Product engineering and modernization

Paramount+

Global streaming platform engineering for ViacomCBS

2019 - 2021
ViacomCBS
iOS, Android, Apple TV

Project overview

Paramount+ brought content from CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, and Smithsonian Channel into one global streaming product.

During the Viacom-CBS merger, our engineers worked as an extension of the internal ViacomCBS team to develop and maintain the Paramount+ applications across iOS, Android, and Apple TV. We participated directly in planning, code review, release coordination, and architectural decisions.

Our work focused on protected 4K HDR playback, adaptive streaming, offline downloads, authentication, and consistent viewing state across supported devices.

50M+
Global Downloads
3
Platforms
4K
HDR Streaming
Paramount+ App Showcase

Our role

Technical contributions and key deliverables

Native Mobile Development

  • Architected and developed native iOS features using Swift 5+ with VIPER clean architecture pattern for maintainable, testable codebase with reactive programming patterns
  • Implemented FairPlay DRM-protected video player integration supporting 4K HDR playback with adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS/DASH) and offline download capabilities
  • Built resilient offline downloads with content-expiration management, storage optimization, and background sync for premium subscribers across all platforms
  • Optimized rendering performance and memory management for smooth 4K streaming on resource-constrained mobile devices with adaptive quality switching

Enterprise Collaboration

  • Integrated directly with ViacomCBS internal engineering teams across Los Angeles, New York, and London offices in scaled agile framework (SAFe)
  • Participated in daily standups, bi-weekly sprint planning, and quarterly roadmap alignment sessions with product and engineering leadership
  • Conducted thorough code reviews, established coding standards, and mentored junior developers on iOS and Android best practices with documentation
  • Coordinated closely with client QA organization on test strategy, automation frameworks, and release validation across extensive device matrix

Technical Implementation

  • Integrated Braze SDK for sophisticated push notification campaigns, in-app messaging, and user engagement analytics with A/B testing capabilities
  • Implemented NewRelic for comprehensive crash analytics, performance monitoring, and real-time alerting with custom instrumentation and dashboards
  • Established CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins and Fastlane for automated building, testing, and deployment to TestFlight and Google Play Console
  • Managed beta deployment programs through TestFlight (iOS) and AppCenter (Android) with phased rollouts and crash-free release monitoring

Streaming & DRM

  • Implemented FairPlay (iOS/tvOS), Widevine (Android), and FairPlay Streaming (Apple TV) with secure key exchange and MPAA-compliant content protection
  • Built adaptive bitrate streaming with intelligent buffer management and quality-switching algorithms that preserve uninterrupted playback
  • Created multi-device synchronization system with conflict resolution, offline-first architecture, and background synchronization for watch state and favorites
  • Integrated TV Provider Authentication for cable subscriber access with SAML/OAuth flows and entitlement verification across all supported platforms

Engineering challenges

Complex problems we solved during development

DRM & Content Protection

  • Challenge: Premium Hollywood content required MPAA-compliant DRM protection across multiple platforms with zero tolerance for security breaches
  • Solution: Implemented FairPlay (iOS), Widevine (Android), and FairPlay Streaming (Apple TV) with secure key exchange, certificate pinning, and hardware-backed keystore
  • Result: MPAA-compliant content protection with zero security breaches during production operation and successful studio audits

4K Streaming Performance

  • Challenge: Delivering 4K HDR content on mobile devices with varying network conditions and limited bandwidth availability
  • Solution: Implemented adaptive bitrate streaming with intelligent buffer management, quality switching algorithms, and predictive pre-fetching based on network conditions
  • Result: 99.5% playback success rate with stable quality transitions, minimal rebuffering, and video start times below two seconds

Offline Download Management

  • Challenge: Managing downloaded content with licensing windows, storage constraints on mobile devices, and synchronization across multiple user profiles
  • Solution: Built content lifecycle management system with automatic expiration, intelligent storage optimization, download queuing, and background refresh for expired content
  • Result: Efficient storage utilization with 40% reduction in cache size through intelligent compression and 99.2% download success rate

Multi-Device Synchronization

  • Challenge: Maintaining watch state, favorites, continue-watching, and user preferences across iOS, Android, Apple TV, web, and smart TV platforms
  • Solution: Implemented real-time sync with conflict resolution, offline-first architecture with background synchronization, and event-driven state propagation
  • Result: Seamless cross-device experience with <2 second sync latency, 99.9% data consistency, and graceful degradation on poor connections

Technical Stack

Technologies, frameworks, and tools

iOS & tvOS

Swift 5+ Objective-C VIPER MVVM RxSwift Combine AVKit AVFoundation FairPlay DRM SwiftLint XCTest TestFlight

Android

Kotlin Java 8+ MVVM Jetpack Compose Coroutines Flow ExoPlayer Widevine DRM Room AppCenter

Backend & DevOps

Jenkins Fastlane Bitbucket GitHub Enterprise Docker Kubernetes CI/CD AWS CloudFront Akamai CDN

Integrations

Braze NewRelic Helpshift Google Analytics Adobe Analytics DRM (FairPlay/Widevine) CDN HLS/DASH TV Provider Auth

Project Outcomes

Measurable results and achievements

Market Performance

  • 50M+ downloads across iOS and Android platforms within first year of launch
  • Top 10 Entertainment app in 40+ countries at launch across global markets
  • 4.5+ star average rating across App Store and Google Play platforms

Streaming Performance

  • 99.5% playback success rate across all supported devices and platforms
  • <2 second video start time on standard broadband connections
  • 4K HDR streaming support on compatible devices with adaptive bitrate

Technical Excellence

  • 99.9% crash-free session rate in production environment
  • <200ms API response time for content browsing and search
  • 40% reduction in app size through code optimization and asset compression

Industry Recognition

  • Featured by Apple in "Best New Apps" and "Editor's Choice" editorial collections
  • Featured by Google in "Top New Apps" on Play Store with prominent placement
  • Successfully supported major content launches (Star Trek, NFL, Paramount originals)

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