Native streaming app development

VH1

Music and reality TV streaming for ViacomCBS

2019 - 2021

ViacomCBS

iOS, Android

Project overview

The VH1 mobile apps brought reality series, music programming, documentaries, and live TV into a native viewing experience with discovery, watchlists, and personalized recommendations.

Our team developed the iOS and Android applications alongside ViacomCBS product and engineering groups. We worked within their planning, architecture review, QA, and release practices to support both product goals and enterprise streaming requirements.

Engineering focused on HLS and DASH playback, FairPlay and Widevine protection, TV-provider authentication, viewing-state synchronization, and production analytics. The application also integrated Braze for targeted engagement while following ViacomCBS content-security and measurement standards.

12M+

Combined Downloads

Platforms

99.5%

Playback Success

Our role

Technical contributions and key deliverables

Native Mobile Development

Built native iOS app with Swift 5+, AVKit/AVFoundation for smooth 1080p playback and background audio support with reactive programming patterns
Developed Android app using Kotlin with ExoPlayer integration for adaptive streaming and Picture-in-Picture with coroutine-based async operations
Implemented watchlist, favorites, and continue-watching functionality with local persistence using Core Data (iOS) and Room (Android)
Engineered offline download capabilities with encrypted storage, expiration policies, and background sync for premium content access

Enterprise Collaboration

Coordinated with ViacomCBS product and engineering teams via Agile sprints, Jira tracking, and bi-weekly stakeholder reviews across distributed teams
Partnered with content operations to implement dynamic show metadata, episode scheduling, and promotional campaign integration with CMS
Collaborated with UX researchers on engagement-optimized navigation, personalization flows, and A/B testing for conversion optimization
Worked with DevOps to establish CI/CD pipelines using Fastlane, Jenkins, and automated testing across comprehensive device farm matrices

Technical Implementation

Integrated Braze for personalized push notifications, in-app messages, and engagement campaign targeting with A/B testing capabilities
Deployed New Relic for real-time performance monitoring, crash reporting, and streaming quality analytics with custom dashboards
Implemented Firebase Analytics for user journey tracking, feature adoption measurement, and retention funnel analysis
Established automated regression testing with XCTest, Espresso, and snapshot testing for UI consistency across OS versions

Streaming & Authentication

Implemented TV Provider Authentication with OAuth 2.0 flows, provider discovery, token caching, and SAML integration for reliable subscriber sign-in
Integrated multi-DRM protection (FairPlay/Widevine) with license server integration, certificate pinning, and secure key exchange for premium content
Optimized adaptive bitrate streaming with custom ABR logic for variable mobile network conditions and intelligent buffer management
Enabled live TV integration with a real-time program guide, DVR-like controls, uninterrupted episode transitions, and broadcast-quality streaming

Engineering challenges

Complex problems we solved during development

Multi-DRM Integration

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

Streaming Performance

Challenge: Delivering consistent 1080p streaming 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
Result: 99.5% playback success rate with stable quality transitions, minimal rebuffering, and video start times below three seconds

TV Provider Authentication

Challenge: Supporting 50+ cable/satellite providers with different OAuth implementations and entitlement verification systems
Solution: Built unified authentication layer with provider detection, SAML/OAuth abstraction, cached entitlement validation, and fallback flows
Result: 99.3% authentication success rate with <5 second login time across all supported providers

Cross-Platform Sync

Challenge: Maintaining watch state, favorites, and continue-watching across iOS, Android, 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, 99.8% data consistency, and graceful degradation on poor connections