You are just a few steps away from creating
your own TV network!
KEY ELEMENTS | CREATE A CHANNEL | PRODUCTION STUDIO | CHANNEL EMBEDDING | DIRECT LINKS
FIRE TV | ROKU APP | MOBILE TV APP | HLS | VAST TAG | ANALYTICS | SUBLEASE
BEFORE YOU START
We highly recommend taking 30 minutes of your time and learn all of the STEPS below well.
Pay attention to the TIPS! :) You are about to build your own online television network and, like with any big platform, it is essential to learn it first, to properly utilize it for your success and benefits. Buckle up and enjoy the ride! It is easy and fun!
1. KEY ELEMENTS.
First, visit a HOW TO area (https://strimm.com/guides). It has essential introduction about the main parts of the platform. It is very important to read this page fully before you continue to the next step.
2. CREATE A CHANNEL.
Unless your channel is created already, create a channel. The button to create a channel can be found either in a navigation menu (located in the top left corner of the Strimm.com website) or in the "My Network" area. Click on the CREATE CHANNEL button and follow the steps in the form.
Essential Tips:
a. Make sure to complete all requirements, including adding an avatar for the channel, language, category, etc.
b. Do not use any special characters in your channel name or in the description, like " ", ?, !, @, &, and alike. Use letters and/or digits only. The length of the channel name should not exceed 15 characters, including spaces. The length of the description should not exceed 300 characters, including spaces. It is recommended to not add a description during the channel creation. You can always add a description later.
c. When CREATE is clicked, please wait 10-15 seconds, once the creation process is completed.
3. PRODUCTION STUDIO.
Once your first channel is created, go to the Production Studio of your channel (the link to it is in the menu). This your main working area! Follow Sam, our "tour guy" to introduce yourself to the core elements of this page. You can also watch a short tutorial video, a link to which is located on top of it.
a. ADVANCED MODE option. It is below the INSTANT SCHEDULE button. Make it ON.
b. GET VIDEOS TO THE CHANNEL. To add the video content to your channel library, click on GET NEW VIDEOS button. Then, you can either search for the best HD-quality videos from the top video platforms by keywords (SEARCH) or import them by URL (IMPORT).
Remember, there is no direct upload of the videos to Strimm. Therefore, there is no charge for the video storage and bandwidth. You can add applicable video links from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, if they are not restricted, or from your own private server with CDN (Professional plan and up), as direct, private links ("Allow Private Videos" option should be turned ON in the channel settings to do so).
c. CALENDAR. The CALENDAR is clickable. Select the day, for which you wish to create a TV program. You can use "Instant Schedule" or "Custom Schedule" options for any selected day.
d. CUSTOM SCHEDULE. It allows you to select a certain day in the calendar, then to select a start time and create a custom TV program for a certain day (or multiple TV programs with breaks in between them). Once the start time of the TV program is selected for a day ("Custom Schedule"), click on the "+" (appears on mouseover) of the video or use the drag-n-drop option to create a custom TV program. Click PUBLISH to publish it. Please note that the TV program should end before midnight of the selected day.
e. INSTANT SCHEDULE. Clicking on this option will instantly generate and publish a TV program for you until midnight for the selected day out of your videos in the channel (random selection).
f. AUTOPILOT. Turning this option ON will generate a 24-hour random schedule for you everyday. It will start generating it at 11am, Central Time for the following day, considering that there is no schedule being previously created for that day.
g. CHANNEL SETTINGS. This form will allow you to adjust settings of your channel, activate embedding of the channel on your website or Facebook and use paid options, based on your paid subscription.
h. APP SETTINGS. This area is for the paid subscriptions that include APPS (Roku app, Mobile app, etc.). It allows an automatic generation of your own, white-label and custom-branded apps.
i. HLS. The acronym HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming. It is designed for .m3u8 videos only. It allows you generate a single M3U8 link out of your M3U8 videos located in your daily TV program and insert it in the native OTT apps that accept HLS link input, like Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku TV and Android TV. The HLS stream will be refreshed daily based on your scheduled TV program. It is a paid option. Please check your package to see if it is included there.
CLICK HERE for details.
j. VAST. A VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) tag URL allows you to monetize your TV network and automatically place videos ads between your shows. The ads are delivered by the Ad Delivery Network of your choice, which can provide you with a VAST TAG URL. It is a paid option. Please check your package to see if it is included there.
CLICK HERE for details.
k. ANALYTICS. Strimm Analytics allows you to get the statistics about the visitors (users) coming to your TV channels located on different platforms during a selected date range. Please note that the data shown is the data for the channels and not for the videos.
CLICK HERE for details.
l. CHANNEL PREVIEW. If you wish to preview your channel on Strimm.com, simply click the PLAY icon on the channel avatar. Please note that paid options do not apply to the free broadcast on Strimm.com. For example, a Strimm logo cannot be removed from the top of Strimm.com website. Also, \since we cannot control the nature of the private and hidden content, if you activate "private" options in the channel settings, like "Allow Private Videos" or " Allow Mature Content" or "Embed Only", the channel will be restricted to broadcast on Strimm.com.
m. TIME ZONES & TV PROGRAMMING. Remember, you are building a TV channel. Once videos are added to your video library, they have to be scheduled for the broadcast on a certain day and time. The time of broadcast will be the same for any part of the world, meaning if it is scheduled for 7pm, then it will broadcast at 7pm in New York and at 7pm in Tokyo on the scheduled day.
IMPORTANT: Use LONGER-DURATION videos (15min+) mostly in the channel. Do not leave your channel with just a few short videos, like 1-min long ones or even shorter, and then turning ISNTANT SCHEDULE or AUTOPILOT ON. It will generate a TV program with thousands of super short shows per day and will cause a load delay of your TV program on the screen for your viewers. Use longer videos in the channels.
4. EMBED A CHANNEL ON YOUR WEBSITE (based on the paid subscription).
ACTIVATING AN EMBED MODE. Go to the channel settings by clicking on a gear icon next to the channel name in the Production studio.
Turn the "Embed this channel on my website" ON and complete all needed and permitted fields in that form. Make sure to correctly place the root domain of your website, where the channel is going to be embedded. It must be in the form of "https://example.com" or "https://www.example.com". Once done, click UPDATE, to save the settings.
Multiple Channels Embedding. Only the code of the DEFAULT (main) channel shall be physically embedded on your website. In order for other channels to appear in the same TV guide, their embedding settings should be activated and set up in the same way as a default channel, but without physical embedding of the code on your site. It is also important that all channels have exactly the same URL in their channel settings as a default one. Make sure that the URL is copied from the browser and is not manually typed.
IMPORTANT:
a. An "i" ICON. Each feature in the Channel Settings form has an "i" icon next to it, explaining what the feature does. Just click on it to learn the feature. Please only activate it, if you understand what it does.
b. YOUR WEBSTITE DOMAIN. Check how your website URL appears in the browser. If it has WWW in it, then it has to be in the channel settings form, in the URL/domain field in order for our system to recognize it and make the broadcast appear on your site. The WWW is considered a subdomain by the web. In other words, the entire URL where the feed will be played should be in the channel settings form.
Do not manually type your site domain in the URL field of the channel settings form. Instead, copy your website URL from the web browser as it appears there, and then paste an EXACT copy in the Domain/URL filed of each channel settings. Click UPDATE to save the changes.
5. CHANNEL SETTINGS FORM OPTIONS.
Please lean the Channel Settings form screenshot below that explains each feature in details.
a. EMBEDDING ON THE WEBSITE. The embed code for your DEFAULT (main) channel should be copied from the channel settings form and then placed on your website, where you need it.
b. TV GUIDE BELOW SCREEN (cable Tv look). If you want to keep the TV program being always visible to your audience and let them easily switch between your channels, then turn the "Keep TV Guide Open" option ON. Once done, click UPDATE, to save the settings. Make sure to add enough space in a desktop and a mobile view area to keep the GUIDE open below the screen for all channels.
c. CUSTOM BRANDING. Would you like to add you own logo on the screen or textual brand on top of the player? If you have a Professional or a professional PLUS plan, then you can do it! Simply turn the Custom Branding option ON, select a logo upload or textual branding, add it and click UPDATE to save the new settings.
d. DEFAULT LIVE BROADCAST & LIVE STREAM.
>>LIVE STREAM. The real-time, LIVE broadcast works thru YouTube Live and appears on your embedded Strimm TV channel as well. All you need to do is to schedule a live broadcast on YouTube Live, and then add a YouTube LIVE URL to your channel thru the IMPORT option (Production Studio >> Get new Videos >> IMPORT). When you add it, you will schedule the start and end time of your live broadcast on the spot.
Once added, a "Live" button will appear next to the "GUIDE" button, in the top right corner of your TV screen.
Your viewers do not need to go to YouTube and can still continue watching a live broadcast from the same embedded screen.
IMPORTANT: make sure to have 1000+ subscribers and 4000+ watch hours in your YouTube channel in order to embed YouTube LIVE stream outside of Youtube.com. These are YouTube's rules.
The details on Live broadcast can be found in the HOW TO area - https://strimm.com/guides
>>DEFAULT LIVE BROADCAST. This option should only be used during the LIVE STREAM, which is done thru YouTube Live. By default, the player will broadcast pre-recorded, scheduled shows. If you want to override the pre-recorded broadcast with a LIVE STREAM, then turn "default Live Broadcast" option ON right before the LIVE event. It will have the player showing a LIVE STREAM to all of your viewers right away.
Make sure to turn this option OFF, when the LIVE stream has ended.
e. PLACEHOLDER IMAGE FOR THE PODCASTS AND FOR THE BREAKS. Strimm allows you to link audio files in .mp3 and WAV formats for your own scheduled audio podcasts! In order to avoid having a black screen, when the audio file is playing, turn the "Show Placeholder Image" option ON, upload a rectangular (16:9 ratio) image, to show on the screen during the podcast. It can be your brand logo, channel avatar or any advertising banner.
The same image will appear during the breaks between audio or video program schedules, if you have multiple custom schedules for the same day.
f. STANDARD vs. FULL PAGE PLAYER LOOK. By default, Strimm embedded code is designed for a rectangular shape, which can easily blend into any website design and does not take the entire real estate of the page. It allows you to show any other content on your we b page, including banner advertisement, show announcement, etc. You can also adjust the size of the player to make it smaller or bigger. Such look is called STANDARD PLAYER LOOK.
However, if you prefer having a whole-page look and design similar to the design of a proprietary Strimm player, similar to the one that appears when WATCH NOW is clicked, then you can select FULL PAGE PLAYER LOOK.
IMPORTANT: Make sure to keep the same player look selection for ALL of your channels to avoid breaking your page and causing bad viewer's experience.
Details: https://www.strimm.us/embed-look
5. PRIVATE VIDEO & AUDIO FILES (DIRECT LINKS)
a. MULTIPLE FORMATS. Professional plan and Professional Plus plan users can now add more video types to their channels as direct video links (private, pre-recorded videos):
- Rumble videos
- Facebook videos
- Twitch videos
- Streamable videos
- videos in .mp4, .m3u8, .mpd, .ogv, .m2u8, webm formats (located in your video streaming CDN server)
- audio files (great for scheduled audio podcasting) in .mp3 and WAV formats (in your streaming CDN server) .
NOTE: When you use videos from Rumble, Facebook, Streamable or Twitch, please make sure to use an embed URL from the "Embed" section, not a link from a browser address bar.
The direct video link from the CDN server should start with HTTPS and end with the video/audio format.
Example: https://cdnserver.com/video1.mp4 or https://cdnserver.com/audio1.mp3
Details on how to add private videos can be found in the HOW TO area (https://strimm.com/guides)
b. ADDING DIRECT LINKS (PRIVATE VIDEO & AUDIO FILES).
You can add Private Videos or Audio files (direct links) to your channel, such as videos ( or audio) from your own server or from the servers you have authorization from or the videos, which are marked as “unlisted” on YouTube or Vimeo . Please note that channels with TV programs featuring “private videos” will not broadcast on Strimm’s website and can only be shown on your own personal website, in the embed mode.
To add such direct links, turn "Allow Private Videos" ON in the channel settings and click UPDATE to save this new setting.
Then, click on "Get New Videos" in the Production Studio and follow these steps:
Step 1. Select “Import” and checkmark “Import Private Video”
Step 2. Complete all fields in the opened form and click “Add Video” button. The direct link to the audio file is added in the same way. Make sure to insert an exact duration for the video/audio to make the programing to be accurate.
6. ROKU TV APP. BROADCAST YOUR TV NETWORK ON ROKU (based on the Professional PLUS subscription).
Now, you can create an entire TV network on ROKU and have your own, white-label Roku app. You can also add Roku Advertising Framework (RAF) to it and monetize it on Roku! This Roku app capability is a part of a newly added Professional Plus package, which also comes with a 100 channels option.
Please note that if you add your channel to the Roku app, the channel should either have Vimeo videos or direct videos links in .m3u8 or .mp4 formats. Roku does not allow YouTube or Dailymotion videos.
ROKU APP INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: https://www.strimm.us/roku-app-instructions
We can professionally install this Roku app for you on your Roku account. Just order a professional setup on the PRICING page, in ADD-ON section.
7. FIRE TV APP. BROADCAST YOUR TV NETWORK ON AMAZON FIRE TV.
Now, you can broadcast your TV network on Amazon Fire TV and have your own, Fire TV app. You can also inject video commercials as pre-rolls and mid-rolls thru your own VAST tag URL.
You can use your video content located in YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion or direct videos links in .m3u8 or .mp4 formats, coming from your video streaming CDN.
We can professionally install this Fire TV app for you on your Amazon Developers account. Just order a professional setup on the PRICING page, in an ADDON section.
8. MOBILE TV APP. BRODCAST YOUR TV IN YOUR OWN, DOWNLOADABLE MOBILE APP ON iOS & ANDROID DEVICES (Based on the Mobile App subscription)
Bring your TV business to a whole new level! Offer your customers a white-label, downloadable TV app for iOS and Android to broadcast your own TV channels from your Strimm account with your own logo.
MOBILE APP INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: https://www.strimm.us/how-mobile-app-works
We can professionally install this Mobile app for you on iOS and Android. Just order a professional setup on the PRICING page, in ADD-ON section.
9. SUBLEASE YOUR CHANNEL. RENT/SUBLEASE SOME OF YOUR CHANNELS & GENERATE A PASSIVE INCOME.
It is one of the best ways to create a passive income stream! Have a plan for 100 channels, but only use 10 of them? Sublease the remaining 90 channels! Simply find organizations, who need their own channels, may be just one channel, create the channel for them and rent it out for the fraction of regular Strimm fee. Control the access with permission settings. You can also use this option to provide an access to your channel to another team member. Offer management of the rented channel for an additional fee. Feel free to charge your client your own sub-lease fee and collect the fee directly, yourself.
Details: https://www.strimm.us/sublease-a-channel
Essential Tips
1. LONG VIDEOS VS. SHORT ONES. We recommend adding long videos (longer than 20 min) to the channel. This way, it will be easier to create a Custom Schedule. Additionally, their titles will be visible in the GUIDE (the short videos are grouped in the GUIDE as "assorted videos").
2. RESTRICTED BY PROVIDER. If the video is restricted by the video provider or video owner, it will show a message - "Restricted By Provider". Such videos cannot be added to the channel. Please select another one in this case. Sometimes, the video can become "Restricted by Provider" later. Simply delete it from the library.
3. AUTOPILOT. Turn the Autopilot ON. If you forget to create a schedule, it will randomly create it for you, at 11am, Central Time, for the following day.
4. PAYMENTS FOR THE PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS. Our system and your account are heavily connected to Paypal and your selected payment method. Please make sure that your Paypal account or a credit card has enough balance to cover the subscription cost on the due date in order to continue the service at the end of the billing cycle, without interruption.
5. QUESTIONS. If you have any questions, please contact us at support@strimm.com. We are always just an email away from you and are ready to assist!
(You will be redirected to the Strimm.com Home page. Please login, create channel & go to your Production Studio to start)