Timeline
14 weeks
Team Size
5 engineers
Impact
Concurrent viewers supported
Live latency
Creator revenue share
Creator migration
Concurrent viewers supported: Maximum concurrent live viewers tested without degradation, up from 8,000 on the previous platform.
Live latency: Glass-to-glass latency from creator's camera to viewer's screen.
Creator revenue share: Revenue retained by creators (up from 55% on the white-label platform).
Creator migration: Creators migrated from the white-label platform within the first two months.
“Our top creator nearly left because the old platform crashed during a 10K viewer stream. Now we handle 50K without a hiccup, and creators keep 85 cents on every dollar. Retention problem solved.”
The Challenge
The creator platform was built on a white-label system that crashed above 8,000 concurrent viewers during popular live streams, causing their highest-earning creators to threaten migration to competing platforms.
Live stream latency averaged 18-22 seconds, making real-time interaction between creators and their audience during live Q&A and gaming streams effectively impossible.
The white-label platform took a 45% cut of creator earnings, but the creator platform had no power to negotiate because they didn't own the streaming infrastructure.
What We Built
Built a custom live streaming pipeline using WebRTC for ingest and HLS for distribution that delivers sub-4-second glass-to-glass latency while supporting 50,000+ concurrent viewers through edge-based CDN distribution.
Created an in-stream chat system with real-time moderation (keyword filters, slow mode, subscriber-only mode, user bans) that stays synchronized with the live video feed despite the latency gap between WebRTC ingest and HLS distribution.
Developed a creator monetization system with channel subscriptions (monthly recurring), one-time tips during live streams (with on-screen alerts), and pay-per-view events - with 85% revenue share to creators and instant payouts via Stripe Connect.
Built a creator dashboard showing real-time viewer counts, engagement metrics (chat activity, tips, new subscribers), viewer retention graphs for VOD content, and revenue analytics with payout history.
Related Work
Low-latency live streaming uses WebRTC for ingest (camera to server) and optimized HLS/DASH for distribution (server to viewers). The key techniques are chunked transfer encoding with 1-2 second segments (instead of the standard 6-second), edge caching close to viewers, and preloading the next segment before the current one finishes. This achieves 3-5 second latency at scale.
Next Step
One call with a founder. No sales team, no follow-up sequence. If we can't help, we'll say so.