To create a Roku Channel with Roku Direct Publisher, you need to provide a feed URL with information about your videos and metadata.
Tappla helps you generate a Roku JSON feed URL that is optimized for Roku Direct Publisher and that automatically syncs with your videos from Vimeo + live streams from any CDN / video streaming provider.
Our feed solution generates a Roku Direct Publisher feed in JSON format that adds
live streams from any live video streaming platform
on-demand videos from Vimeo (add & merge videos from multiple showcases or channels + we even let you add private videos + no video limit for your feed).
Generate your Direct Publisher feed in 5 easy steps:
1.) Finalize the integration with Vimeo (In case you have no Tapppla account yet - 14-day free trial signup.)
2.) Define the exact videos that shall appear on your Roku Channel
3.) Obtain your Roku feed URL from your Tappla Dashboard > Roku TV > Feed URL
4.) Create your Channel at Roku Direct Publisher using the feed URL.
5.) Start your subscription to ensure your app continues to work after the trial ends.
Note: Live streams on Roku have a different launch behavior than on-demand videos:
Live streams:
live stream videos launch directly into playing the video (no springboard screen with more information)
live stream videos will NOT start at the beginning, but jump right to live (e.g. when you joined 15 minutes late).
once the video plays, it will not show player controls like fast forward, play and pause.
On-demand videos:
on-demand videos might launch a springboard screen with more information on the video first (e.g. if you set up in your Tappla dashboard the content type "movie" or "tvSpecial". If you set up your playlist to "short FormVideo" the video launches directly into playing it.)
on-demand videos will load with an option to play from the beginning or start from where you left off.
once the video plays, you have all the player controls like fast forward, play and pause.
More information on the Roku content types and the connected launch behavior can be found on Roku's documentation here: https://developer.roku.com/docs/direct-publisher/getting-started/content-feed.md
When you test your feed in Roku Direct Publisher, please note the following:
You can merge multiple showcases into one Roku feed. With our feed, Roku reads each showcase as a category and will populate the category navigation bar in your app accordingly (we use your showcase title as the category name).
If you update your videos / your Roku feed, the app preview page in Roku might not reflect the updates, even when reloading. To manually refresh the feed go to "Feed-Status" on the Roku Developer website and click the "refresh" button. More Details on how your Roku Channel refreshes are in this help article: https://help.tappla.com/en/articles/6317504-roku-do-i-need-to-refresh-my-feed-in-roku-direct-publisher