Scheduled Lives let you plan and promote a live sale in advance by setting its products, date and time, streaming destinations, and promotions before you go live. You can also schedule a pre-recorded live sale that plays automatically at the scheduled time.
Use Live > Scheduled Lives to create, edit, manage, and cancel scheduled live sales.
Use the table of contents below to navigate to specific sections of this article:
- What are Scheduled Lives
- Before You Begin
- Navigate to Schedule a Live Sale Window
- Choose how you'll run the Live
- Manage Scheduled Lives
- Cancel a Scheduled Live
- Customer Experience
- Set the Maximum Number of Scheduled Lives in Your App
- Scheduled Lives Limitations
- FAQs
What are Scheduled Lives?
Scheduled Lives let you prepare a live sale ahead of time instead of setting everything up immediately before going on air. It also shows a promotional thumbnail in your mobile app so customers know when your next live sale will occur.
You can schedule:
- A live broadcast that you start and stream at the scheduled time.
- A pre-recorded premiere that you record ahead of time and automatically play at the scheduled time.
You can configure products, streaming destinations, promotions, live details, and other settings in advance. Shoppers can also see upcoming lives in your mobile app and receive scheduled promotions.
Before You Begin
Make sure you have:
- Access to Live in your CommentSold dashboard.
- Use Broadcast App and View Live History permissions to create, edit, or cancel scheduled lives.
- Connected Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts if you plan to stream there.
Any user with the required permissions can manage any scheduled live, regardless of who created it.
Step 1: Navigate to Schedule a Live Sale Window
- Select Live from the side menu of your Commentsold dashboard.
- Go to Scheduled Lives.
- Select Schedule a live.
Step 2: Choose How You'll Run the Live
- Select Go live at the scheduled time.
- Then select the Stream source:
- Broadcast App
- Multi-Source Live
- Select Continue.
- Add live details:
- Post title — Enter a live title. A title is enough to save the live as a draft.
- Post Description — Shown to shoppers when they open the scheduled live.
- Cover photo — Recommended ratio is 2:3, approximately 600 × 900 px. If you don't upload a cover photo, your app splash screen is used instead.
- Live info banner — Add a banner title of up to 30 characters and a description of up to 100 characters.
- Preview thumbnail — If your shop has a mobile app, choose whether to show a preview thumbnail in the live feed. This is enabled by default.
- Select Continue.
- Schedule the Date and Time when the live should start. The shop's timezone is used by default.
- Select Continue.
- Choose Where to Go Live.
- Mobile app and Website are enabled by default. Shops without a mobile app cannot select the Mobile app destination.
- For traditional live broadcasts, you can also select:
- TikTok
- Select Continue.
- Add Products:
- Product selection
- Dynamic selection
- Select Continue.
- Promote the Live. You can optionally promote your scheduled live.
- Push Notification — Enable Push notification to notify shoppers when the live starts, and enter its Title and Body.
-
Live Promo— Enter the following details. You can edit the pre-filled fields.
- Lifetime budget (USD)
- Ad account
- Review all the details and select Continue.
- Review and Schedule. Review each section before scheduling. Depending on the live format, you can:
- Schedule live — Schedules the live after all required information has been completed.
- Save as draft — Saves the setup without scheduling it. Only a live title is required.
- Select Pre-record it.
- Then select the Stream source:
- Broadcast App
- Multi-Source Live
- Select Continue.
- Add live details
- Live title — Enter a live title. A title is enough to save the live as a draft.
- Description — Shown to shoppers when they open the scheduled live.
- Cover photo — Recommended ratio is 2:3, approximately 600 × 900 px. If you don't upload a cover photo, your app splash screen is used instead.
- Live badge — Available for pre-recorded premieres. Choose Show as live or Show as pre-recorded.
- Live info banner — Add a banner title of up to 30 characters and a description of up to 100 characters.
- Preview thumbnail — If your shop has a mobile app, choose whether to show a preview thumbnail in the live feed. This is enabled by default.
- Select Continue.
- Set the Date and Time when the live should premiere. The shop's timezone is used by default. For pre-recorded premieres, CommentSold automatically calculates a recording deadline. The deadline is 5.5 hours before the scheduled premiere and automatically updates when you change the date or time.
- Select Continue.
- Choose Where to Go Live:
- Mobile app and Website are enabled by default. Shops without a mobile app cannot select the Mobile app destination.
- Select Continue.
- Add Products.
- Product selection
- Dynamic selection
- Select Continue.
- Promote the Live. You can optionally promote your scheduled live.
- Push Notification — Enable Push notification to notify shoppers when the live starts, and enter its Title and Body.
- Select Continue.
- Review and Schedule. Review each section before scheduling. Depending on the live format, you can:
- Start recording — Available for pre-recorded lives. Opens the Broadcast App or Multi-Source recording session.
- Schedule live — Schedules the live after all required information has been completed.
- Save as draft — Saves the setup without scheduling it. Only a live title is required.
- Select Live Promo.
-
Promote it.
-
Live Promo— Enter the following details. You can edit the pre-filled fields.
- Lifetime budget (USD)
- Ad account
-
Live Promo— Enter the following details. You can edit the pre-filled fields.
- Review all the details and select Continue.
- Review and Schedule. Review each section before scheduling.
- Schedule Promo — Schedules the promo after all required information has been completed.
- Save as draft — Saves the setup without scheduling it. Only a promo title is required.
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Important: Starting a live is changes when you have an upcoming Scheduled Live or booked promo.
Hover over a disabled Start button to see more information and a link to Scheduled Lives. | |
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Note
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Manage Scheduled Lives
After creating a scheduled live, find it under Live > Scheduled Lives.
The Scheduled Lives tab includes:
- Next Up
- Scheduled and draft lives
- Templates
- Filters for different live statuses
- Search
Next Up
The Next Up section highlights the next live that's scheduled to happen.
It includes a countdown and, when applicable, a Go live now option.
The section automatically updates based on your schedule:
- A live currently on air takes priority.
- Otherwise, your next upcoming live is shown.
- Drafts and canceled lives aren't included.
- If no live is scheduled, the Next Up section isn't displayed.
Scheduled Lives List
The list can be filtered by:
- All
- Scheduled
- Needs recording
- Drafts
- Canceled
Each live displays its title, format, scheduled start time, countdown, streaming destinations, and product count.
After a live takes place, it moves from Scheduled Lives to Live History.
Cancel a Scheduled Live
To cancel a scheduled live:
- Select Live from the side menu of your Commentsold dashboard.
- Select Scheduled Lives.
- Find the live you want to change.
- Open its three-dot menu.
- Select Cancel live.
- Review what will be canceled and confirm.
Canceling a live removes it from your app's live feed and can also cancel associated promotions.
If the live has a queued push notification, that notification is canceled. If it has a running Meta live ad, the ad is stopped in Meta. Any spend that has already been delivered isn't refunded.
| Important: Canceling a scheduled live cannot be undone. If you may want to reuse the same setup later, select Save as template before canceling. |
A scheduled live can also be canceled automatically. For example, a pre-recorded premiere may be canceled if its recording isn't completed by the deadline, or a traditional live may be canceled if it isn't started around its scheduled time.
Customer Experience
Scheduled lives can appear in the same live and replay area that shoppers already use in your mobile app.
Shoppers can filter the feed by:
- All
- Upcoming
- Replays
A live that's currently in progress always appears first.
Upcoming live cards are visually different from live and replay cards. They display a schedule banner with the live's date and time instead of a Live or Replay badge.
You can choose whether an upcoming live appears in the shopper feed before it starts. This lets shoppers discover the event and plan to attend.
When a shopper opens a scheduled live, the detail drawer shows:
- Cover image
- Live title
- Date and time in the shopper's local timezone
- Description
- Countdown until the live starts
- Notification status
If notifications are enabled, shoppers see a confirmation that they'll be notified when the live starts. If notifications aren't enabled, shoppers are prompted to turn them on.
Set the Maximum Number of Scheduled Lives in Your App
If your shop has a mobile app, you can control how many upcoming scheduled lives appear in the live feed.
- Select Mobile App from the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
- Select the Settings tab from the options available at the top of the page.
- Scroll down to the Live Selling section.
- Find Maximum Scheduled Lives.
- Set the maximum number of upcoming lives to display.
| Note: The default maximum is 3 and the maximum that can be set is 10. The soonest upcoming lives fill the available slots first. A live that's currently on air doesn't count toward this limit. |
Scheduled Lives Limitations
Keep the following limitations in mind:
- Recurring schedules aren't supported. Each live must be scheduled individually.
- The webstore doesn't have a separate upcoming-lives feed. Scheduling a live for your website publishes the live itself rather than an upcoming preview card.
- Pre-recorded premieres can only use Mobile app and Website as destinations.
- CommentSold doesn't stream directly to TikTok. For TikTok, you must start your own stream through TikTok LIVE Studio at the scheduled time.
FAQs
What are Scheduled Lives?
Scheduled Lives let you configure a live sale in advance, including its date, time, products, destinations, and promotions. You can schedule either a traditional live broadcast or a pre-recorded premiere.
Can I schedule a pre-recorded live?
Yes. Select Pre-record it when creating the scheduled live. You'll record the live ahead of time, and the recording will automatically premiere at the scheduled time.
Can another team member edit or cancel my scheduled live?
Yes. Any user with both Use Broadcast App and View Live History permissions can edit or cancel any scheduled live, regardless of who created it.
What happens if I don't start my live at the scheduled time?
A traditional scheduled live can be automatically canceled if it isn't started within the allowed window around its scheduled start time.
What happens if I don't record my pre-recorded live by the deadline?
The scheduled premiere can be automatically canceled if the required recording isn't completed by its recording deadline.
When is the push notification sent?
A scheduled push notification is sent when the live starts. Scheduling the live does not automatically send the push notification ahead of time.
Can I stream a pre-recorded live to Facebook or Instagram?
No. Pre-recorded premieres can only run on the Mobile app and Website. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok aren't available as destinations for pre-recorded premieres.
Can I schedule a recurring live?
No. Recurring or repeating schedules aren't currently supported. Each live must be scheduled individually.
Does a live that's currently on air count toward Maximum Scheduled Lives?
No. Maximum Scheduled Lives only limits upcoming scheduled lives. A live that's currently broadcasting doesn't count toward the limit.
What happens to existing scheduled lives and drafts?
Existing scheduled lives and drafts are automatically moved to the Scheduled Lives tab.