Creating a Featured Content Carousel

Introduction

The Featured Carousel puts your most important content right at the top of your Full Channel widget, so fans see what you most want them to buy or watch as soon as they arrive.

It's a special type of section that you set up in Arrange Content, in the same way as your custom sections. The carousel:

• Sits at the very top of your Full Channel widget, in place of your brand cover image (the one uploaded in Brand Details) and above your channel name and login button.
• Can hold a mix of content types in one place: bundles, live events (scheduled or live now), on-demand videos, pre-orders and replays.
• Shows one clear action per item. Each slide shows the price and a purchase button, or "Watch Now" if the fan already has access.
• Has its own colours, so you can make it stand out from the rest of your widget.

You can have one Featured Carousel, and it's only available on Full Channel widgets.

Fans can swipe or click through the slides, and use the dots under the carousel to jump between items.

Creating a Featured Carousel

1. In Recast for Business, select Arrange Content in the Widgets section of the left-hand menu.
2. Click the + Section button at the top right of the screen.
3. From the menu, choose Featured Carousel.

Your new Featured Carousel appears at the top of your list of sections, marked Not published. It has two tabs: Content and Styling.

• The Featured Carousel always stays at the top. Unlike other sections, it can't be dragged to a different position.
• It won't appear on your widget until you've added content and published it. You'll see the message "Add content to activate section" until you do.

Adding content (or bundles)

The Featured Carousel is the first section that lets you mix different types of content together. You can add any combination of:

• Bundles
• Live events, whether scheduled for later or live right now
• Pre-order videos
• On-demand videos
• Replays of past live events

Access Passes can't be added to the Featured Carousel. To feature a group of content together, create a bundle and add the bundle to your carousel instead.

Content must already be uploaded, scheduled or set up as a bundle in Recast for Business before you can add it.

To add content

1. On the Content tab, click + Content.
2. In the Select Content window, find your content by scrolling or using the Search box.
3. Click the + next to each item you want to add. The number of items selected is shown at the bottom of the window.
4. Click Done.

The + Content button shows how many items are in your carousel, for example + Content (6). Underneath, you'll see how many are published, unpublished and scheduled for publish.

Good to know: only published content is shown to fans. Unpublished items are marked Not Published in the picker. If you add one, it won't appear on your widget until you publish that video or event, or it publishes automatically based on its scheduled publish settings.

To reorder content

Your items are shown as numbered cards, and the number is the order they'll appear in on your widget. To move an item, drag it by the handle next to its number.

Put the item you most want fans to see in position 1, as this is the first slide they'll see.

To remove content

Click the bin icon in the top-right corner of the card. This only removes the item from the carousel; it doesn't delete the video, event or bundle.

Styling your Featured Carousel

The Featured Carousel has its own colours, separate from the rest of your widget. This lets you make it stand out, or match it to a campaign or event.

1. Open the Styling tab.
2. Under Edit Colours, set:
   
   • Item background colour: the colour of each carousel slide.
   • Font Colour: the colour of the text on each slide.
3. Enter a hex code (for example #E62200) or click the colour swatch to pick a colour.

A live preview underneath updates as you make changes, so you can see exactly how your carousel will look.

Full Channel View Widget background colour

This third setting is for the preview only. Set it to match your widget's background so the preview is realistic. It doesn't change your widget.

To change your widget's actual background colour, edit the widget on the Your Widgets page.

Tip: Make sure your font colour stands out clearly against your item background colour, so prices and buttons are easy to read.

Publishing your Featured Carousel

When you're happy with your content, order and colours, click Publish at the top right of the Arrange Content screen. Your carousel will then appear at the top of your Full Channel widget.

• Any changes which aren't published will be discarded and will not be saved. This includes content, ordering and styling  changes.
• Refresh the page your widget is on to see the carousel. It can take a couple of minutes to update.

Editing or removing your carousel

• To make changes, open the Featured Carousel in Arrange Content, edit the Content or Styling tab, then click Publish again.
• To remove the carousel, click the bin icon on the Featured Carousel section, then click Publish. Your channel's cover image will show again at the top of your widget.

What your fans will see

Each slide shows the item's thumbnail, title, date and description, with one main button. The button changes depending on the type of content and whether the fan already has access to it.

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Every slide also has a View Details link that takes fans to the full page for that video, event, or bundle.

Purchase buttons open the usual Recast purchase journey. Once a fan has bought an item, they are taken to the relevant detail view to start watching or view the countdown timer, as relevant.

Fans who already own a bundle will also see "You have access" on the bundle page itself, in place of the price and purchase button.

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