WordPress Plugin

The Blue Billywig WordPress plugin lets you upload videos directly from your WordPress admin and embed them in any post or page; without leaving WordPress. All video files are hosted on the Blue Billywig CDN; only the embed code lives on your WordPress site.

This article covers installation, connecting the plugin to your Blue Billywig publication, and using all of the plugin’s features.

1.0 | Requirements

• WordPress 5.9 or higher
• PHP 8.1 or higher
• A Blue Billywig publication with an active API key (Publisher role)

2.0 | Installing the plugin

You can install the plugin directly from the WordPress admin:

1. Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin
2. Search for Blue Billywig
3. Click Install Now, then Activate

Alternatively, download the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory and upload the .zip file via Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin.

After activation, a Blue Billywig item appears in the left sidebar of the WordPress admin.

3.0 | Connecting to your Blue Billywig publication

Before you can upload or embed videos, you need to connect the plugin to your Blue Billywig publication using an API key.

3.1 | Creating an API key in Blue Billywig

You will need an API key with the Publisher role. For step-by-step instructions on creating and managing API keys, see API key management.

Once created, copy both the API ID and the API Secret; you will need them in the next step.

3.2 | Entering API credentials in WordPress

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Blue Billywig > Settings
2. Enter your API Secret and API ID in the corresponding fields
3. Enter your Publication name (the subdomain of your publication, for example mypublication if your publication URL is mypublication.bbvms.com)
4. Click Save Changes

The plugin will validate the credentials and confirm the connection.

3.3 | Settings overview

The Settings page contains the following configuration options.

API Options

Read-only API key (optional)

A separate read-only API key can be configured to allow previewing draft (unpublished) clips in the WordPress editor and Library. This key is only ever used within the WordPress admin; it is never exposed on the public-facing site. Use an API key with the Analyst role for this purpose.

Without a read-only key, draft clips will not preview in the editor.

Features

Embed defaults

4.0 | Uploading videos

To upload new videos to your Blue Billywig publication, go to Blue Billywig > Upload.

4.1 | Adding metadata before upload

Before selecting files, you can optionally fill in the following metadata fields. The values you enter will be applied to all files in the current upload batch.

Additional fields (such as custom fields) may appear if they are enabled in Settings.

4.2 | Selecting and uploading files

1. Drag and drop video files onto the upload area, or click browse files to open a file picker
2. You can select multiple files at once
3. The upload starts automatically after you select files
4. Progress is shown for each file individually

Files are uploaded directly from your browser to the Blue Billywig storage infrastructure; they do not pass through your WordPress server. This means WordPress upload size limits do not apply and very large files (up to 20 GB) can be uploaded without any server configuration changes.

Once the upload is complete, the videos will appear in your Blue Billywig publication and in the plugin’s Library.

5.0 | Managing the video library

Go to Blue Billywig > Library to browse, search, and manage the content in your Blue Billywig publication. The Library is divided into three tabs: Media Clips, Live Streams, and Playlists.

5.1 | Media Clips

The Media Clips tab shows your videos (and other media types such as audio and images) in a thumbnail grid.

Browsing and searching:

• Use the Search field to find clips by title
• Use the Sort dropdown to change the sort order
• Use the Filter dropdown to filter by media type or status
• Use the folder tree in the left sidebar to browse content in a specific folder

Editing a clip:

Click on a clip to open the edit drawer, where you can update the following:

• Title and description
• Tags
• Publication status (Published, Draft, or Archived)
• Embargo dates (restrict playback to a specific time window)
• Folder assignment
• Content Protection Policy
• Custom fields (if enabled)
• Subtitles (upload, delete, set a default, toggle visibility per language)
• Call-to-Action overlays (if enabled)

The edit drawer also shows clip analytics (views, player loads, play rate) for a selectable date range, and clip details such as the clip ID, creation date, and available thumbnails.

Bulk actions:

Select multiple clips using the checkboxes, then use the bulk action menu to:

• Delete selected clips
• Change the status of selected clips
• Move selected clips to a folder
• Assign or clear a Content Protection Policy

5.2 | Live Streams

The Live Streams tab lists live stream assets in your publication. The interface works the same as the Media Clips tab.

5.3 | Playlists

The Playlists tab lists the playlists in your publication. Click a playlist to view its details.

6.0 | Embedding videos in WordPress

The plugin adds three Gutenberg blocks that you can use to embed Blue Billywig content in any post or page.

6.1 | Blue Billywig Clip

Use this block to embed a single video.

Adding the block:

1. In the Gutenberg editor, click the + button to open the block inserter
2. Search for Blue Billywig Clip and click it to add it to your content

Selecting a video:

A video picker panel opens in the sidebar. Type at least three characters in the search field to find a video, or browse by folder. Click a video thumbnail to select it. The video preview will appear in the editor.

Block options:

Draft clip warning:

If the selected video is not yet published, the block displays a status banner in the editor. You can publish the clip directly from the banner without leaving WordPress.

6.2 | Blue Billywig Channel

Use this block to embed a full Blue Billywig channel: a branded video portal with swim lanes, search, and a detail page.

1. Add the Blue Billywig Channel block from the block inserter
2. Select a channel from the dropdown in the block settings panel
3. Optionally adjust the height of the channel embed (default: 600px)

6.3 | Blue Billywig Shorts

Use this block to embed a Blue Billywig Shorts collection: a vertical short-form video experience.

1. Add the Blue Billywig Shorts block from the block inserter
2. Select a Shorts collection from the dropdown in the block settings panel
3. Optionally adjust the height (default: 700px) and toggle Fullscreen mode

6.4 | Shortcode (classic editor)

If you are using the classic editor or a page builder that does not support Gutenberg blocks, you can embed a video using the shortcode:

[blue-billywig-embed videoid="CLIP_ID"]

Replace CLIP_ID with the ID of the clip you want to embed. You can find the clip ID in the edit drawer of the Library (under Clip info).

6.5 | Embedding by pasting a URL

You can also embed a video by pasting a Blue Billywig video URL directly into the Gutenberg editor. The following URL formats are recognised:

• https://publication.bbvms.com/p/playout/c/CLIP_ID.html
• https://publication.bbvms.com/view/playout/CLIP_ID.html
• https://publication.bbvms.com/ch/CHANNEL_ID.html (for channels)

WordPress will automatically convert the URL into an embed.

7.0 | Transcripts and chapters

7.1 | Transcripts

When a clip has an AI-generated transcript (produced by the Blue Billywig transcription service), the Blue Billywig Clip block can display it as a collapsible section below the player. The transcript text is also indexed for SEO.

Transcripts are shown by default. You can toggle this off per block using the Show transcript option in the block settings panel.

7.2 | Chapters

If a clip has chapter markers defined in the Blue Billywig OVP, the Blue Billywig Clip block can show a chapter list with clickable timestamps below the player.

Chapters are hidden by default. Enable them per block using the Show chapters option in the block settings panel.

8.0 | Call-to-Action overlays (CTA)

If Call-to-Action editor is enabled in Settings, you can add interactive overlays to your videos directly from the Library’s clip edit drawer.

Three CTA types are available:

For each CTA, you configure the start and end time on the video timeline, the button label, and colours (background, text, hover, border). Canvas CTAs also let you upload and crop a background image.

9.0 | Content protection

The plugin includes a content protection feature that uses JWT tokens to restrict video playback to specific WordPress user roles. This requires a Content Protection Policy (CPP) to be configured in your Blue Billywig publication and a shared secret to be set in the plugin.

For setup instructions, please contact your Blue Billywig Customer Success Manager.

10.0 | Consent and privacy

The plugin supports integration with Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) such as Cookiebot, Complianz, and Iubenda. When consent for video content has not been given, the player is replaced by a neutral placeholder. The placeholder includes a “Load video” button that the visitor can use to manually grant consent for that page view.

To integrate your CMP with the plugin, add a filter in your theme’s functions.php:

add_filter( 'bluebillywig_consent_granted', function() {
    return your_cmp_has_video_consent();
} );

11.0 | Uninstalling the plugin

Deactivating and deleting the plugin from the WordPress plugins page will remove all plugin settings from the WordPress database (API keys, configuration, and cached data). Your videos and publication data in Blue Billywig are not affected.