Set up Recommendations
To access these features, ask your JWP representative to enable Recommendations.
Recommendations automates the generation of a playlist based on the currently-watched video and provides you options to customize the appearance and behavior of that playlist. To set up Recommendations, you only need to create a recommendations playlist and then associate the playlist with a player.
Use the following sections to set up JW Recommendations from your JW Player dashboard.
If you are a developer or have developer resources, you can also set up Recommendations with our API.
Associate Recommendations with a player
To start recommending content to your viewers, you must associate a recommendations playlist with a player:
- Create a Recommendations playlist.
- From the Players page, select an existing player. The player builder page appears. If you have clicked Create Web Player to create a new player, the player builder page will also appear.
- On the Configuration tab, expand the Recommendations section. The Recommendations options are displayed.
- Click the toggle to turn ON the Recommendations features.
- (Optional) From the Recommendations Playlist dropdown menu, select a playlist. If you do not have additional playlists listed or prefer not to choose a playlist, the Default Recommendations Feed will be used. NOTE: A recommendations playlist can be associated with multiple players.
- (Optional) From the Auto-advance to next video after dropdown menu, choose when to autoplay the next video.
- (Optional) Click the Custom Text checkbox and enter a message. Read the following Countdown Overlay section to learn more about this message.
- (Optional) Update the Display Title.
- Select the Display Mode.
- Click Save.
You have enabled Recommendations for all videos that are played within your selected player.
Customize the Recommendations experience
You can customize some of the default features of the recommendations experience:
Countdown Overlay
The countdown overlay only appears if you select After 5 seconds, After 10 seconds, After 20 seconds, or After 30 seconds from the Auto-advance to next video after dropdown menu. A white line traces the border of the next video to play as part of the countdown.
The countdown overlay looks like the overlay display mode option. However, only the countdown overlay has a countdown and customizable message.
Above the title and description of the next video to play, the countdown message displays. The default message is Next up in X. X represents the number of seconds remaining in the countdown. When you click Display Custom Text, you can customize this message.
You can use the following macros in your custom message. We suggest using ___title_ will play in xx seconds.
Macro | Description |
---|---|
xx | Use this macro as a placeholder to dynamically populate the remaining time, in seconds, before the next video begins to play. |
__title__ | Use this macro as a placeholder to dynamically populate the title of the next video. |
Display Title
The default display title for the Recommendations icon and countdown overlay is More Videos.
Depending on the selected Display Mode, this text appears in the locations listed in the following table.
Display Mode | Locations |
---|---|
Shelf |
|
External Shelf |
|
Overlay |
|
Use the following steps to customize this title:
- In the Display Title textbox, click the X to remove the default display title.
- Enter a title in the textbox to replace the default title.
Display Mode
The Display Mode determines how the recommended videos will be displayed to your viewers.
Display Mode | Description |
---|---|
Shelf | Adds a horizontal bar of thumbnails above the control bar that allows viewers to browse recommended videos during the playback experience and when playback is paused. The shelf appears when a viewer clicks the recommendation icon located above the control bar during playback or pauses playback. |
External Shelf | Adds a persistent horizontal bar of thumbnails beneath the player that allows viewers to browse recommended videos during the playback experience |
Overlay | Adds a recommendations icon to the control bar. The overlay appears when a viewer clicks the recommendations icon in the control bar. The overlay takes over the player and pauses playback. We recommend using one of the other display options that does not stop the video if a viewer explores the recommended videos. |
Updated 10 months ago