This is also what prompted YouTube to derive revenue from advertising rather then charging content creators who want to upload video. In the case of YouTube, power laws have inverted the relationship with content creators: it's in YT's interest to not charge at all. A free to use / consume platform has turned YT into a commons which captures large audiences which drive advertising revenue.
Vimeo went into the opposite direction. They have a tiered pricing model charging for the use of the features and tools they offer. However, they pivoted away from catering to a large and diverse audience. Instead they focus on B2B communication. Vimeo is excellent for professional videographers or marketing agencies publishing video content.
The take away here is that the expense of processing and publishing video isn't going to lower dramatically in the short run. As hardware became ever more powerful over the past 2 decades, the demand for high-quality video has paced along in lockstep: 1080p, 4K,... So, the costs associated with hosting high quality content haven't dropped significantly in that regard. There's not much you can change about that.
What you do control is the business model you develop to cover the costs of hosting content. And that means finding a profitable market and asserting a good product/service fit up front, if you can.
Instead of building an app "to make it easier for developers to upload, process, and deliver media in their apps", OP ought to think beyond developers, and rather direct themselves to those who are either producing or consuming content.
Another way of thinking about this might be: Which problem really is getting solved? And whose problem really is it? Is it hosting audiovisual bitstreams? Is it processing? Is it just providing an at-the-ready API which allows users to just easily upload and embed audiovisual material everywhere without even requiring any technical knowledge?
The latter, by the way, already exists in several forms on the Web - e.g. https://oembed.com/ - which is already implemented in e.g. WordPress and supported by large social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube.
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This is also what prompted YouTube to derive revenue from advertising rather then charging content creators who want to upload video. In the case of YouTube, power laws have inverted the relationship with content creators: it's in YT's interest to not charge at all. A free to use / consume platform has turned YT into a commons which captures large audiences which drive advertising revenue.
Vimeo went into the opposite direction. They have a tiered pricing model charging for the use of the features and tools they offer. However, they pivoted away from catering to a large and diverse audience. Instead they focus on B2B communication. Vimeo is excellent for professional videographers or marketing agencies publishing video content.
The take away here is that the expense of processing and publishing video isn't going to lower dramatically in the short run. As hardware became ever more powerful over the past 2 decades, the demand for high-quality video has paced along in lockstep: 1080p, 4K,... So, the costs associated with hosting high quality content haven't dropped significantly in that regard. There's not much you can change about that.
What you do control is the business model you develop to cover the costs of hosting content. And that means finding a profitable market and asserting a good product/service fit up front, if you can.
Instead of building an app "to make it easier for developers to upload, process, and deliver media in their apps", OP ought to think beyond developers, and rather direct themselves to those who are either producing or consuming content.
Another way of thinking about this might be: Which problem really is getting solved? And whose problem really is it? Is it hosting audiovisual bitstreams? Is it processing? Is it just providing an at-the-ready API which allows users to just easily upload and embed audiovisual material everywhere without even requiring any technical knowledge?
The latter, by the way, already exists in several forms on the Web - e.g. https://oembed.com/ - which is already implemented in e.g. WordPress and supported by large social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube.