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Paywall Introduction

Monetize your contents easily using Paywall

Written by Khandoker Zishan

Monetize your live streams and hosted videos with the Paywall. Castr generates a protected player page (and an embeddable widget) where viewers register, pay by card, and gain access — with payments processed securely through your connected Stripe account.

To learn how Stripe handles payments, see Stripe's guides.

In this article

  1. How to create a paywall

  2. Paywall interface

    1. Setup

    2. Branding

    3. Access

    4. Promo

    5. Transactions

    6. Customers

  3. Disabling a paywall

  4. Unlinking Stripe account

  5. Commission

  6. Critical Information

How to create a paywall

To create your paywall, you first need to connect your Stripe account.

Once connected, click Create Paywall and fill in the required fields:

Note: The Paywall currently supports two payment types — Pay Per View (a one-time payment) and Free (registration only). Subscription-based payments are coming soon.

Note: Once a paywall is created, its currency can't be changed. You can still adjust the price and the content source at any time.

A paywall can be applied to live streams, Video on Demand (VOD) content (an entire folder or individual videos within a folder), or playlist sources. After completing the required fields, click Create paywall to proceed.

Paywall interface

The paywall includes several features that help you design the experience for your customers. Each one is described below.

Setup

Under the Setup section, you have:

  1. Content:

    1. Display Title: the title viewers see for the paywall.

    2. Content Source: the source the paywall protects.

  2. Pricing:

    1. Payment type:

      1. Pay per view: set an amount.

      2. Free: viewers can watch by registering only.

    2. Access Length:

      1. Lifetime: permanent access to this paywall's content.

      2. Limited Time: access to the content for a set period.

  3. Share your Paywall:

    1. Embed on your website: grab the iframe link here to embed on your site.

    2. Direct URL: a standalone page hosting the paywall.

Branding

Customize the paywall to your needs.

  1. Call to Action Button:

    1. Paid Access Button: the button text shown when access requires a payment.

    2. Free Access Button: the button text shown when access is free.

    3. Returning Viewer Link: text shown under the access button.

  2. Appearance: add posters from this section.

  3. Company & Branding: set your company name, website, support email, and logo here.

Access

Grant free access to specific people (such as a sponsor) without payment.

  1. Temporary Access Links: set an expiration date and time to generate a link that grants free access to the paywall until it expires.

  2. Concurrent Viewing Limit: how many devices can watch at the same time on a single viewer account.

  3. Shared Access: there are 2 options here:

    1. Viewers who purchase the current paywall will also get access to other checkmarked paywalls.

    2. Viewers who already have access to other paywalls will also get access to the current paywall.

  4. Email Access: give specific viewers free access to this paywall. They sign in with the email and password you set to watch, with no payment required.

Promo

Create promotional codes for your event. To set up a promo code, configure:

  1. Code: the promo code itself.

  2. Discount type: the system supports the following discount types:

    1. Percentage off: a set percentage is applied.

    2. Fixed Amount off: a set fixed amount is applied.

    3. Complimentary Access: free access is granted once this code is applied.

  3. Value: for the percentage or fixed-amount types, set the percentage or amount here.

  4. Max redemptions: the number of times this code can be redeemed.

  5. Expiry: the date the promo code is valid until.

Transactions

  • Every transaction for this paywall is listed here.

  • Refunds can also be issued from here.

Customers

All customers for this paywall are listed here.

Disabling a paywall

To stop anyone from accessing the paywall, disable it using the option provided here.

Unlinking Stripe account

To switch to a different Stripe account, disconnect the current one by clicking Unlink in this section.

Note: Detaching your Stripe account removes all existing paywalls and their associated information. Your transaction and customer details remain accessible in your previous Stripe account, but will no longer be available in Castr.

Commission

Castr charges a flat 9% commission on every paywall sale, the same rate across all plans.

For example, a $100 sale carries a 9% Castr commission ($9), so you keep $91. Stripe's processing fees are then deducted from that amount.

Critical Information

  1. If you haven't set a Concurrent Viewing Limit and the same credentials are used to watch at the same time, the second session is still allowed to log in but shows an error on its player. Set a limit to control how many devices can watch simultaneously.

  2. For best results, use the paywall as a standalone page rather than embedding it in an iframe. For livestream and playlist content, you can instead enable the paywall directly on the player and embed that on your site.

  3. Each plan can create up to 10 paywalls (a soft limit). To create more at no cost, contact support.

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