You may be familiar with streaming rental services such as Apple TV or Prime Video, where after transacting, viewers are given a certain amount of time to begin watching their content, and once they begin watching they have a specified amount of time to finish. On the Eventive dashboard, you can use your availability, unlock and watch windows to customize these settings to offer your viewers the optimal experience you'd like them to have, while meeting the requirements of rights holders.
In the following article we’ll take a look at different ways to configure the availability, unlock and watch windows to create different experiences for your virtual audience.
These suggestions are a great jumping off point and can be adjusted to meet your specific needs.
For definitions of Availability, Unlock and Watch Windows, please refer to our article All About Unlock, Watch, and Availability Windows.
No date restrictions on availability
When there is no restriction on availability, a virtual screening remains available for your audience to order at any time provided that virtual content has been uploaded to the film record. This is great for filmmakers, distributors or any other rights holders that may be empowered to exhibit a film online for an extended period of time that doesn’t have a clearly defined start and / or end date.
NOTE: If a screening doesn’t have any content uploaded to the film record and there is no restriction on availability, the screening cannot be ordered or watched. Until the content has been uploaded, the Unlock button on the screening page will display the message, “Not currently available”.
A screening’s availability is set on the per screening level.
To make sure that a screening’s availability is not limited by date restrictions, ensure that the Availability Window is set to “No date restrictions on availability”.
Short Term Rental
When there are no date restrictions on availability, you can limit the unlock and watch windows to create short term film rentals. Unlock and watch windows can be configured on the event bucket level or on each individual virtual screening according to your needs.
Example: For a short term rental, consider an unlock window of 7 days and a watch window of 48 hours.
With a 7-day unlock window, this means your customer will have 7 days / 168 hours from the moment they purchased the screening to start watching the screening before their access will expire.
If they don’t start the screening within 7 days / 168 hours of purchasing the screening, they will not be able to start the film.
When your customer starts watching the screening for the first time, the unlock window ends and the watch window begins. From the time the screening is started for the first time, the customer has 48 hours to enjoy the screening at their leisure before their access expires.
During this time they can pause, rewind, fast forward and restart the screening as many times as they like.
Long Term Rental / “Buy Now”
At present we don’t offer a one-click “Buy Now” option for Eventive Virtual. If you would like to create an experience that is similar to a long term purchase, the longest unlock and watch window that the system will accommodate is 49 years.
Example: For a Long term rental, enter an unlock window of 49 years and a watch window of 49 years.
Once the customer buys the screening, they have 49 years to start watching the film for the first time.
When your customer starts watching the screening for the first time, the unlock window ends and the watch window begins. From the time the screening is started for the first time, the audience member has 49 years to enjoy the screening at their leisure before their virtual admission will expire.
NOTE: unlock and watch windows longer than 49 years may result in DRM errors - do not use an unlock or watch window longer than 49 years.
Restrict Availability by date
Restricting a screening’s availability by date can be handy for festivals and organizations that might have online exhibition rights for a limited period of time. Restricting availability by date can also help concentrate your audience and create a sense of urgency that you can leverage with your marketing efforts.
Festival or Limited Engagement
For a festival or limited engagement, the following examples use a one week availability window.
With festivals and other limited engagements, the filmmaker, distributor or other rights holder may specify how long an audience member can watch the film before their virtual admission expires. For the following examples we will use a 24-hour watch window.
Limited unlock window, limited watch window
Having an unlock window that is shorter than the availability window will require your audience to watch your screening(s) sooner rather than later.
NOTE: Some filmmakers or distributors or filmmakers may require you to limit your unlock and watch windows. Unless you are obligated to have an unlock window that is shorter than your availability window, it is recommended to set your unlock window to match your availability window.
Example: Consider a festival with a one-week availability window, a 2-day unlock window and a 24-hour watch window.
Audience members that have either pre-ordered a screening or ordered a screening early in your festival will have to watch the screening in the first few days of your festival.
From the time they start the screening for the first time, they have continuous access for 24 hours to watch at their leisure before their virtual admission expires.
Pro: If they enjoyed the screening, they may share their opinions via social media which can help extend the reach of your marketing efforts.
Con: If an audience member has ordered many screenings, they may find that they are rushed to start watching their content before the unlock window expires.
Unlock any time during availability window, limited watch window
If you are concerned that your customers will be upset by or will struggle with a limited unlock window, you may set your unlock window to the same length as your availability window.
Example: Consider a festival with a one-week availability window, a one-week unlock window and a 24-hour watch window.
Audience members that pre-order or purchase a screening any time during the festival will be able to start watching their screenings at any time during the festival provided that they start the screening for the first time before the availability window closes.
From the time they start the screening for the first time, they have continuous access for 24 hours to watch at their leisure before their virtual admission expires.
Pro: This can provide a more leisurely experience for your audience, but they may still find themselves in a rush to complete their viewing if they wait until the end of the festival to start watching.
Con: Audience members watching at the end of your festival will still share their love of your films via social media, but you may not have the time to leverage this good will into additional sales.
Unlock any time during the availability window, watch window ends at the same time as the availability window
If you would like your audience to be able to watch their purchased screenings for the full duration of the availability window and you don’t want the watch window to extend past the end of the availability window, please contact Eventive Support and we can discuss the possibility of setting this up for you.
Pro: This setup is easily understood by audiences
Con: This setup can cause some difficulty as the availability window draws to a close. Customers that purchase close to the end may be upset if their access ends before they feel they’ve had the chance to completely watch and enjoy the screening.
Real-Time Broadcasts (RTB)
Real-Time Broadcasts are a further way of restricting availability by date. With Real-Time Broadcasts, the screening starts at a scheduled time and plays through without interruption. During a Real-Time Broadcast, all audience members are seeing the same thing at the same time. If an audience member is late to the screening, they will be joining the screening in progress.
Real-Time Broadcasts are a great way to gather a larger audience together at one time to create a shared experience with a live chat window that allows your audience to interact with you and your audience throughout your VOD, Livestream or VOD + Live screenings.
Watch Parties and Premieres
To create a Real-Time Broadcast for a watch party or a premiere, set the availability window for the screening and check “VOD content as a single real-time broadcast” beneath where you set the availability window.
The minimum availability window allowable is the length of your VOD asset + any livestream event that you may be planning. It is not advisable to have too tight of an availability window. Adding a 5-10 minutes of pre-roll (perhaps with a pre-show countdown) before the feature begins will give your audience ample time to get settled and get connected - leaving them a little time to troubleshoot if necessary.
Short Availability Window
For a watch party or a premiere with a short availability window, you’ll want to add together the length of your pre-roll, your feature and livestream event (if you plan to have one) to determine the length of your watch window. When setting up your screening, set your availability window, check “Play VOD content as a single real-time broadcast” and leave “After live broadcast concludes, make program available for on demand viewing until availability window closes” unchecked.
Example. Consider a film premiere with a 10 minute pre-roll, a 90 minute feature that is followed by a 30 minute livestream discussion with the film’s creative team.
This event would need a 130 minute watch window. If the event is set to begin at 7:30pm, the watch window would end at 9:40pm.
During this premiere, the audience will only have the opportunity once at the scheduled screening time. They will not be able to rewind or restart the screening.
Pro: All audience members will be assembled to watch at one time - this will ensure the maximum possible participation in the Real-Time Broadcast chat and livestream, which will be thrilling for both your audience and your livestream participants.
Con: If any audience members miss the screening or join the screening late, they will not have the opportunity to watch what they have missed.
Leisurely Availability Window
For a watch party or premiere with a leisurely availability window, you'll be making the program available for on-demand viewing until the availability window closes. To determine the length of your availability window, set the beginning of the availability window for the time at which you would like the real-time broadcast to begin. It is still good practice to include some pre-roll to give your audience to get settled and get connected. To determine the end of your availability window, consider how long you would like to give your audience to enjoy the recording of the real-time broadcast at their convenience.
Example: Consider a watch party with a 10 minute pre-roll, a 90 minute feature that is followed by a 30 minute livestream with the film’s creative team. After the event is over, let’s make this content available as video on demand until midnight the next day.
Set the beginning of the availability window to the date and time where you would like the real-time broadcast to begin.
Set the end of the availability window to 11:59pm the next day
During the first 130 minutes of the availability window, this content will play as a Real-Time Broadcast. After the broadcast ends, the recording will remain available online for the audience to watch at their leisure until midnight the next day
Make sure that the watch window is long enough to reach the end of the availability window.
Pro: Access to the screening (and following livestream) will remain available to audience members to access after the broadcast in case they missed anything
Con: Some audience members may plan on watching the recording rather than joining the initial broadcast which may result in slightly decreased chat participation.