Subsplash Live differs from many other platforms in a few key ways, one is that a live stream must be scheduled beforehand for it to be distributed to your viewers.
You can send a live feed from your encoder to your Subsplash Live ingest point at any time of the day and any day of the week, but if that live feed isn't happening within the context of a scheduled live stream, it won't be seen by the public in any way.
This means you can easily test your system whenever you want, without needing to schedule test streams or worrying about your tests being visible on your website or app.
When to Schedule
You can schedule whenever you want, so long as it is at least 3 minutes before you intend to go live! However, we recommend scheduling further in advance if you can, ideally more than 7 days in advance. Because the next upcoming live stream will often be advertised on your website or app with a countdown timer, having more than 7 days' worth of streams on your schedule means that even if you only do one stream per week, there will always be something for the countdown timer to display.
We've made this process simple with the release of Repeating Live Streams, for which you can create a template and then our system can schedule all the live streams at the optimal time based on your template!
How to Schedule
Start by navigating to the Live section within your Dashboard and select Create Live Stream in the upper-right corner. Then, proceed through the following steps:
Initial Modal
Here, you may set the following:
Title: enter a title for your stream. This title will be seen in your app and on your website, as well as relayed to any chosen syndication destinations. It will also be made the title of the on-demand recording which will become available in your media library once the stream ends.
Media Series (optional): if you select a media series here, the recording for the scheduled stream will be automatically added to that series once the stream ends and the recording is made available in your media library.
Occurrence Type: choose between creating a one-time stream or a template for repeating streams.
Stream Event Details
Here you can set the details of the one-time stream or the repeating live stream template that you're creating. Live streams can have many details, but most are optional.
Schedule
Date/time: enter the start and end times for your live stream. If this stream is a one-time stream, you'll also enter the start and end dates for the stream; if this is a repeating live stream template, you'll choose which days of the week this template will repeat.
Publish time: this determines how far in advance your scheduled live stream will be displayed on your app and your website in the form of a countdown.
Stream End behavior: this determines if the on-demand recording for the stream will be automatically set visible or left invisible to the public once it is made available in your media library.
Syndication
Facebook: if you have connected your Facebook account, you can enable Facebook syndication for this stream and choose the page where the stream should be displayed. See this article for more info.
YouTube: if you have connected your YouTube account, you can enabled YouTube syndication for this stream and choose the privacy level of the stream on YouTube. See this article for more info.
Chat
If your package includes Live Chat, you can enable Live Chat for this stream.
Designate chat hosts after filling out and saving the rest of the info to avoid losing your progress!
Push Notification
You can enable a convenient reminder notification to be sent to your app users just before the scheduled start of the stream. You can also choose exactly how far in advance the notification should be sent and what the message should say. This notification will be sent to all mobile app users who are opted into the "General" notifications channel. See this article for more info.
Basic Info
The Basic Info section is only available on one-time streams or the individual occurrences of repeating live stream templates. This section is identical to what can be found in any Subsplash on-demand media item, and in fact the info entered here will be carried over to the on-demand item containing your live stream's recording once it is made available in your media library. All the fields in this section are optional. Most fields will only apply to Subsplash, but the description field will be relayed to any chosen syndication destination along with the title.
Artwork & Media Series
On the right side of the page, you can set the artwork and the media series for this live stream. Like the Basic Info section above, these will be carried over to the on-demand media item once the stream ends.
Save
Once you've filled out all the info you want, click the blue Schedule button to commit this stream to your schedule! Alternatively, if you're scheduling a one-time stream and want to return to it later to continue adding info, click Save Draft.
Even if you have already clicked Schedule to commit your live stream to the schedule, you can always go back and make changes later, right up until the stream goes live. Therefore, it is not necessary to click Save Draft if you still want the ability to make changes later. In almost every circumstance, it is recommended to use Schedule over Save Draft.