How to Schedule a Live Stream with Castream

Going live on a whim is fun. Going live on a schedule is how you build an audience — viewers show up when they know you'll be there. Castream lets you schedule live streams in advance from the web dashboard, so your show starts on time whether you're at your desk or still stuck in traffic.

You can also upload a pre-recorded video to play as a scheduled live broadcast. Record it properly once, let it "air" live at the scheduled time. Here's how all of it works.

What is a scheduled stream?

A scheduled stream is a broadcast you set up ahead of time: title, description, date, time, and destinations, all configured in advance. When the scheduled time arrives, you start the broadcast (or your uploaded video plays) and it goes out to every destination you've selected — YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Pages, and the rest — just like a regular Castream stream.

Why bother scheduling instead of just going live?

• Your audience knows when to show up. Consistency is the single biggest driver of returning viewers.
• Platforms can promote it. YouTube in particular treats scheduled streams as upcoming events viewers can set reminders for.
• You prepare once, stress less. Title, description, destinations — all decided calmly beforehand instead of five minutes before air.
• Pre-recorded option. Not every "live" stream needs to be actually live. More on that below.

How to schedule a stream

Scheduling happens in Castream Web — log in at castream.io with the same account you use in the mobile app. (New here? Create an account first — one account covers mobile and web.)

1. Open the scheduling / Go Live area of your web dashboard.
2. Create a new scheduled stream. Give it a title — or let Castream AI generate one for you, along with a description. The AI title/description generator is built into the web dashboard and it's genuinely useful when you're staring at a blank title field.
3. Pick your date and time. Double-check the timezone — this is the classic scheduling mistake, especially if your audience is elsewhere.
4. Select your destinations. Toggle on everywhere this stream should go: YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Pages, TikTok (RTMP), Instagram (RTMP), custom RTMP. These use the destinations you've already connected; if you haven't connected one yet, set that up first in your destination settings.
5. Choose your source: going live yourself at airtime, or playing an uploaded video (see below).
6. Save the schedule. Your stream is now booked.

That's the setup. When the time comes, you open the Go Live Dashboard, find your scheduled stream, and start it — or it plays your uploaded video automatically, depending on how you configured it.

Uploading a pre-recorded video as a scheduled live stream

This is the feature most creators sleep on. You can upload a video file to Castream Web and have it broadcast as a live stream at your scheduled time. Your viewers see a live broadcast; you see a finished recording you already perfected.

When this is the right move:

• You want multiple takes and editing — tutorials, announcements, course lessons
• Your "live" slot is at an inconvenient hour for you but perfect for your audience
• You want zero risk of technical issues, interruptions, or saying something you regret
• You're a church, school, or business that records a service or presentation and "airs" it for the community at a set time

How it works:

1. In Castream Web, go to your scheduled stream (or create a new one).
2. Choose the option to upload a video for the scheduled broadcast.
3. Upload your video file. Give it time to process — large files take a while, so don't do this ten minutes before air.
4. Confirm your destinations and timing.
5. At the scheduled time, Castream plays your video out as a live stream to every destination.

A few practical notes: export your video in the orientation your audience expects (vertical if TikTok/Instagram are in the mix), keep the resolution at 1080p, and watch the whole thing once after uploading to make sure the upload didn't garble anything. What you uploaded is exactly what airs — there's no fixing it mid-broadcast.

What happens when it goes live

At airtime, your stream behaves like any other Castream broadcast:

• It goes out to all selected destinations simultaneously
• Viewers can watch and chat on each platform
• You can monitor everything from the Go Live Dashboard in Castream Web
• Unified chat lets you see messages from across platforms in one place
• When it ends, the recording lands in your stream history on your Castream profile, where you can keep it public, make it private, or delete it

If you're presenting live (not playing an uploaded video), you can stream from the mobile app or feed OBS into Castream via RTMP ingest — the scheduled stream just gives that broadcast a planned start time and pre-configured destinations.

Good to know

• Destinations must be connected before airtime. Scheduling doesn't connect them for you — a destination you haven't authorized yet won't receive the stream. Check your toggles the day before, not the minute before.
• TikTok and Instagram use RTMP keys that can expire. If either is in your destination mix, generate fresh keys close to the scheduled time. The TikTok RTMP guide explains why.
• Do a dry run. Schedule a test stream to a single destination (or an unlisted YouTube stream) and watch the whole pipeline once before your first real scheduled show.
• Promote the schedule. A scheduled stream nobody knows about is just a stream. Share the link from your Castream profile ahead of time.

Want to see what your broadcast looks like before the big day? Open your live streaming preview anytime and check your framing, audio, and connection.

Schedule it, show up (or don't — that's what the upload is for), and let consistency do the compounding.