How do I broadcast to Facebook Live with captions?
Adding captions to your Facebook Live stream requires one minor but important tweak to the delivery method. Instead of streaming directly to Facebook, you set up your device to stream to us. We take your live stream, add captions into it and send it to your Facebook page.
Step 1: Pick Your Streaming Software
From Your Laptop
For those who stream to Facebook Live using live streaming software (also referred to as encoding software), it’s easy to set up your software to get live captions added by changing the output destination of the stream.
If you are using Open Broadcaster Software (free open source software for live streaming), follow the instructions here.
From Your Phone
Everyone knows the easiest way to stream to Facebook Live is using the Facebook App on your phone. When adding live captions to Facebook Live, you can still use your phone, but you’ll need use a different app. It’s called Streamcube. It’s free.
- For step-by-step instructions on setting up Streamcube for Android, click here.
- For step-by-step instructions on setting up Streamcube for iPhone, click here.
Please note: your choice of broadcasting equipment does not need to be set in stone. It is good, however, to have an idea of how you are going to go live.
Step 2: Schedule a Live Video on Facebook
Scheduling your live video on Facebook lets your fans know that your broadcast is coming. Fans can opt-in to receive a reminder notification shortly before your broadcast begins. Your fans then join a pre-broadcast lobby before the live video starts. In this way, your broadcast can start strong with an audience already assembled.
Scheduling your live video allows you to link your booking to your scheduled live video to make the whole process much smoother! You will also be able to see a preview of your stream before going live to Facebook.
Currently, it’s possible to schedule a live broadcast up to one week in advance.
Follow the steps below to set it up.
From your Facebook Page, select Publishing Tools
Select Video Library and then +Live
Make a note of the Server URL and Stream Key, so you can provide these details to us when you book live captioning. This information allows us to publish your video stream with live captions to your page.
Look next to the “Go Live” button and select Schedule Live…
Select the date for your live video and select Schedule.
You will not be able to put in an end time, but Facebook will allow up to 3 hours of streaming
Step 3: Book Facebook Live Captions
We’ve designed the booking process to be as simple as possible. Login with Facebook on this page.
During the login process, you will be prompted for permissions to link your Facebook account.
Book a live captioning session
After you have logged in, you can book a live captioning session to correspond to the time you wish to go live on Facebook. At the bottom of the form, you will be prompted to choose your destination. You will be presented with two options.
Option 1 – Add From Linked Account
Select this option to link your booking directly to a page associated with your Facebook account.
You will be prompted for permissions which are necessary to allow Ai-Media to publish the captioned stream to your pages. If you don’t accept these permissions, you will need to set up your destination manually using the manual configuration option.
You can stream to any Facebook page where you have permission to post.
You can link your scheduled live video with your booking, or choose to publish directly to your page at the time of your booking.
Option 2 – Manual Configuration
Provide us with the streaming information for your Facebook destination manually. This option is necessary if you have not provided the requested streaming permissions or if you are streaming on someone’s behalf and they have provided you the streaming information for their live video.
Step 4: Prepping For the Day
Hooray! You’ve booked your Facebook live! A member of our team will contact you to set up a 30 minute test session.
While you’re waiting to be contacted, you should upload prep material to your booking.
From Current Bookings, select edit.
On the right hand side you’ll see a text box where you can type in vocabulary such as jargon and names, and below that you can upload presentations and any other documents pertinent to the content in your live video. Providing prep material allows our captioners to provide accurate captioning. Don’t forget to save!
Step 5: Going Live to Facebook On the Day
Before Going Live
If you have scheduled your video on Facebook in advance and booked using our Announce option:
Before your live start time, you should check that you have configured your device to send your live video stream to us. We recommend starting your stream prior to your scheduled start time (either using Streamcube on a smartphone, or through your encoding software). Details here.
If this is within 30 minutes of the scheduled start time, you will see a preview of your stream in the preview window of your scheduled live video. Captions will not appear until the scheduled start time.
If you have scheduled your live event on Facebook, your live stream will automatically start at the scheduled time. If you want to start later, you should set this up in advance by editing the scheduled live video and selecting “manual start” from the drop down menu at the bottom.
IMPORTANT: Facebook only allows you to delay the start time of your live event by a maximum of 10 minutes. If you do not go live within 10 minutes of your start time, your scheduled event is cancelled.
If you have not scheduled your video on Facebook in advance and you have booked using our Go Live option:
There is no preview stream option available in this scenario. Please note that if you try to preview your stream in advance, it will be published to your Facebook page.
We advise not starting your stream until you are ready to go live.
During Your Live Event
No Audio in Live Stream
For users streaming from their mobile phones using GoCoder, be aware that it is possible to accidentally mute the audio. Check you see audio bars in the top right corner and ensure your microphone is not muted. See below.
Delay in Live Stream
You will notice a delay in your stream of about 5-10 seconds. This is intentional to bring the captions in time with your audio.
Delay in Captions
If you notice the captions are out of sync with your audio by more than 10 seconds, please email: onlinesupport (at) ai-media.tv
No Captions Appearing
If captions do not appear within 30 seconds of your booked start time, please email: onlinesupport (at) ai-media.tv
Caption Quality Issue
If you notice the captions are of poor quality or missing words, please ensure your microphone is close to the person speaking. If this persists, please email: onlinesupport (at) ai-media.tv
My Viewers Can’t See Captions
Viewers watching on a computer need to ensure they have enabled the “captions” checkbox in the settings wheel on the Facebook video. Also, viewers should refresh the page.
Viewers watching on a mobile device need to ensure they have enabled caption settings in the accessibility options of their phone. For a detailed guide, please refer to this page.
Ending Your Live Event
When you wish to end your live stream, simply stop streaming to us. This will automatically end your live event. You cannot resume a Facebook Live event once the stream has been stopped.
If your event exceeds the scheduled end time of your captioning booking, we will keep your stream running for up to two hours. However, captions will cease at the booked end time.