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How to Set Up a Video On Demand Event Instance: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1290006
In this article, we'll show you how to set up a Video On Demand Event Instance. We cover setting up a livestream separately.
Once you set up your Event Instance, you'll be able to start selling tickets in PMBO and on your PTS as per normal, and your patrons can view the content when they choose (within the parameters you define).
We'll walk you through the steps:
We'll also cover some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about VOD.
Before you begin, be sure you:
- Are familiar with Ticketable Events / Event Instances
- Enabled and configured Virtual Events
- Already set up your Ticketable Event
These steps are required, and you won't be able to proceed without them!
Setting up an Event Instance with the "Video on Demand" option
With this option, you'll upload a video file to your Event Instance, and set parameters for how long each ticket type will have access to the content. This is a three-part process: be sure to complete each part!
Note that automatic pre-show emails are not compatible with Video on Demand Event Instances.
Create the Event Instance
First things first: we need an Event Instance to hold our video.
1. Click "New" to create a new Event Instance from the Ticketable Event
2. Choose "Video on Demand" and click "Next"
3. Fill out the top section of the page normally
Most of this you'll handle the same as you would when setting up any other Event Instance, but pay special attention to the first two fields:
- Name: for a live event, this would be the performance day/date/time, but for VOD it's up to you! This will appear in the Event Instance list on the PTS, so make sure your patrons understand what they're getting.
- Instance Date: since your patrons will watch at varying times, this is a bit arbitrary (similar to the Instance Date for a subscription package). Remember that you can't sell tickets online after the Instance Date, so be sure to set it far enough in the future; the end of the year or the end of your season is a good guideline.
Is this VOD a part of a fixed subscription? If so, keep in mind that the order your events appear in your patrons' Confirmation Emails is determined by the Instance Date. If that order matters to you, make sure to set your VOD Instance Date in relation to the other events in your subscription!
4. Fill in the "Virtual Event Information" fields as appropriate, and save
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Video Availability Start Date: the date/time that patrons will first be able to access the video with their ticket.
- Overrides ticket validity; no one can access the video prior to this date/time.
- Useful if you don't yet have the video to upload, but you want to start selling tickets early.
- Be careful not to sell tickets with "purchase date" validity that could expire before this date.
-
Video Availability End Date: the date/time that this video will no longer be available to view.
- Overrides ticket validity; no one can access the video after this date/time.
- Useful for restricting access to the specific period during which you have rights to the content (for example, the duration of a theatre run).
- Be sure to set the Instance Date and/or the Sale End Date appropriately, so that patrons won't be able to purchase tickets to a video that's no longer available.
- Donation Label: the word that will appear on the player page above an embedded donation form (if you select one below).
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Donation Form: the PatronManager Donation Form that will be embedded on the player page when the patron views the video.
- Patrons will be able to minimize the side panel/set the video to fullscreen.
- You can only select an active, Donation Form
-
Mid-Stream Content: a rich text field that appears below the player during the video
- A great place for your logo!
- A good place to suggest other content the patron might enjoy, offer discount codes, etc.
Click and drag the bottom right corner of the rich text editor field to adjust your visible editing space!
5. Save!
Upload your video
You can save this step for later if you don't yet have your video - but don't forget!
1. Get your video file ready
You can upload a file in one of two ways:
-
Option 1: upload directly from your computer
- You'll need a single video file, and you'll need to wait for it to finish uploading. We recommend using a computer with stable, fast internet to help this process go smoothly.
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Option 2: upload via URL
- You'll need a direct URL to your video file, hosted on your website or a service like Dropbox. It can't be password-protected, and it must be the actual file (not a link to a service like YouTube).
Q: Why choose to upload via URL?
A: This method can be more reliable for large files, since it doesn't depend on your computer or your internet speed and you won't need to stay logged in to PatronManager for the entire upload process.
2. Click "Upload Video" on the Event Instance
You'll find this button in the "Virtual Event Information" section, here:
3. Choose how you'll upload your file, and click "Next"
1. Click "OK" on the warning pop-up
2. Click "browse" and select your video file
You'll choose the video file from its location on your computer and click "Open". The file window that appears will only display video files.
Note that you can only upload one file to the Event Instance.
3. Click "Upload 1 file"
The green button will appear once you've selected a video file to upload.
4. Wait for it to finish
This can take some time depending on your internet speed and the file size. Keep the window open to allow the upload to complete.
Once the upload finishes, the page will hang for a few seconds and then automatically return to the Event Instance page, no clicking required.
Q: what if I realized I'm uploading the wrong file?
A: You can click the "X" on the right side of the progress bar to cancel the upload, then select a different file and try again.
1. Enter the complete URL to your file, and click "Next"
You need a link to the file itself (not a player like YouTube), without password protection. We recommend Dropbox (without a password on the file), or hosting the raw file on your own website.
Note that not all file sharing services can generate a URL that works for VOD upload; for example, Google Drive and WeTransfer will not work.
4. Back on the Event Instance, refer to the Video Upload Status field
The Video Upload Status field will start off as "Processing", and will remain there until the video encoding process completes. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the video.
When the video is finished and ready to view, it will change to "Complete"
If there are any issues encoding the file, it will change to "Failed". If that happens, check your file and try your upload again.
Once the file status is "Complete", you can preview it by opening the Control Panel:
Upload Closed Captions (optional)
Once your video upload is complete, you can add one or more closed caption and/or subtitle tracks.
1. Have your caption file(s) ready
You'll need an SRT or WebVTT file for each caption track you plan to add. For example, if you want to add subtitles in Spanish and French, you'll upload a separate file for each.
2. Open the Control Panel on your VOD Event Instance
3. Scroll down to the "Subtitles" section and click "Upload"
4. Complete the pop-up as follows
- Language - set the language for your caption track
-
Subtitles checkbox - check this box if your caption track is designed for use by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing audiences.
- These captions include indications of who is speaking and relevant sound effects (as opposed to alternate-language subtitles for translation purposes).
- Choose File - click to select a file from your computer
- Submit - click to confirm your selections and upload your file
5. You can add and remove caption tracks as needed
6. When a video includes captions, patrons will see a caption indicator in the viewing window:
Exact appearance may vary by device/browser.
Set up ticket types
You'll control the duration of a patron's access to the video using special fields on the Ticket Allocation.
If you want to sell different levels of access (for example, subscribers have access for the whole season, while single ticket buyers can choose between a 3-hour "watch once" option and a "48-hour rental"), you'll create a separate Allocation for each.
1. Click "New Ticket Allocation"
2. Fill out the fields as follows
Most of this you'll handle the same as you would when setting up any other Ticket Allocation, but pay special attention to the first three fields:
- Allocation Name: use this to help the buyer understand what kind of access they'll have
-
Validity Period (Hours): the number of hours tickets in this Allocation will be valid before they expire. Here are some handy numbers for longer timeframes:
- One week = 168 hours
- One month = 730 hours
- One year = 8760 hours
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Starting From: the point at which the Validity Period begins.
- Purchase Date = the date/time the Ticket Order Item is created (for reservations, note that this is when the ticket is added to the order, not when the order is completed)
- First-Viewed Date = the date/time the patron first clicks through to view the content (whether or not they watch the whole thing)
Note that you will not be able to change the validity rules for an Allocation after tickets have been sold.
Instead, you can change that Allocation's Sale Status to "Not for Sale" and create a new Allocation with the new validity rules.
The two "Starting From" options exist to give you maximum flexibility, but we recommend consistency across your events. Be sure your patrons understand what they're buying: use the Allocation Name and the Event Instance Detail to clarify as much as possible.
3. Click "Save and create level"
4. Create at least one Price Level in order to sell tickets
From here, you can set up Public, Private, and Subscription Price Levels as you would for any other Event Instance.
Frequently asked questions
They should already have their ticket link from their original purchase - it came with their confirmation email.
However, it's a great idea to resend that link when the VOD becomes available! No one wants to scour their email for a ticket they already bought. You have two options:
- If you need to resend the ticket links to everyone who purchased a ticket to the virtual Event Instance and you sold less than ~2,000 tickets to it, you can use Automated Communications and include the Virtual Event Access Link in your email template; the process is similar to sending a cancellation email.
- If you need to resend the ticket links to everyone who purchased a ticket to the virtual Event Instance and you sold more than ~2,000 tickets to it, you can send it via Emma/MailChimp.
If you use PatronPortal, remember that your Portal users can also find their virtual ticket links from their Order history.
Video On Demand offers the same concurrency protection as "Livestream (RTMP)", which means each ticket link can only be used to view the content on one device at a time.
Beyond that, access control for VOD is time-based: a patron can watch the content as many times as they'd like within their ticket's validity period.
Wait, so can patrons share their VOD ticket link with others, or not?
Think of it this way:
- If I want to watch "Hamthello On Demand" with my friend in the same room on the same device, I need one ticket.
- If I want to watch "Hamthello On Demand" with my friend across town (and talk on the phone while we watch, let's say), we need two separate tickets.
- If I buy a "48-hour rental" of "Hamthello On Demand", I could watch it myself, then forward the link to a friend, and they could watch it after me, etc. Access control prevents concurrent views, but unlimited consecutive views are possible within that 48-hour period.
You could offer only "one-time rentals", and set the Validity Period to a little longer than the content itself. If your video is 2 hours long, set the Validity Period to 3 hours (so the patron can pause for bathroom breaks) and choose the "Starting From First-Viewed Date" option.
The built-in concurrency protection will ensure they can only view the video on one device, and the short Validity Period means the ticket will expire shortly after the first viewing.
We haven't yet found a video file format that the service can't handle. No image files, PDFs, etc, but pretty much any video you've got should work!
The Patron Technology player automatically optimizes resolution for the patron's device, up to 1080p HD.
No problem! You can create the Event Instance and start selling tickets before uploading the video asset. Be careful, though! Keep the following tips in mind:
- Be sure your ticket validity window is based on "First-Viewed Date", not "Purchase Date". You don't want the tickets you sell to expire before the video exists.
- Set the "Video Availability Start Date" to a future date, and be sure to upload the video asset before that date. Your patrons won't be able to reach the player page until the "Video Availability Start Date", and their ticket validity timer won't start ticking until they successfully reach that page.
You cannot create VOD Event Instances via a mass upload.
When creating a VOD Event Instance normally, the corresponding "event" on the streaming service is also created, which needs to be in place to validate patron tickets and upload your video. This doesn't happen if you create Event Instances via a mass upload.
You may also receive the error message "Stream does not exist (user.general.does_not_exist)" if you try to create a virtual Event Instance with a mass upload tool.
Officially, no - Google does not provide a compatible URL for files stored in Drive. In the past some clients were able to accomplish this using an unsupported workaround to get the raw file URL, but we can't confirm whether this will still work.
I have more questions!
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