Copyrighted Video on Your Church Livestream: The ProPresenter Fix

You’ve found the perfect movie scene, TV clip or YouTube video to illustrate Sunday’s message. The question is whether Facebook or YouTube will shut down the livestream the moment it plays. The honest answer is that they might, and there’s no license you can buy that prevents it.

What you can control is what the stream sees. Here’s how to set up ProPresenter so the room watches the clip while online viewers see a graphic, how to keep those viewers from leaving during the gap, and the one kind of stream that avoids platform shutdowns.

Why a License Won’t Protect Your Stream

The best way to show any content is to license it. But a license to show videos in your facility, like the ones services such as CCLI offer, isn’t automatically a license to show them to a livestream audience. Licenses vary, so check exactly what yours covers, and don’t assume it covers you online.

On top of that, Facebook and YouTube use automated copyright detection. Those systems don’t know or care what licenses or permissions you may have. They analyze what’s being streamed, flag content that matches, and can shut the stream down first and ask questions later.

“Later” is always after your gathering, conference or event is over. There’s never a good time for a livestream to get shut down, and it always seems to happen at the most inconvenient moment.

Even permission doesn’t change that. If you’ve obtained a legal copy of the video, there’s still no way to tell Facebook’s or YouTube’s automated detection, in the moment, that the content is fine to show.

I love a good video illustration, but it’s not worth losing your livestream privileges over a copyright infringement.

The Plan: One Service, Two Different Pictures

The fix happens inside ProPresenter. When your operator plays the clip, the room’s screens show it as usual. The stream shows a graphic that tells online viewers you’ll be right back, or some other creative element.

It takes three pieces:

• A theme slide holding the graphic the stream will show.
• A Look that leaves the main output alone and points the stream output at that theme slide.
• A macro that switches to that Look with one click.

The video was recorded in ProPresenter 7. If a label has moved in the version you run, look for the same three pieces: themes, Looks and macros.

Build the Copyright Look, Step by Step

Step 1: Create a Look Called “Copyright”

Open the Looks editor and create a new Look. I named mine copyright.

Leave the main output alone, so people in the room still see the video. On the stream output, you’re going to set a new theme, which you’ll build next.

Step 2: Build the Theme Slide the Stream Will Show

Click the plus in the top right and make a new theme folder. I called mine extra, just to give this theme a tidy place to live.

In the theme editor, add a new slide named copyright. This slide is what your online audience sees while the video plays in person.

Add your graphic. You can drag and drop an image you’ve made straight onto the slide, or use fill media to place it. This method is limited to still images, which matters for keeping viewers around (more on that below).

Step 3: Point the Look at That Slide

Close the theme editor. Back in the Looks editor, pick the copyright theme slide you just created for the stream output.

If Looks are new to you, Setup “Audience Looks” for Worship | Streaming with ProPresenter walks through setting them up for streaming.

Step 4: Put It on a Macro

Your operator shouldn’t be digging through menus mid-service. Back on the main ProPresenter screen, click the plus in the bottom right to create a new macro, and name it look copyright.

Right-click to add an action, choose Audience Look, and select your copyright Look. Now one click sends the stream to the graphic while the clip plays in the room.

Plan the way back, too. When the clip ends, the stream needs to return to your normal Look, and a second macro set to that Look makes the return as easy as the switch.

Building Looks, themes and macros from scratch takes time. The ProPresenter Quick Start Template ships with Macros for common scene changes and one-click workflows, plus custom Looks and Themes tuned for livestream color, so you start from a working setup.

Test It Before Sunday

Run the clip once with the actual stream feed in front of you, not just the room screens. If something’s off, it’s usually one of these:

• The stream still shows the clip. Confirm the macro’s action is set to the copyright Look, and that the Look’s stream output uses the copyright theme slide.
• The room screens switched to the graphic. The main output got changed in the Look. Set it back so only the stream output uses the copyright theme.
• You can still hear the clip on the stream. The steps above handle what the stream shows. How the clip’s sound reaches your stream depends on your audio setup, so listen to the real stream feed. If the clip is audible, it has to come out of your stream audio path too. Setup LIVE Stream Audio IN and OUT of ProPresenter covers getting ProPresenter audio in and out of a stream.
• The stream looks frozen. That’s expected with a still image. The next section covers keeping it alive.
• The stream stays on the graphic after the clip. Fire the macro for your normal Look.

Keep Online Viewers From Clicking Away

What the stream shows in that moment matters, because the goal is always to keep viewers engaged. Start with one question: how long is the gap? A 10-second clip you can’t stream is a completely different problem than a guest speaker with 45 minutes you can’t stream.

The easiest option is to show the graphic and post a link to the clip in the video description or comments. I don’t recommend it, because it encourages viewers to leave.

For a Short Clip

To retain viewers, you need motion at minimum, and ideally some continued interaction. A still graphic with no sound leaves people wondering if you forgot about them.

• Soft music is a nice touch.
• Gentle motion in the graphic helps things feel like they’re moving.
• A countdown timer shows online viewers exactly when the clip or intermission will be over. Display Your Countdown Timer & Graphics with Props in ProPresenter covers putting a countdown on screen.

There’s a catch with motion and sound. ProPresenter 7, the version in the video, isn’t designed to send completely different content to a bunch of outputs. To play a video with audio on the stream while a different video plays in the room, run that content from your streaming graphics computer instead.

For a Long Gap

Picture that guest speaker again: 45 minutes, and their presentation can’t go online. Once viewers realize nothing is coming for 45 minutes, essentially all of them will leave. Give them something else to watch:

• Record a few-minute video that morning with your pastor and the guest speaker. Online viewers get a dose of what’s happening in the room, and if the guest is a missionary your church supports, it gets them excited about that work too.
• Make it exclusive online content. Back in the day, my brother and I recorded a weekly show called Table Talk just for our church’s online viewers, and it was a lot of fun to record. For a related idea, see BETTER CHURCH LIVE STREAMING: Pre-Service Hosted Show.
• Fill the rest of the time with a pre-recorded message from your pastor, or an archived message most people haven’t seen.
• Skip the timing puzzle. If you don’t want to get the timing perfect, play some pre-recorded worship and end the online service with pre-recorded content.

Streaming a Clip You Have Rights To

Say you’ve done everything right: you have permission and a legal copy. their automated detection still can’t be told in the moment that it’s allowed.

The one solution I’ve found is a platform like Resi or BoxCast that streams straight from their servers to your church’s website. That’s a stream you own, so a social platform’s copyright detection can’t shut it down. It doesn’t change what your license covers, so check that too.

Know the limit. Those platforms can also send your stream on to social media, and once the stream leaves their servers for Facebook or YouTube, the same copyright rules apply again.

The Whole Thing in One Picture

• Don’t assume a video license covers your livestream audience; check yours. Platform detection is automated either way.
• Build a copyright theme slide with a graphic for the stream.
• Create a copyright Look: main output untouched, stream output on that theme slide.
• Fire it with a look copyright macro, and keep a macro ready to return to your normal Look.
• Test with the real stream feed in front of you, including the audio.
• Short gaps need motion, soft music or a countdown. Long gaps need real alternate content.
• For content you have rights to, a platform like Resi or BoxCast streaming to your own website avoids social media shutdowns.

Watch the Video

The full walkthrough is below. Jump to building the copyright Look, keeping viewers engaged or avoiding a shutdown.

Keep Going

• This Look depends on a proper stream output, so make sure yours is set up with ProPresenter Stream Output: Dedicated Live Stream Graphics & Audio.
• A stream that stays online should sound good too: Why Your Church Livestream Audio Sounds Bad (And How to Fix It).
• For themes, Looks and the rest of the software, see ProPresenter 7 for Church: The Complete Training Guide.

More training is on the YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CrazyAmazingDesigns.