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How to embed and host a YouTube livestream on Givebutter
How to embed and host a YouTube livestream on Givebutter

Information on using YouTube as your platform for hosting a livestream on Givebutter.

Liran Cohen avatar
Written by Liran Cohen
Updated over a week ago

Livestream a YouTube video or YouTube Live to Givebutter

Find your URL for a pre-recorded video

When on a video's page, you can copy the URL directly from your browser's address bar. That URL will be in the format https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=video_id.

👉 Note: Shorts YouTube URLs are not compatible with our platform. You can easily convert them into regular links by changing shorts/ to watch?v=.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MkdhmTb2k-8

should be converted to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkdhmTb2k-8

youtube share button

Privacy

You'll want to make your video Unlisted or Public. If you want viewers to only watch through your Givebutter campaign page, it's recommended you make the video Unlisted. Make it Public if you don't mind viewers finding and watching it on YouTube directly.

To change your video's visibility settings, go to the Content tab and click on the drop-down arrow next to the current visibility setting.

an arrow points to the public setting

You can also choose a time to make the video public by selecting Schedule.

private, unlisted, or public options

If the video setting is Private viewers will be unable to see the video.

private video screen

Verify Visibility Settings

A quick way to verify your visibility settings is to open an incognito window in your browser and paste in the video's URL. If you are able to watch the video, you shouldn't run into issues.

Find your URL for Facebook Live

From inside your Facebook account, click on Create and then click Go live.
👉 Note: You will need to activate Go live before your event as there is some set up required.

an arrow points to go live

Enter the details, customization, and visibility of your livestream. Make sure you set visibility to Public or Unlisted.

an arrow point to the public radio button

On the Stream Preview screen, click on Share, then copy the URL listed.

share and copy buttons

❗️Do not paste this URL directly into your Givebutter dashboard - it won't work.

Instead:

Open a new tab in your browser and paste the copied URL, then hit Return on your keyboard. Copy the new URL that is generated. This is the one you'll need for Givebutter.

animated url example

Add your URL to your campaign

  • Go back to your Givebutter dashboard.

  • Click on the campaign you want, and then on the Event tab.

  • Scroll down to the Livestream section.

  • Click Livestream on Givebutter.

  • Select YouTube for the Video Platform.

  • Paste your Video URL

  • Choose whether to Manually control or Schedule when your livestream will show.

livestream in givebutter dashboard

Troubleshooting

I'm getting a "Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner" error from the embedded video.

This occurs when the video had its "Allow embedding" setting disabled. To re-enable embedding:

  • From the Content tab on YouTube, click on the pencil icon of the video.

  • pencil icon in YouTube
  • Scroll to the bottom and click Show More.

  • Scroll to the License section and click the checkbox for Allow embedding. Remember to save!

    embed checkbox

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