Categories: Creating and Configuring

The content area CATEGORIES allows organization of videos, series, live events and playlists (also referred to as "assets") into categories or themes on the browse page of the watch portal.  The browse page is only seen by subscribers, not by those who are accessing content with a voucher.  If vouchers are the only method to access content of the watch portal, then it is not necessary to do any configuration in CATEGORIES.   If, however, there will be subscribers for the virtual event, categories are essential for the customer experience.  In fact, a video, playlist or series will not be visible on the watch portal's browse page until it has been added to one or more Categories.

Videos, series, live events and playlists can be included in more than one category.  Some common categories for film festival clients might be International Features; U.S. Documentaries; Shorts Programs; Canadian Premieres; and the like.   These categories will be displayed Netflix/Hulu style for subscribers to browse through their viewing options.  A 'Featured' category can be used to highlight some content in a hero carousel at the top of the watch portal's browse page.

1. Create a Category
2. Add Content to a Category
3. Optional Settings for a Category
4. Preview Categories on the Watch Portal

1. Create a Category

To start, click the "New Category" button at upper-right, fill in its title and click "Create".  Categories can be reordered by dragging and dropping in the preferred order, as they should appear on the watch portal's browse page.  Click the vertical ellipsis (⋮) in order to delete a category.

2. Add Content to a Category

To add content to a category, click on the category title from the list to arrive on this category's detail screen where videos, playlists, live events and/or series can be added to be included in the category. Click the "Add asset" button, select the type of asset, then select the asset titles from the drop down, as many as you'd like at a time.   You can also search for the title and select it from there.  Click the "Add assets" button to finish.

The assets chosen will be added and then can be further edited into the order desired by dragging and dropping.  More assets can be added to the category at any time.  Select the vertical ellipsis (⋮) at far right of any asset to remove it from the Category.  

3. Optional Settings for a Category

After adding assets to a category, a few additional options are available at the top of the category detail screen.

• Category Description field:   If a viewer clicks on a category from the watch portal's browse page, the category specific page will appear and this field can be used to add a description of the category that will appear at the top of this page of your watch portal.  
• Category Background image:   Optionally upload an image to be the background of your category specific watch portal page.
• Row Thumbnail:  On the browse page there is a row highlighting the categories that are found below (this row is enabled at WATCH PORTAL > BRANDING > Browse Page).   Upload an image here as the background for this category's listing in the row.

Display Options: 

• Display on Browse Page:   If you would like to remove this category from displaying on the browse page disable it here.
• Featured Category?: if enabled, this category becomes the featured category on the watch portal's browse page, meaning it will be displayed at the top with larger images that rotate in a carousel. Only one of the categories can be the featured category.  The watch portal doesn't require a featured category, it is optional.    When this box is enabled, a new check box will appear asking if it is desired to Use Featured Thumbnails for this category.  By enabling this check box, the category will display the feature thumbnails, if any were uploaded to the asset, on the watch portal's hero carousel in place of the regular thumbnail.

• Use Poster Images?: by selecting this check box, this category will display poster images on the watch portal's browse page in place of the regular thumbnail, so long as a poster image has been uploaded for that asset.

• Use Logline?: for a video asset, in the details there is the option to add a logline and a short summary. When the asset is added into a category, it will display the short summary by default when the viewer rolls over the image on the browse page. This checkbox will change that to be the logline instead.

One final note, when a category is open and viewing the list of titles that have been added to it, click on a title and be taken directly to that asset's details screen.

4. Preview Categories on the Watch Portal

To preview how categories will appear on the watch portal, navigate to the DASHBOARD and click on the preview link to the watch portal.  Please also see this brief video on the preview functionality:  Preview