Tech to use for your Front-end OTT apps in 2022

Are you still relying on your rockstar and ninja developers for maintaining that 10 year old legacy code? The world of media and OTT doesn’t stand still, and neither should you. If there was ever a good time to update your technology stack, it was yesterday. The second-best time is right now. So let’s not waste any more time, and dive straight into some of the technology that may shape your front-end OTT apps in 2022.

Cross-platform magic

Why build something twice, if you can also do it once and serve many different platforms? That’s the premise of some of the more popular front-end technology stacks out there. You might even still be using this principle in the form of Cordova, or its more recent spiritual successor, Capacitor.

Cross-platform technology is a great way to be able to offer a seamless experience across, well, multiple platforms. You can offer the same experience, with the same backend integrations, and the same overall technology. The only thing you have to do is make sure it’s tested and runs properly on all your target devices.

Mind you, it’s very easy to make a claim and say that cross-platform development will work well for you. There is no guarantee, unless you try to execute it well. You’ll have to make careful considerations as to what kind of devices you’ll support. Mobile apps and website are relatively easy to support, as many people have experience with these kind of devices. But add in for example Smart TVs like Android TV, and you’ll end up having to deal with a whole lot more: focus paths, memory management, you name it.

Still, cross platform development is a great asset that will allow you to do rapid development for several platforms at once. Doing so can save you time, resources, and reduces the amount of technical dept you might be building. You only have to maintain a single technology stack after all.

Available frameworks for cross-platform development

If the idea of cross-platform development has sparked an interest, that means you want to know where to start. In principle there are two different paths to take, at least from my perspective.

React Native