How To: Getting Feeds from Brightcove

Brightcove 3 introduced the Media API, a means by which third-party applications can access and manipulate content within your Brightcove account. yospaceCDS can utilise the Media API to take content from your Brightcove so that you can publish it to mobile. The Media API allows for many possibilities, this article shows a handful of API calls that you might find useful.

To integrate with Brightcove, you simply set-up an RSS Input Feed in Brightcove V3 mode in the yospaceCDS Content Management Console. Once this is done, content will automatically copy into your yospaceCDS account. Any content you subsequently add or remove will be automatically synchronised.

Step 1: Set Up Content Group in yospaceCDS

Log in to the yospaceCDS Content Management Console and create a new Content Group. This Content Group will hold the videos that you bring in from Brightcove.

For more information on Content Groups, view this page.

Step 2: Request Media API Token

In order to use the Brightcove Media API, you must have a token. The token is necessary because it authenticates your API call to Brightcove. In order to synchronise content from your Brightcove account, yospaceCDS requires a read-only token with the ability to access the binary Flash Video files. To obtain your token, you will need to write to Brightcove Support.  To find out your Brightcove Publisher ID (required to help support identify your account) login to the Brightcove Console and select the Profile link on the top right of the home screen.

To: Brightcove Support 
Subject: Request for Media API Token


Dear Support,


In order to integrate our Brightcove account with yospaceCDS for mobile 
device delivery, we require:
   1) Our account to be set up for dual delivery
   2) The yospaceCDS IP address 91.213.199.249 whitelisted for content
      acquisition from our Brightcove account
   3) A read-only token with the FLVURL switch enabled.


Many thanks,
Your Name
Publisher ID: <Your Brightcove Publisher ID>

Step 3: Formulate Required Brightcove 3 Media API Call

The Media API is called using a specially constructed URL. Some common examples are provided here. For more information, the Media API is explained within Brightcove's Support portal.

Important: When using these examples, ensure to replace the [T] with the token you received from Brightcove Support. The token is a series of alphanumeric characters ending in a full-stop (period). You must copy the whole token including the full-stop at the end.

Important: These example URLs are intended to copied as a single line.

Get Videos in a Specified Playlist ID

This example URL will allow you to publish the contents of a specific playlist to mobile. You will need to identify the ID of the Playlist that you want to publish in your Brightcove account and replace the [P] in this example URL with it.

http://api.brightcove.com/services/library?
       command=find_playlist_by_id&media_delivery=http&token=[T]&playlist_id=[P]

Get Videos by Matching Text

This examples demonstrates how you can publish video titles to mobile that match on a keyword or search string. You will need to replace the [S] with string of text you want. You will need to ensure this text is URL Encoded. If you are unfamiliar with URL Encoding, you can use this online tool to convert your required text into URL Encoded text.

http://api.brightcove.com/services/library?
       command=find_videos_by_text&media_delivery=http&token=[T]&text=[S]

Get Videos by Tags

Similar to the previous example, this will match videos by assigned tags. Replace the [S] with the tags that you are interested in, remembering to URL Encode them (see above).

http://api.brightcove.com/services/library?
            command=find_videos_by_tags&media_delivery=http&token=[T]∨_tags=[S]

Get Videos by Campaign ID

If you want to publish to mobile videos that belong to a specific Campaign, get the Campaign ID you want from your Brightcove account and replace the [C] in this example with it.

http://api.brightcove.com/services/library?
        command=find_videos_by_campaign_id&media_delivery=http&token=[T]&campaign_id=[C]

Get All Videos

This example will get all the videos in your Brightcove account.

http://api.brightcove.com/services/library?
       command=find_all_videos&media_delivery=http&token=[T]

Step 4: Create RSS Input Feed

Now create an RSS Input Feed in the yospaceCDS Content Management Console, and paste the URL you copied from the Brightcove Console into the Source URL box.

Make sure that you have selected 'Brightcove v3' from the Feed Type selector.

For more information on setting up RSS Input Feeds, go to this page.

Step 5: Set Up Output Feeds

Decide where you want your content to be available. You can publish your content as a Podcast, Nokia Video Center feed, surface it in your own mobile site or handset application using MRSS, or create a channel in EyeVibe, the UK's largest mobile video community.

For more information on publishing content in yospaceCDS, go to this page.