Streams: live setup #

This guide takes a live broadcast from start to finish: creating the stream in the dashboard, linking your encoder, publishing, going live in Studio and ending the stream when the match is over.

Before you start #

Step 1: Create the stream #

1. Open Live Streams

   In the sidebar, under Your content, select Live Streams. At the top of the page there are two cards, Create new video stream and Create new audio stream. Select Create on the one you need.

2. Details

   Choose Fixture or Other. A fixture asks for Your Team, League, Opposition Team, Home or Away, Stadium name, Fixture Date and Fixture Time, then a Title, Description, Stream Thumbnail and optional Tags. An Other stream has no team or date fields and offers an optional "Link this stream to specific team(s) and league(s)?" picker. If configuration templates are switched on, a Configuration Template picker can fill in the title, description and thumbnail for you (see Streams: profiles and templates).

3. Rights management

   Choose where fans can watch. Apply saved DRM profiles under DRM profiles:, or move countries and continents between the available and restricted lists with Restrict and Include. See Streams: country restrictions.

4. Access & Monetisation

   Choose Plans and Pay-Per-View, Pay-Per-View only, Plans only or Free, or apply a saved profile from "Select saved monetisation profile". Switch on Private stream to hide the stream from everyone except the audience groups you pick. Private streams cannot be monetised. See Plans & pricing for what each option means, and Streams: profiles and templates for saved profiles.

5. Scheduling

   Set when the stream goes live and, if you want, switch on Enable automatic stop, or apply saved timings from "Select saved scheduling profile". See Scheduling.

6. Promotion

   Optionally promote the stream with a banner on your homepage. See Homepage & banners.

7. On Demand

   Switch on Make available On-Demand if fans should be able to watch the recording afterwards. See On-demand.

8. Complete

   Link your stream key under Stream Input, then choose how to finish. See the table below. The key is linked when you publish; Save as Draft does not keep the choice. If you publish without choosing a key, your default key is linked.

Home or Away has no default on a fixture. Continue stays disabled until you pick one, and until every required field on the step is valid. Hover over Continue to see what is missing.

If you switch between Fixture and Other after entering details, a Switch stream type? prompt warns that you will lose information you have added. Confirming clears the fields that only belong to the type you left.

How your work is saved #

• Nothing is saved until you press Continue on Details. That first Continue creates the stream.
• After that, each step saves in the background when you press Continue, and you move on straight away. If a background save fails, a pop-up message tells you your changes will be tried again on your next step.
• If you press Back or jump to another step with unsaved edits, an Unsaved Changes prompt offers Cancel, Leave Without Saving and Save & Go Back.
• To change a stream later, click its row on Live Streams to reopen the wizard. See Streams: editing and reviewing.

The Complete step #

The last step is titled Setup complete and has three buttons. What you choose decides whether fans can see the stream.

You can change visibility at any time after publishing with the eye icon on the stream's row ("Hide from fans" or "Make visible to fans"). The icon is disabled for drafts.

Step 2: Connect your encoder #

Your encoder connects through a stream key linked to the stream. If you did not pick one under Stream Input on the Complete step, link it in Studio:

1. Open Studio

   On the Live Streams page, select Live Studio on the stream's row.

2. Link the key

   In Stream Keys & Encoder Configuration, choose your key under Input and select Link Input. You see "Input device linked".

3. Enter the values in your encoder

   For an RTMP Push key, Studio shows two read-only fields as soon as you select the key: Stream URL (the server address) and Key. Select the text in each field, copy it, and paste it into the matching server and stream key fields in your encoder. Audio streams show Audio Endpoint instead of Stream URL.

Step 3: Go live #

If the stream is set to go live automatically, it starts on its own at the scheduled time. A stream set to manual go-live will not start until you press GO LIVE. You can switch between the two in Studio under GO-LIVE CONFIGURATION: before the stream is live. GO LIVE is only available for streams set to manual go-live, once the stream is ready shortly before its go-live time.

1. Open Studio

   From Live Streams, select Live Studio on the stream's row. The button shows for published streams that are upcoming, live or processing.

2. Check the preview

   Watch the centre preview. If it says "No incoming data", the feed is not arriving yet.

3. Go live

   For a manual go-live, select GO LIVE once it is available. A message confirms "Stream is live!". A stream set to automatic go-live starts on its own.

Step 4: Monitor the broadcast #

Keep Studio open during the match. From there you can:

• Watch the incoming feed in the centre preview.
• Check INCOMING BITRATE (Mbps) and the AUDIO MONITOR in the Health panel.
• Follow Watching Now, Unique Viewers (30m) and the other figures in Live Stream Analytics, which refresh every 30 seconds.
• Send an in-app notification to fans. See Studio.

Step 5: End the stream #

1. Stop the stream in Studio

   Select STOP STREAM. A message confirms "Stream stopped.". If you set an automatic stop, the stream ends on its own at that time.

2. Stop your encoder

   Stop streaming in your software or hardware encoder.

3. Let the recording process

   The stream's status changes to Processing while the recording is prepared. The recording is always kept. It becomes a replay for fans only if Make available On-Demand was switched on, from the availability time you chose.

Duplicate a stream #

Running a similar fixture every week? Duplicate an earlier stream instead of starting again.

1. Choose Duplicate

   On the Live Streams page, open the row menu on a stream and choose Duplicate. It is offered on draft, upcoming, completed and not-live streams, not on streams that are live or processing.

2. Review the copy

   The wizard opens on Details with the copy. The copy is an unsaved preview: nothing is created until you press Continue on Details.

3. Fill in what was cleared

   The copy keeps the audio or video format, teams and settings. It clears the fixture date and the go-live dates (times are kept), turns off the promotion banner, clears the On Demand title and description, and starts as a draft. Fill these in again as you go through the steps.