Playlists

A playlist is a list of items. Depending on the playlist, this can be media clips, audio or other playlists. There are three types of playlists: smart playlists, static playlists and Playlist Collections.

In short: smart playlists are generated based on specific filters, enabling them to update automatically. Static playlists contain content that has been added manually. A Playlist Collection is a playlist that contains other playlists.

A playlist can be applied in many ways:

• Directly embedding a playlist onto a website
• Provide related items in the endscreen of a single embedded media clip.
• Provide content in Channels

1.0 | Smart playlist

A smart playlist dynamically collects media clips based on one or multiple filters.  For example: setting a filter to only include videos published in the last 10 days, will result in a smart playlist that will continually update to only show videos published in the past 10 days.

More advanced solr queries can also be applied (recommended for advanced users only).

1.1 | Creating a smart playlist

To create a smart playlist, click “create new smart playlist” and fill in a title and description.

Use suggests
Select “Use Suggests” to find related content based on the context that the playlist is embedded in. That is: contextual information from the website or article will be used to select content within the playlist’s filters.

Allow dynamic filters
Enabling this will allow this playlist to use dynamically set values as input for its filters.

1.2 | Use filter sets

Set a filter for the playlist based on metadata, such as title, published date or source ID. Newly uploaded videos that meet the conditions setup by the filter, will be automatically to the playlist.

Filters work by using the “and/or” principle:

• Add multiple filters within a filter set by clicking “+add filter” within the filter set. For example: only include content where media type is ‘video’ or ‘audio’.
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• Apply multiple filters by clicking “+add filter set”. For example: only include content where the media type is ‘video’ and content published in the last 2 months.

Alternatively, you can use a solr query to filter the playlist. Selecting the solr query option overrides previously set filters. Solr queries is recommended for experienced users. Read more about the solr documentation.

1.3 | Limit & sort results

Besides applying filter sets, the playlist can be limited to a certain number of videos. Apply sorting to rearrange the order of content:

Make sure to activate your playlist in the right top corner and click “save”.

2.0 | Static playlist

A static playlist contains clips that have been added manually. Static playlists will only be updated when a user in the OVP manually adds or removes content to or from the playlist.

2.1 | Create a static playlist

In the playlist overview, select “Create new static playlist” and fill in a title and description.

2.2 | Add content

Select media clips to add to your playlist. You can use the filter or search bar to find specific media clips.

2.3 | Sort results

Re-order the playlist content according to certain criteria. For example: sort on published date (old to new or reversed):

Make sure to publish the playlist while saving when all has been configured to your liking.

3.0 | Playlist Collection

A Playlist Collection is a playlist type containing other playlists. This allows you to create a series, showcase content by theme, or guide viewers through different seasons or topics.

3.1 | Create a Playlist Collection

To create a Playlist Collection click on the “+ Create playlist” button, fill in a title and select “Playlist collection” as the playlist type.

3.2 | Add metadata

After creation of the Playlist Collection, you can fill in a description for the Playlist Collection as well as Custom Fields that are configured to appear for playlists.

3.3 | Select playlists included in your collection

In the “Content” tab all the playlists in your publication can be found. When you hover over items you can add them directly to your playlist. You can also select multiple playlists by checking their checkboxes and add them all in bulk to your selected content.

By dragging and dropping the order of your playlists can be determined within your selected content. This determines in what order items are shown for the Playlist Collection when it is used in our platforms features like Channels.

3.4 | Create thumbnail sets

Thumbnail sets allow you to select the default thumbnail to be used for different aspect ratio’s. By creating thumbnail sets you can further customize how Playlist Collections are shown to your viewers. We recommend to create at least the following two thumbnail sets:

• One in the size of the video’s included in the Playlist Collection (With Landscape being most common).
• Hero – which is used throughout our OVP when a hero image is to be displayed.

More information about thumbnails and thumbnail sets can be found on the thumbnails support page.

3.5 | Content configuration

For advanced configurations, the “Content configuration” tab is used. In this tab, you can enable RSS feeds and configure its settings.

4.0 | Use playlist to create an RSS feed

You can use playlist to create an RSS feed. RSS feeds can then be used to automatically update your podcast showlist on podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, etc.

• Go to the tab “Content configuration” and click “Enable RSS”
• Enter all the required information.
• The feed URL is listed as ”vodcast URL” in the details on the right side of the screen:
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5.0 | Using a playlist

5.1 | Playlists for endscreen

Use playlists to automatically play the next video or to show related items in the End Screen. To automatically play next clips, go to Playouts > Start & end screen and check the box for “Automatically play next clip”.

When the current clip ends, another clip will start playing after a five second delay. Viewers will see a screen with a countdown and the option to stop watching.

For related items, check the box “Show related items” and select the preferred playlist. There are options to randomise the order for related items and to use the deep link for related items.

5.2 | Playlists for channels

Create an overview page for a playlist by generating a Channels page. Go to Channels, fill out the required information and select the preferred playout and playlist(s).

5.3 | Playlists for video sitemaps

A playlist can be used to create a video sitemap. Because the playlist is created in a publication you still need to add it to your website. This can be done manually or automatically by adding a bit of server side code to your website.

When the code has been added, the URL of the page that hosts your video sitemap can then be added to Google Search Console.

A request should follow this format:

/sitemap/{playlist id}.xml?[forcePfx]=true&[urlprefix]=&[urlpostfix]=

The URL should contain your publication and the ID of the cliplist that functions as your sitemap. This way, the sitemap on your website tells Google the videos are accessible on your own domain rather than the video platform.

Add this new sitemap to Google Search Console. The sitemap URL in the Search Console looks as follows: /videositemap/videositemap.php?publication=yourcompanyname&id=1234567891234567

5.4 | Embedding a playlist

All the regular embed options are available for placing a playlist on your website. Learn more about embedding playlists.