Playlists

A playlist is a named, ordered list of media files you build once and reuse across campaigns. Instead of adding the same five files to every campaign by hand, you build the list once and drop the whole playlist into a campaign zone.

What a playlist is

A playlist is just an ordered set of your existing content files, with a name. It lives on the Content screen, alongside your media. A playlist can hold up to 500 items.

Create a playlist

1. On the Content screen, click Playlists in the toolbar to open the playlist manager.
2. Click New playlist and type a Playlist name.
3. Pick the media files for the list, in the order you want them to play, then save.

The playlist manager — your playlists, with New playlist, Edit, and Delete

Creating a playlist — pick the media files, in order

Edit or delete a playlist

In the playlist manager, click a playlist to edit it — you can rename it and re-pick its items. The delete button on its row removes it after a confirmation. Deleting a playlist does not delete the files it referenced; those stay in your library.

Use a playlist in a campaign

Open a campaign in the editor and go to the first step, Create content. On a zone, use the Add button and choose From a playlist, then pick the playlist.

In the editor, Add › From a playlist

Pick the playlist to add to the zone

How playlist changes reach your screens

Caution

Adding a playlist to an empty zone creates a live reference to the playlist. But editing the playlist later does not change what plays on your screens until you republish each campaign that uses it. So, after you change a playlist, re-open every campaign that uses it and press START again to push the new list.

Dropping a playlist into a zone that already holds items works differently: it copies the playlist’s files into the zone as a one-time snapshot, with no live link. Later edits to the playlist never touch that zone.

Because a zone must not end up empty, a campaign whose only content is an empty playlist will not pass validation — add at least one media item.

How playlists play on a device

A playlist plays in list order: each item shows in turn, and when the list reaches the end it loops back to the top. Images show for 10 seconds each, and videos play to the end before the next item starts. A playlist with a single video simply loops that video.

Note

A playlist references files from your library. If one of those files is rejected or outside its active period, it blocks publishing exactly as it would if you had placed the file in the campaign directly — see The confirmation workflow and Set an active period.

See also

• Content — where playlists and their files live.
• The campaign editor — where you add a playlist to a zone.