Independent filmmakers make remarkable work, but most of it never finds an audience. Big streaming services rarely pick up short films, regional cinema or debut features, and general video sites bury them under millions of uploads. Feni.Finance set out to change this with a connected ecosystem for independent cinema, and FeniTV is its front door.

This is the first of three case studies on Feni.Finance, one of the largest projects our team has worked on. It covers FeniTV, the video platform. The other two cover Feni Motion Pictures, the film-financing marketplace, and Feni Merchandise, the global B2B trade platform.

The brief

Feni wanted a video library where filmmakers could share movies, trailers and short stories, and where businesses could market products to the same audience. It also had to connect to the rest of the ecosystem: one account, one wallet and one search across films, content and products.

• Give independent films a premium, cinematic showcase
• Let creators publish content themselves
• Earn revenue through ads that promote Feni Merchandise sellers
• Link titles to their financing on Motion Pictures
• Serve a global audience in several languages

One ecosystem, three platforms

The visitor’s journey starts at feni.finance with a simple chooser: FeniTV (“video library to share movies and market products”), Motion Pictures (“support and connect with independent filmmakers”) and Merchandise (“explore merchandising over seven seas”). A single marketplace search below the cards looks across films, content, merchandise and products. All three platforms share user accounts, the wallet and the admin panel, so a viewer, an investor and a buyer can all be the same person with one login.

What we built

1. A cinematic home screen

FeniTV opens with a full-width hero carousel. Each slide carries a label (Spotlight Selection, Featured Spotlight or Trailer), the title, the creator’s badge, a short hook line and a Play Content button. A thumbnail strip lets viewers jump between slides. The dark interface keeps the focus on the artwork, the way a cinema does.

2. Content rows built for discovery

Below the hero, content is arranged in horizontal rows such as Motion Pictures and Live market. Every poster card shows the title, the creator and their role (Director, Producer, Writer, Financier and more), country, age rating, language and running time. The library already spans films from India, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sweden, Australia, the United States and beyond, in languages from Hindi and Kannada to Kinyarwanda, Luganda and Swedish.

3. A video player with sponsored ads

The player supports 1080p quality and playback-speed controls. Before the main content, it can play sponsored ads, with an “Ad 1 of 2” label, the sponsor’s name, a countdown and a Visit Site link. Sponsors are businesses that sell on Feni Merchandise, so FeniTV turns views into sales leads for the trade platform. This is the main link between the video and commerce sides of the ecosystem.

[IMAGE: shot-tv-3.jpg | alt: FeniTV player showing a sponsored ad from a Feni Merchandise seller]

4. Create and Advertise

Two buttons sit at the top of FeniTV. Create lets filmmakers and creators publish films, trailers and short videos with their own descriptions. Advertise lets brands set up promotions that play inside the player.

5. Creator profiles and roles

Every title links to a creator or company profile. Roles are shown on the cards, from Director and Producer to Music Composer, Editor, Publicist and Financier (MPC-holder). This puts credit where it belongs and helps producers and investors find talent.

6. A bridge to film financing

Titles that are also listed on the Motion Pictures live market carry a FeniTV badge. A viewer who enjoys a documentary can see that it has a market and follow it to Motion Pictures to support it. This is something an ordinary streaming site cannot offer.

7. Global by design

A Language menu translates the interface for viewers around the world. Join and Login support email and Google sign-in, and the same account works across FeniTV, Motion Pictures and Merchandise.

Architecture and technology

• Front end: Next.js and React, with server-side rendering and incremental static regeneration for fast, SEO-friendly pages
• Back end: Strapi, a Node.js headless CMS, exposing REST APIs for content, profiles, ads and accounts
• Authentication: email login and Google OAuth, shared across the ecosystem
• Media: optimised images through Next.js image handling, and cloud storage for posters and video assets
• Infrastructure: PM2 process management, Nginx and AWS, with separate staging and production environments

Challenges we solved

Performance at scale. FeniTV is image-heavy, with large hero artwork and dozens of poster cards per page. We used Next.js image optimisation with server-side caching and incremental static regeneration so repeat visits load quickly without re-processing images.

Ads without hurting the experience. Sponsored ads had to be visible to sponsors yet easy on viewers. A clear ad counter, a countdown and a single Visit Site action keep ads transparent and short.

One account across three apps. Each Feni platform is its own Next.js application, but users expect one login. We built shared authentication and session handling on the common Strapi backend.

The outcome

FeniTV gives independent filmmakers a premium global showcase, gives Feni Merchandise sellers an advertising channel, and links films to their financing on Motion Pictures. It is the entry point to the whole Feni.Finance ecosystem.

Frequently asked questions

Can you build a custom video streaming platform like FeniTV?

Yes. We build custom video and OTT platforms with Next.js, React and Node.js, including content libraries, creator uploads, profiles and in-player advertising.

Why Next.js and Strapi for a video platform?

Next.js gives fast, SEO-friendly pages with server rendering and image optimisation. Strapi gives the content team a flexible admin panel and clean APIs, without locking the project into a closed platform.

Can video ads promote products from another platform?

Yes. On FeniTV, sponsored ads come from Feni Merchandise sellers and link straight to their listings, which turns video views into trade leads.

Read the rest of the Feni.Finance series

Part 2: Feni Motion Pictures, the film-financing marketplace. Part 3: Feni Merchandise, the AI-assisted B2B trade platform. Planning a streaming or media platform? Talk to Alohomora Solution.