Course 6: CTV & Mobile Player Development
Build and ship video players on Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV/tvOS and React Native — the platforms where a browser-only player education runs out. Capstone: port one player's ABR/DRM logic across 2+ CTV platforms.
Prerequisites
- Completion of Module 1 (Video Player Engineering) or equivalent working knowledge of ABR playback, MSE/EME and multi-DRM concepts
- Comfortable picking up a new platform-specific API from documentation — each week introduces a different native environment
Learning Outcomes
By the end, you can build and ship a video player on Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV/tvOS, and via React Native — and know which parts of a player's ABR/DRM logic port across platforms versus which parts are genuinely platform-specific.
Weekly Curriculum
Week 1CTV Fundamentals, Samsung Tizen & LG webOS
The same player that's silky-smooth on your laptop has to survive a $30 Fire TV stick — this is where you learn why.
Why CTV is a different engineering problem: memory ceilings, weak CPUs, remote-control/D-pad input, app-store certification constraints. Samsung Tizen AVPlay API. LG webOS Luna Service API. Lab: build a basic player shell on both Tizen and webOS, playing the same HLS source.
Week 2Roku & Amazon Fire TV
Two of the biggest CTV app stores, two completely different programming models — BrightScript and Android.
Roku: BrightScript basics, SceneGraph component model. Amazon Fire TV: ExoPlayer integration, Android TV lifecycle, Fire OS quirks. Lab: build a Roku SceneGraph video screen and a Fire TV ExoPlayer integration, both playing the same ABR ladder.
Week 3Apple TV/tvOS & React Native Video
tvOS doesn't have a mouse pointer — the whole interaction model has to be rethought around a focus engine.
Apple TV/tvOS: AVFoundation/AVPlayer, FairPlay Streaming integration, the tvOS focus engine. React Native: react-native-video, bridging native player APIs into a JS app shell. Lab: integrate react-native-video with a per-platform configuration toggle.
Week 4Capstone
Same ABR ladder, same DRM keys, five completely different native shells around them.
Port a single player experience's ABR and DRM logic across at least two CTV platforms from this course, demonstrating what stays shared versus what's rebuilt per-platform. Walk through a platform-certification checklist for at least one app store.
Who It's For
OTT Platforms Expanding to CTV
Teams whose web player works fine but need to ship the same experience on Smart TVs and streaming boxes.
Cross-Platform App Engineers
React Native developers who want to add real native CTV player integration to their skill set, not just mobile.
Broadcasters Launching CTV Apps
Teams building a first-party channel presence on Roku, Fire TV or Samsung/LG smart TVs.
Continue Your Track
Pricing
Pricing depends on who's enrolling — pick the page that matches you:
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Get the full curriculum, next cohort dates and pricing.
