8. YouTube Broadcasts

Contents

How Broadcasts Work
Before You Can Create a Broadcast
Adding Days and Creating a Broadcast
Replacing a Broadcast
Replaced Broadcasts and Delete on YouTube
The Setup-Day Test Video
What Broadcasts Lock
Who Can Do What

How Broadcasts Work

When an event’s restream target is a YouTube channel, the platform creates one YouTube broadcast
per broadcast day — a date in the event’s timezone. Each broadcast is its own YouTube video
with its own link.

• Start Push and Go Live always use today’s broadcast: the current (not replaced)
  broadcast for today’s date in the event’s timezone. The control center’s status, its YouTube
  health reading, its warnings and the Go Live button all follow today’s broadcast too, so
  Go Live waits (“Wait for YouTube to start receiving the push”) until YouTube is receiving the
  push on that broadcast.
• A running push stays on the broadcast it started with, even past midnight, until you stop it.
• With no broadcast for today, Start Push is refused with “No YouTube broadcast for today (date,
  timezone) — create one on the event page”. It never falls back to another day’s broadcast or
  anything else.
• Changing the event’s stream key doesn’t affect its broadcasts.

The control center’s “Today’s broadcast:” line (and the same line in the OBS dock) shows today’s
broadcast’s status on YouTube in plain words:

Shown	YouTube’s status	Meaning
Created	created	Created, not ready yet
Ready	ready	Ready to receive the push
Starting preview	testStarting	Moving into YouTube’s private preview
Preview (not public)	testing	In YouTube’s private preview; viewers can’t see it yet
Starting on YouTube	liveStarting	Go Live was clicked; YouTube is starting the broadcast
Live	live	Live to viewers
Ended	complete	Ended; it can’t receive video again (see Replacing a Broadcast)
Removed	revoked	Removed on YouTube

A broadcast should pass through Starting on YouTube in seconds. If it’s still there (or in
Starting preview) after 60 seconds, an amber warning appears under the line: “YouTube hasn’t
started playback after time. …”. It says whether YouTube is receiving the push at all; see
YouTube Hasn’t Started Playback.

The two preview statuses appear only on broadcasts created while system administrators had the
YouTube preview turned on. Such a broadcast moves into YouTube’s private preview by itself once
the push is running, so you can check it in YouTube Studio before going live; see
The YouTube Preview.
A broadcast keeps the choice it was created with, so replacing a broadcast is the only way to
change it.

See Running a Live Event for
pushing and going live on the day.

Before You Can Create a Broadcast

On the event configuration’s Livestream tab, the Restream target must be “YouTube channel
(system-managed broadcasts)”, with a Livestream channel and a Start time set. A Client
Admin sets these (see
Livestream).
Until then, Create is dimmed with one of these reasons:

• “Set the restream target to ‘YouTube channel’ in the Livestream config section first”
• “Set a livestream start time in the Livestream config section first”
• ”🔒 Turned off by system administrators”

Adding Days and Creating a Broadcast

The Broadcast days section is on the event configuration’s Livestream tab, and shows only
when the restream target is a YouTube channel. Adding days and creating broadcasts needs User
or above.

1. Pick a date and click + Add a day. (Clicking it with no date picked shows “Pick a date
   first”.) The day is added as Day n.
2. Each day’s row shows its current broadcast’s status (YouTube’s own name, such as ready or
   complete; see the table above) and a watch link to it on YouTube, or
   “No broadcast” if it has none yet.
3. Click Create on the row to create that day’s broadcast on YouTube.

Remove deletes a day from the list. It’s refused while that day’s broadcast is live: “Can’t
remove Day n while its YouTube broadcast is live”.

Replacing a Broadcast

A broadcast that has ended on YouTube can’t receive video or go live again. When a day already has
a broadcast, its button reads Replace instead of Create. Replacing asks first, in a
Replace broadcast? dialog:

“Create a replacement broadcast for Day n? It is a new YouTube video with a new link.

Current broadcast: watch link
Viewers with the announced link will not see the new broadcast.

The current broadcast stays on YouTube; you can delete it afterwards from the broadcast
history.”

Click Replace to go ahead. What that means:

• The replacement is a new YouTube video with a new link.
• Viewers with the link you already announced won’t see it.
• The old video stays on YouTube; nothing is deleted.
• A push that’s already running stays on the old broadcast and errors with “This push’s broadcast
  was replaced — Stop and Start Push to switch to the new one”. Stop Push, then Start Push.

Replacing is refused while the broadcast is live: “Can’t replace Day n’s broadcast while it is
live on YouTube”.

Warning

Replace only when the broadcast has ended (Go Live shows “This YouTube broadcast has ended —
replace it to go live again”) or was deleted on YouTube. Replacing doesn’t fix a broadcast that
looks healthy but won’t play — see
YouTube Shows Healthy but Won’t Play.
After you replace, tell whoever shared the old link.

Replaced Broadcasts and Delete on YouTube

Replaced broadcasts stay listed under their day, labelled Replaced, with “status — watch”,
or “deleted on YouTube date” once deleted.

Delete on YouTube on a replaced broadcast’s row deletes its video from YouTube. It needs
Client Admin. It’s permanent and may remove a recording people have watched. It confirms
first with a Delete on YouTube? dialog: “This permanently deletes the video watch link from
YouTube.” and a Delete on YouTube button.

Only replaced broadcasts can be deleted here. The platform checks the broadcast’s status on
YouTube first, and you may see:

• “This broadcast is still on air on YouTube; end it before deleting it”
• “Could not check this broadcast’s status on YouTube, so it was not deleted: …”
• “YouTube has no such broadcast on this channel (already deleted, or the channel was reconnected
  under another account)”
• “YouTube does not allow deleting this broadcast in its current state”
• “This broadcast was already deleted on YouTube”

The Setup-Day Test Video

A pre-event test normally stops at the platform: nothing is pushed to YouTube before the event’s
start time. The optional setup-day test video lets you test all the way to YouTube on the day
before the event, without touching the broadcast days or their public links.

What it is. One extra YouTube video, titled “[Setup test] event name”, for the day before
the event’s first day. It is always unlisted, whatever the event’s Privacy is, and it
receives the same stream your event does: you don’t change anything in OBS.

Creating it. On the event configuration’s Livestream tab, the Setup-day test video
panel shows when the restream target is a YouTube channel. Click Create setup-day YouTube
video (User or above), and confirm the Create setup-day YouTube video? dialog with
Create. You can create it any time before the event starts; the date isn’t yours to pick. The
panel then shows the video’s title, an Unlisted badge, its status and a watch link.
Creating it is refused with:

• “Set the restream target to ‘YouTube channel’ in the Livestream config section first”
• “The event has started. The setup-day video is for the day before it.”
• “The day before the event is already a broadcast day.” — use that day’s broadcast instead
• “A setup-day YouTube video already exists.”
• “A setup-day YouTube video is already being created.”

Using it. On the setup day (in the event’s timezone), with video coming in from OBS:

1. Start Push. The status line reads “Setup-day test (unlisted): status”.
2. Go Live, once the YT Restream row reads Ready for Live.
3. Open the watch link and confirm both picture and sound play on YouTube.
4. Stop Broadcast, then Stop Push.

The OBS dock’s buttons act on the test video the same way; its status line still reads “Today’s
broadcast:”.

What to watch for:

• It only works on the setup day. On any other day Start Push follows the usual rules, and a
  real broadcast day on that date always takes priority over the test video.
• The push stops at midnight. A push to the test video is stopped when the setup day ends, at
  midnight in the event’s timezone, with “Setup day is over; restart the push for today’s
  broadcast”. On event day, click Start Push again to push to that day’s broadcast.
• The watch link is for your Client. Only members of the Client that owns the event (and
  system admins) are shown the test video and its link. Anyone you send the link to can still open
  an unlisted video, so don’t announce it.
• One at a time. Once the test video has ended it can’t receive video again (Start Push reads
  “The setup-day YouTube video has ended and can’t receive video again. Create a new one to test
  again.”); the Create button comes back so you can make another.
• Delete (User or above) shows only while the video is Created or Ready, and
  confirms with “Delete the setup-day video?”. A test video that has been live stays on your
  channel as an unlisted video; remove it in YouTube Studio if you don’t want to keep it.
• It locks settings like any open broadcast. While it’s open the restream target, livestream
  channel and timezone can’t change, and the setup day can’t be added as a broadcast day: “The
  setup day has an open YouTube test video. Delete or complete the setup test first to make it a
  broadcast day.”

What Broadcasts Lock

A broadcast is tied to the channel and settings it was created with, so broadcasts lock some of
the event’s settings:

• While broadcasts are open (not yet ended), the Restream target and Livestream channel
  can’t change: “Delete or complete the N current broadcast(s) first (dates) to change the
  restream mode or channel.”
• Broadcast days from today on lock the event’s timezone: “Broadcast days from today on (dates)
  are dates in this timezone. Remove them to change the timezone.” An open setup-day test video
  locks it too, and the message then ends “Remove them, and complete or delete the setup test, to
  change the timezone.”
• A live broadcast or a running push locks the Restream key and Privacy, for example “The
  YouTube broadcast for date is live. Stop the broadcast to change where it goes (privacy).” or
  “The restream push is running. Stop the push to change where it goes (restream key).”

A locked field shows a 🔒 next to its label; hover over it to see why. See
Field Locks
for every lock.

Who Can Do What

Action	Needs
Add a day, Create, Replace, Remove	User or above
Go Live, Stop Broadcast, End preview	User or above
Create or delete the setup-day test video	User or above
Delete on YouTube	Client Admin
Restream target, livestream channel, start time, privacy	Client Admin

Members without the needed role see these controls dimmed with ”🔒 Needs User or above” or ”🔒
Needs Client Admin”.