External Streaming Platform Setup Details Subject to Changes. If Instructions Do Not Match Contact an Agile Support Representative for Assistance.
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Virtual Shows in Agile
Virtual Shows are an exciting new feature of the Agile Ticketing Solutions software. Customers are now able to view virtual films, live streams, and virtual discussions by using the same process as buying a ticket to an in-person Show at one of your organization’s venues. Virtual Shows allow your organization to control how long a customer has access to a virtual film link, connect VOD to members’/passholders’ benefits, and let your customers watch on any device that has access to an internet connection and a web browser.
Creating Virtual Shows in Agile Ticketing
First, you will need to decide where you will want to set up your virtual Shows. You can build your templates and your Shows in existing folders, or you can create a new blue sales folder just for virtual Shows.
Building a Digital Screening Room Template.
Because Virtual Shows may require a different Sales Line Type than in-person Shows, you will need to create a specific Digital Screening Room Template.
- In the sales folder, select Template.
- Right-click in the Template area and select New.
- Select the ellipsis button. In the field, type Streaming and click Add New.
- Click the ellipsis button next to the Venue. Create a venue called Digital Screening Room or Virtual Theater.
- Add a Template Name in the field provided.
- Select the Delivery Tab.
- Check the box next to the Streaming Delivery Method. Then, click Apply and OK.
- Next, right-click in the Tier/Inventory area and select New Tier.
- For the Sales Line Type drop-down list, select Streaming Event.
- Select the Tier Name.
- Add the Initial Default Inventory for the number of views you will be selling for the streaming.
- Click Apply and OK to save the information.
- Next, you will build the prices that you will be using in this show. This should include any promotions or member benefit prices. To learn more about building prices, see Creating a Price. To learn how to create a new streaming benefit so that members and passholders can access discounted streaming prices, see the Member Benefits section of Creating Member Benefit Groups and Adding Member Benefits.
Building a Virtual Show
A streamed show is mostly built just like any other show (see Building an Individual Show for further instructions if necessary), but there are a few key additional steps you must take to make sure the streamed show displays correctly online:
Setting Your Show's Streaming Properties
The Streaming Properties define how a streamed show functions. In the Streaming Properties tab of the streamed show, you will see these options below:
- Stream Type: This is the property where you will specify which video platform will stream the Show. Each platform will display a different second step to associate the Video Asset with the event:
- AgileLINK - A video stream encrypted through CineSend but managed by Agile.
- When you select this option you will need to click the "Create/Email Upload Request" button.
- This will generate the Upload Request email along with a link for navigating to the upload page.
- If you need a distributor to upload the video, you can put in your distributor's contact email and hit the send button for them to be able to access the upload page.
- If you have the video you are wanting to upload you can copy the link and navigate to it within a browser window.
- Click the "Upload From Computer" button and select your Film.
- Keep the Tab/Window open until the page gives you a green checkmark indicating the upload is finished.
- Once you see the checkmark, you can close the Tab/Window
- In Agile you will now see the phrase "Status: Requested" beside the Upload button. This will update with "Encoding" while the video is Encoding and will have "Published" when the film is ready to view
- Subtitles must be uploaded separately. If you need to have Subtitles added to your Show please contact your Agile Support Representative. The supported file formats are XML, VTT, SRT, WVTT, and ITML.
- AgileLINK Voucher - This video stream will give the customer a code at the end of the purchase process that they can use either online or on an OTT app. The defined watch window begins upon the finalization of the order.
- Set-up is the same as above.
- CineSend - A standard CineSend video stream.
- Requires an Asset ID that can be obtained from your CineSend account.
- For instructions on how to setup your CineSend Account according to Agile best practices click here
- CineSend Voucher - This CineSend video stream will give the customer a code at the end of the purchase process that they can use either online or on an OTT app. The defined watch window begins upon the finalization of the order.
- Requires an Asset ID that can be obtained from your CineSend account.
- For instructions on how to setup your CineSend Account according to Agile best practices click here
- Brightcove - A standard Brightcove video stream.
- Requires an Asset ID that can be obtained from your Brightcove account.
- ExternalURL - After a customer has purchased a ticket and the system has made sure that the window is valid, the customer will be redirected to "Site URL."
- You must provide the URL.
- EmbedURL - After a customer had purchased a ticket, "Site URL" will be used as the source of an embedded iFrame element, i.e., "Site URL" will be embedded onto an Agile streaming page.
- You must provide the URL.
- PurchaseURL - After a customer clicks the "Click to Stream" button, the customer will be redirected to "StreamingSiteURL."
- You must provide the URL.
- Vimeo - A standard Vimeo video stream.
- You will need to provide the Asset ID for the video stream. This is the number located at the end of the Vimeo link (e.g. https://vimeo.com/4xxxxxxx4).
- For instructions on how to setup your Vimeo Account according to Agile best practices click here
- VimeoLive - A Vimeo Live live stream.
- You will need to provide the Asset ID for the video stream. This is the number located at the end of the Vimeo link (e.g. https://vimeo.com/4xxxxxxx4).
- For instructions on how to setup your Vimeo Account according to Agile best practices click here
- VimeoShowcase - A Vimeo Showcase (an embeddable Vimeo playlist).
- You will need to provide the Asset ID for the video stream. This is the number located at the end of the Vimeo link (e.g. https://vimeo.com/4xxxxxxx4).
- For instructions on how to setup your Vimeo Account according to Agile best practices click here
- ZoomMeeting - A Zoom Meeting which participants do not have to sign into or use a registration link to access.
- The Asset ID is the Meeting Number you are given when scheduling a meeting.
After selecting a Stream Type and assigning a video asset to the show, you can change the Optional Settings from their defaults (as defined in System Control) for more granular control over your shows. These Optional Settings include:
- Viewing Window - This determines at what point in time customers may begin streaming this Show. There are different options available:
- OpenToAll: The customer must sign in to their account with your organization to access the streaming, but they are not required to purchase a ticket. They may watch the stream at any time until the number of "Hours" after the End Date defined for each of the Show's Sales Channels at the Showing level. For example, if Hours were to 2 and the End Date of the Sales Channel were set to May 15 at 5:00 PM, then the customer would be able to watch the stream until May 15 at 7:00 PM. If Hours is 0, the Sales Channel End Date would be the hard stop for streaming on this Show.
- OpenToMembers: A customer must sign in with an active membership to view the stream. They may watch the stream at any time until the specified number of "Hours" after the End Date defined for the Show's Sales Channels at the Showing level. If Hours is 0, the Sales Channel End Date would be the hard stop for streaming on this Show.
- PurchaseDate: Once a customer has purchased a ticket to the stream, they may watch the stream until the number of "Hours" have passed after the time of purchase. For example, if Hours were set to 72, then the customer would have 72 hours after they bought access to the stream to watch it.
- FirstWatch: Once a customer has clicked the Play button on the Streaming Welcome Page for the first time, they may watch the stream until the time defined by "Hours" has passed. For example, if Hours were set to 24, then the customer would have 24 hours after they clicked the Play button to watch the stream. This is the default.
- StartDate: A customer must commit to beginning the first time and has however many "Hours" you define from that time to complete.
- EndDate: Customer can watch the stream any time after purchase until however many "Hours" you define after the end date of the showing.
- Hours - The amount of hours customers have before their streaming link is no longer valid.
- You can define any number for the hours or leave it at default, which is 50 hrs.
- Purchase Prompt - The text inputted into this property will appear on the button customers click to purchase a ticket to the stream. If no text is inputted, Purchase Prompt will default to "Buy Tickets."
- Watch Prompt - The text inputted into this property will appear on the button customers click to stream this Show. If no text is inputted, Watch Prompt will default to "Click to Stream."
- Geo Blocking - Allows you to set Geo Blocking on Shows. The Geo Blocked area is based upon the Address that is defined in the Organization Properties window. The options are:
- Default, set at the System Control node and can be disabled or the same as the other below settings
- Same State
- Same Country
- US & Canada
- Zip Radius (miles)
Creating a Virtual Showing
With streamed shows, you will generally only need to make one showing that spans the length of the entire streaming period. You will also need to make sure to set the "Content Delivery" switch to "Streaming/Virtual". For more information check out Building an Individual Virtual Showing.
Once you have created a Showing for a streamed show, there are two things to keep in mind:
I. The Showing's Duration
In the General Tab of the Showing's Properties, you will see that you can adjust a Showing's Duration. With a regular in-person show, you would set a Showing's Duration to be the run-time of the show. With a streamed show, however, the Duration determines the period of time when customers may access and view the show. Therefore, the Duration must be set to the entire length of time when customers are able to access the stream. If a streamed show should be accessible for 15 days and 20 minutes, then its Duration should be 360 hours and 20 minutes.
However, online the duration of the event will be displayed as the full length of the duration in minutes. If you wish to change this to make the displayed duration reflective of the length of the film you can manually set an End Date by using the Override option.
It may also be helpful to check the box next to Show End Date. This will allow customers to see the total length of the streaming period online. You may also check the box next to "Show time with date" to make the exact time display.
Note: If a streamed show does not display online even when you have set its duration to its full run-time, the next step would be to look at the Properties of the entry point that should house that show. If a streamed show's Duration exceeds its End Date Offset, the show will not display correctly. For example, if the show's Duration is 9999 hours but the entry point only displays shows up to 12 (only about 8765 hours) months in the future, the show will not appear on the entry point.
II. The Showing's Sales Channel Dates
Just like with any other Show, you may set a streamed show's on- and off-sale dates in the Sales Channels tab of the Showing's Properties. However, the Viewing Window may make it so that a customer may continue to watch a streamed show after that show's End Date has passed.
It all depends on the Viewing Window and Hours set for the streamed show in the Streaming Properties at the Show level. For example, say that a streamed film's Viewing Window is set to FirstWatch, its Hours is set to 48 hours, and its off-sale date is May 1 at 5:00 PM. If a customer only clicks the "play" button for the film on May 1 at 3:00 PM and does not refresh the window in their browser where the film is playing, they may be able to watch the stream until May 3 at 3:00 PM.
Due to certain distributors requiring strict windows of access to their content, the above example may not be ideal for all organizations. In that case, we suggest that you subtract the number of "Hours" and the actual run-time of the film from the End Date of your streamed content. If the organization streaming content in the above example wanted May 1 at 5:00 PM to be a hard cut-off date for a 2-hour streamed film, then they would set the End Date to be April 29 at 3:00 PM, 50 hours before.
In this case, it would be important to communicate to warn customers that April 29 at 3:00 PM through May 1 at 5:00 PM would be a "grace period" for them to finish watching the film. It would also be important to communicate to customers that if they refresh their browser during that grace period, they will lose access to the film.
Setting a Min and Max Per Order of 1 For Each Price
No matter how many streaming tickets a customer buys for a Show, Virtual Shows will only associate one unique streaming link with their account. To keep customers from buying more tickets than they can use, you will want to set Quantity Restrictions onto each streaming price. You can do this by opening a price's Properties, checking the boxes next to "Min Per Order" and "Max Per Order," and setting each of those values to 1.
Video Platform Details
There are several video platforms that work well for Virtual Events setup: AgileLINK, Vimeo, CineSend, Zoom, CrowdWatch, Brightcove, and others. You will need an account with one of these platforms in order to offer Virtual Events
We are in the process of creating articles that outline how to adjust the account settings for each platform to keep videos secure. As those articles are finished, they will be added below.
Note: Your organization does not necessarily need to have its own account on a video platform--for instance, you may be able to obtain Asset IDs from a distributor's Vimeo account. In that case, you will need to share these instructions with the account holder in order to make sure that the videos are embeddable on the necessary web pages.
A Note on Other Video Platforms:
In addition to Vimeo, CineSend, AgileLINK, Zoom, and CrowdCast, our developers have provided the Site URL option as a way to test other video platforms which our clients may want to use with our system.
However, Site URL is used on a case-by-case basis because it mostly does not keep customers on Agile/branded web pages. Only one of the Stream Types used with Site URL, EmbedURL, might keep customers on Agile pages through the use of an embedded iFrame. However, EmbedURL is not guaranteed to work with every video platform.
The other two Stream Types that work with Site URL (ExternalURL and PurchaseURL) work by redirecting customers away from Agile web pages to the URL of the video platform. This makes the streaming-purchase process different from the normal ticket-purchase process, so your organization would have to weigh changing the customer experience versus using a certain video platform.
With all that being said, if you have a video platform in mind which you would like to try with our system, you are free to try using ExternalURL, PurchaseURL, or EmbedURL so long as you keep in mind that it may not work as smoothly as it would with Vimeo, CineSend, AgileLINK, and Zoom.
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