Custom software for media companies, streaming platforms, content creators, and production companies that need platforms built for media -- not generic cloud infrastructure with a media skin on top.
Generic streaming infrastructure does not handle rights and licensing, multi-channel publishing, production workflow, or content monetisation in one place. We build media software that connects these systems so your team spends time on content, not on manual workarounds.
Video streaming platforms with media-specific delivery, player, subscription management, and monetisation built in
Media CMS with rights management, metadata, and multi-channel publishing to web, mobile, and connected TV
Audience engagement platforms -- comments, polls, live interaction, and loyalty mechanics
AI-powered features: content recommendation, automated subtitling and transcription, and content moderation at scale
Summary
RaftLabs builds custom software for media companies, streaming platforms, content creators, production companies, and entertainment businesses. We build video streaming platforms, media CMS with rights management, audience engagement tools, talent and casting management systems, production workflow software, content monetisation platforms, and AI-powered media features including content recommendation, automated subtitling, and content moderation.
4+Media and entertainment businesses in markets served
·StreamingContent management and rights management expertise
·100+Software products shipped
·FixedCost delivery
Media software built for content at scale, not repurposed from generic tools
Media companies have a specific set of technical problems. Content has rights attached -- territorial, windowing, platform-specific. Audiences consume across devices and expect low latency. Monetisation runs across subscriptions, pay-per-view, advertising, and bundled offers simultaneously. Publishing needs to reach web, mobile, connected TV, and social channels without a separate manual step for each.
Generic software solves none of these problems well. Rights management lives in spreadsheets. Publishing is a manual checklist. Recommendation is absent or based on recency rather than behaviour.
We build media software that handles the full operational stack -- from content ingestion and rights assignment through to delivery, audience engagement, and monetisation reporting.
What we build
Video streaming platforms
Streaming platforms built for media delivery -- adaptive bitrate video, HLS and DASH streaming protocols, and CDN configuration optimised for media content. Player development for web, iOS, Android, and connected TV. Subscription management with trial periods, plan tiers, and payment processing. Content access rules that enforce rights and licensing -- geo-blocking, windowing, and platform-specific availability. Analytics that show viewership, completion rates, and drop-off points by content and device.
Media content management systems
CMS built for media -- structured metadata, content tagging, rights and licensing fields, and asset management for video, audio, and image files. Multi-channel publishing that pushes content updates to web, mobile apps, connected TV, and partner platforms from one interface. Workflow stages for editorial review, rights clearance, and scheduling. Search and discovery tools that surface content to editorial teams without manual browsing through large content libraries.
Audience engagement platforms
Tools that give audiences a reason to stay on your platform rather than elsewhere -- comments and discussion systems, polls and interactive moments during live events, live chat with moderation controls, reaction mechanics, and fan community features. Loyalty programmes that reward consistent viewing behaviour with recognition, early access, and exclusive content. Engagement data piped into your analytics so you can see which content drives the deepest audience interaction, not just the most views.
Talent and casting management
Talent databases with searchable profiles, media reels, and availability calendars. Casting workflow tools that manage open calls, submission review, shortlisting, and offer management. Contract and clearance tracking tied to each production and talent record. Integration with scheduling and production management so confirmed casting feeds directly into call sheets and crew communication. Built for production companies that manage dozens of productions simultaneously and need a single system for talent relationships.
Production workflow management
Production management platforms that track pre-production, production, and post-production across multiple projects. Script breakdown and scheduling tools. Budget tracking against actuals by department and production. Call sheet generation and crew communication. Asset and footage management connecting on-set capture to post-production workflows. Approval workflows for script changes, budget increases, and delivery sign-offs. Designed for production companies that run parallel projects and need visibility without manual status calls.
Content monetisation platforms
Monetisation infrastructure for media -- subscription billing with dunning management, pay-per-view and rental purchase flows, ad-supported tiers with ad server integration, and bundle and bundle upgrade logic. Revenue reporting by content, territory, and monetisation model. Affiliate and referral tracking for distribution partnerships. For media companies with multiple revenue streams, a single monetisation platform that connects subscription, transactional, and advertising data in one reporting view.
Problems we solve in media and entertainment
Content rights and licensing terms tracked in spreadsheets with no automated expiry alerts
Rights agreements for a content library of any scale become unmanageable in spreadsheets. Window expiry dates pass unnoticed, territorial restrictions get applied inconsistently, and the rights team finds out a licence has lapsed when a distributor flags a breach. We build rights data models where every piece of content carries its territorial, platform, and window terms -- and where expiry triggers automated alerts before the window closes.
Production workflow -- commissioning, production, post-production -- managed across disconnected tools
Commissioning decisions live in email. Production status lives in a shared spreadsheet. Post-production jobs are tracked in a project management tool that the finance team can't see. The result is that no one has a single view of where a production is in its lifecycle. We build production workflow platforms that track a project from commission through delivery with status, budget, and sign-off history in one place.
Rights management for multi-territory distribution requiring manual deal tracking
Multi-territory distribution deals add complexity that spreadsheet-based rights tracking cannot handle reliably. Exclusive windows in one territory overlap with AVOD rights in another. Sub-licensing to regional partners creates derivative rights records that need to stay linked to the parent deal. We build rights management systems where deal terms, territorial splits, and sub-licensing chains are modelled in data -- not managed through manual lookup.
Talent and crew scheduling done through informal communication channels
Talent availability is tracked in separate spreadsheets from production schedules. Crew bookings are confirmed by phone or email with no system record until a contract is issued. Conflicts between overlapping productions go undetected until a crew member is double-booked. We build talent and crew management platforms with availability calendars, booking records, and scheduling visibility across all active productions.
Subscription and membership management for digital content not integrated with the content platform
Subscription billing runs in one system, content access rules are managed in the streaming platform, and churn analysis requires exporting data from both into a spreadsheet. A subscriber who cancels does not lose access until someone manually updates the access control list. We build subscription management systems where billing, access rules, and content entitlements are connected so access changes automatically when subscription status changes.
Ad operations and sponsor campaign tracking managed separately from content production
Sponsorship commitments made during content commissioning are not tracked in the production system. Ad server campaigns run without visibility into the editorial schedule. Sponsor deliverable reports are assembled manually at campaign end. We connect ad operations and content production data so sponsor commitments are visible during production, campaign pacing is tracked against delivery, and reporting is generated from the data rather than from manual collation.
How we work with media and entertainment businesses
We map your content types, rights structure, monetisation model, and distribution channels. For streaming platforms, we document delivery requirements -- live versus on-demand, device targets, and CDN configuration. For production companies, we map the workflow from commission through post-production delivery. Discovery output is a documented scope, not a sales deck.
We design the data model around your rights structure and content taxonomy before writing code. Rights data models and content metadata schemas are harder to change after the platform is live than before it is built. We walk you through the architecture so your team understands the decisions before development starts.
Development runs in two-week sprints. Media software has specific technical requirements -- adaptive bitrate streaming, CDN integration, DRM -- that we build and test incrementally rather than assembling at the end. Working software is available in a staging environment from week four.
We test streaming delivery across target devices and network conditions. Rights enforcement rules are tested against the access scenarios your legal team cares about -- geo-blocking, windowing, and platform exclusivity. Integration testing with ad servers, payment processors, and distribution partners runs against production credentials, not simulated endpoints.
We go live with your technical team trained on the platform. A 90-day support arrangement covers issues that emerge from real traffic. After that period, you can maintain the platform in-house, retain us for ongoing development, or both.
What to ask any media and entertainment software team
Rights and content management
Can the rights data model enforce territorial restrictions, windowing, and platform exclusivity at the point of playback?
Does the CMS support multi-channel publishing to web, mobile, and connected TV from a single interface?
How does the platform handle rights expiry -- automated access removal or manual intervention?
Can sub-licensing relationships be modelled and tracked within the rights system?
Streaming and delivery
Which streaming protocols do you support -- HLS, DASH, and adaptive bitrate?
Can the platform handle both live and on-demand content in the same CMS and player?
How is DRM implemented and which DRM systems are supported?
Delivery and ownership
Is the cost fixed before development starts, or billed by the hour?
Do you receive full source code ownership on delivery?
What is the typical delivery timeline for a content management and rights platform?
Media and entertainment software development cost
Scope
Estimated range
Timeline
Content management system
Content management system
$35,000–$70,000
10–14 weeks
Rights and licensing platform
Rights and licensing platform
$40,000–$75,000
12–16 weeks
Subscription and monetisation
Subscription and monetisation
$35,000–$65,000
10–14 weeks
Full media management platform
Full media management platform
$120,000–$250,000+
6–12 months
Frequently asked questions
Media software has three requirements that standard application development does not. First, video delivery at scale requires specific infrastructure -- adaptive bitrate streaming, CDN configuration, buffer and latency management, and device-specific player behaviour. Second, content rights are data that must be enforced in the software, not just documented elsewhere -- territorial restrictions, windowing rules, platform exclusivity, and licensing expiry all have to produce the right access decision at the point of playback. Third, media metadata is complex and volume is high -- a library of 10,000 titles with multiple formats, languages, and rights configurations needs a CMS designed for that structure, not a blog CMS with extra fields.
Yes. We build platforms that handle both. Live streaming uses a different delivery path than on-demand -- RTMP ingest from broadcasting equipment, real-time transcoding, and low-latency delivery to viewers. On-demand uses pre-transcoded content stored in cloud storage and delivered through a CDN. We build platforms where both live and on-demand content are managed from the same CMS and played back through the same player, with different delivery paths handled in the infrastructure layer. See our live streaming development work for reference.
Rights management in media software means encoding the commercial terms of a rights agreement into rules that the platform enforces at the point of content access. We build rights data models that capture the territory, platform, window, and exclusivity parameters for each piece of content. The playback system checks the user's location, device, subscription tier, and the content's rights record before authorising play. When a rights window expires, access is removed automatically. Rights data is maintained in the CMS so your rights team can update terms without a code deployment.
The most useful AI features in media are content recommendation, automated subtitling and transcription, and content moderation. Content recommendation uses viewing behaviour -- what users watch, how long, what they watch next -- to surface relevant content rather than relying on recency or editorial curation alone. Automated subtitling and transcription uses speech recognition models to produce subtitle files and transcripts at a fraction of the manual cost, with a review step for accuracy. Content moderation uses classification models to flag user-generated content for human review rather than requiring a moderator to watch everything. We scope AI features around the specific manual task they replace, so the ROI case is clear before development starts.
