Wirecast is a commercial app for Windows and macOS that enables you to configure video and audio to be broadcast live on the internet using the RTMPS streaming protocol.
It is a powerful app that provides huge flexibility and customization, giving you the ability to define exactly what you want to broadcast. You can define many different sources, audio inputs, scenes and transitions - with a full suite of filters and plug-ins providing the ability to define professional-grade streams.
Setting up Wirecast documents and other features is beyond the scope of this document. For more information on how to use Wirecast, please visit the Wirecast help portal.
Device(s): Desktop only to broadcast the livestream
Roles / Permissions: Livestreamer
Configuring Wirecast for broadcasting to Workvivo
To go live on Workvivo from Wirecast, you will need to configure your broadcast. From the “Output” menu, select “Output Settings”. If you have existing output destinations, press the “Add” button to add a new destination. Otherwise you will see this screen when you open the dialog for the first time.
Ensure “RTMP Server” is selected from the drop-down and press “OK”. On the next screen, you can configure the settings for your broadcast. All the default presets under “Encoding” will work with Workvivo, but if you have any custom presets, ensure that the average bitrate is not higher than 8500 kbits/sec or broadcasting will not work.
Also make sure your “Key frame every X frames” is set to double the value for the “Frames per second” field. For example, if it is set to 60 frames per second, you should set it to key frame every 120 seconds.
Enter the following values:
- Copy the RTMPS URL from Workvivo into the “Address” field, but leave off the closing forward-slash after “app”
- Copy the “Stream Key” from Workvivo into the “Stream” field
- Note: Do not close this window in Workvivo until your broadcast has commenced, otherwise you will cancel the livestream
Press OK to close the Output Settings dialog.
Going live on Workvivo from Wirecast
Press the Start Broadcasting button to begin the broadcast. Once the broadcast has started, the icon in the top left will turn green, you’ll see the duration of the stream alongside it, and you’ll see the bitrate of the broadcast in the bottom right of the status bar, as shown in the screenshot below.
A few seconds after you start broadcasting, the feed will display in Workvivo and you are now live!
Ending the Stream
To end the stream, press the “Stop Broadcasting” button in Wirecast. The Workvivo livestream will end automatically.
Alternatively, you can end the stream using the “End Stream” button in Workvivo when viewing the livestream as a host.
Please note that while this will stop the broadcast, Wirecase will still show as streaming for a time, and will automatically try to reconnect to the RTMPS server. You’ll know that the stream is no longer live as the status icon in the top left will flash between a grey icon and a red error symbol. Pressing this button will tell Wirecast to stop trying to reconnect.
Livestream Playback Experience
Please note: The following immersive playback experience only applies to RTMPS Livestreams. It does not apply to mobile playback, livestreams attached to events, or any Native livestreams.
When your Livestream ends, the playback recording will be posted to the activity feed and will be visible to everyone in your original Livestream audience. As shown below, you can clearly see a count of ‘Live Reactions’ and ‘Live Chat Messages’ on the activity feed item. These counts refer to engagement during the actual livestream itself, as opposed to reactions and comments on the activity feed item that come in after the livestream has ended. You can also easily access Livestream analytics via the ‘Analytics’ button (more on analytics below).
Click on the preview thumbnail to open the full livestream player experience shown below. This URL is the same as the URL from when the stream was live, so if a user clicks on a notification after the livestream has ended they will be brought straight into the playback experience. You can also see the livestream title, description, and quick action ‘copy URL’ button within the playback experience. Reactions appear in sync with the live event itself, at the exact same time they would have appeared in the live event itself. This gives a more real-time feel when watching the livestream recording.
The messaging on the right hand side is split into ‘Livestream Chat’ and ‘Comments’. ‘Livestream Chat’ contains all the messages that were posted during the live event. ‘Comments’ contains all the comments that were posted on the Livestream after it ended, either via the activity feed update or within this new messaging panel.
Similar to reactions, the Livestream Chat messages appear in sync with the live event itself. This gives the user more context into what livestream chat messages were referring to within the stream itself. Users also have the option to view a flat list of all livestream chat messages by disabling the ‘replay chat in sync with livestream’ toggle. We also now automatically hyperlink any URLs that have been posed in the livestream chat.
The ‘Comments’ section within the playback experience now supports images, GIFs, Replies/Threading, Likes, @ Mentions, Delete (for comment author), and Reporting.
Livestream Analytics
Analytics are available on third-party livestream recordings. Simply click the ‘View Livestream Analytics’ button below the Livestream recording on the activity feed to access the analytics modal.
The following metrics are provided in Livestream Analytics;
- Livestream Duration: The total length of time the livestream was broadcasted.
- Unique Viewers: The count of individual viewers who watched the livestream at least once.
- Peak Viewers: The highest number of concurrent viewers reached during the livestream.
- Peak Time: The specific moment during the livestream when it had the highest number of concurrent viewers.
- Total View Time: The cumulative amount of time viewers spent watching the livestream.
- Avg. View Time: The average duration that each viewer spent watching the livestream.
- Reactions: The total number of reactions sent by viewers during the livestream.
- Chat Messages: The total number of chat message sent by viewers during the livestream.
- Unique Chatters: The count of individual viewers who sent a chat message at least once during the livestream.
- Avg. Framerate: The average frames per second (fps) of the video stream.
- Avg. Video Bitrate: The average data rate at which video content was transmitted in megabits per second (Mbps).
- Avg. Audio Bitrate: The average data rate at which audio content was transmitted in kilobits per second (Kbps).
- Concurrent Views: The total number of viewers watching the livestream simultaneously at any given moment.
- Live Delivered Time: The total duration of the livestream that was successfully delivered to viewers in real-time.
- Live Delivered Time by Country: The distribution of live delivered time among different countries.
- Ingest Framerate: The average frames per second (fps) of the video input source before encoding and transmission.
- Ingest Audio Bitrate: The average data rate (kbps) at which the audio input source was transmitted before encoding.
- Ingest Video Bitrate: The average data rate (Mbps) at which the video input source was transmitted before encoding.
- Keyframe Interval: The interval at which keyframes (complete video frames) are sent in the video stream, which affects video quality and compression efficiency.
- Live Input Time: The total duration of the livestream from its inception to its completion, including any pre-stream setup or delays.
- Recorded Time: The duration for which the livestream was recorded for on-demand viewing after the live broadcast ended.
Learn about best practices for Setting up and Hosting a Livestream