Adding a Now Playing Overlay to Your Live Channel

Introduction

The Now Playing overlay shows the title of the currently playing track or video on your stream. It updates automatically as content rotates, no manual updates, no scripts, no per-track configuration.

This guide walks through adding and styling it.

When You'll Want One

Add Now Playing if your stream rotates through named content:

Music streams (track title and artist)
Movie marathons (film title and year)
Sermon archives (sermon title, speaker, date)
Podcast feeds (episode title)
Any channel where viewers benefit from knowing "what's this?"

If your stream is a single show, you probably don't need Now Playing.

Step 1: Open the Composition Editor

In your stream, click Composition in the sidebar to open the editor.

Step 2: Add the Now Playing Element

In the editor sidebar, click Now Playing. The element is added to the canvas.

A default placeholder appears, likely text saying "Now Playing: [title]" with a subtle background bar.

Screenshot suggestion: Composition Editor with Now Playing added to the canvas, showing a placeholder track title.

Step 3: Position It

Drag the Now Playing element to where you want it. Common positions:

Lower-left: most common for music streams. Out of the way, easy to read.
Lower-right: alternative if your lower-left is occupied
Top-center: useful for movie marathons, like a TV station ID
Behind the audio visualizer: for music streams with both elements

Resize with the corner handles. Default size is usually fine; you may want it slightly smaller if it's prominent in the layout.

Step 4: Style It

The Now Playing panel has style controls:

Text style

Font: match your other text overlays for consistency
Size: readable but not dominant. Around 4–6% of canvas height is typical.
Weight: regular or semibold. Avoid extreme weights.
Color: high contrast against your typical background. White or light gray on a dark bar is the safe choice.

Background

Background bar: a solid color or gradient bar behind the text. Improves readability against busy backgrounds.
Bar color: usually a dark color with some transparency
Padding: space inside the bar around the text

Format

The format string controls what's displayed. Common patterns:

Now Playing: {title}, simple
{title}, {artist}, for music
{title} ({year}), for film
{title} | {duration}, with progress

Pick the format that fits your content type.

Step 5: Configure Update Behavior

By default, the overlay updates the moment a new track/video starts playing. A few configurable behaviors:

Show duration: display total length and current progress
Fade in/out: overlay fades in when content starts, fades out before the end
Only show on transition: display for the first 30 seconds of each track, then hide
Always visible: show throughout playback

For most music streams, always visible is right. For movies, only on transition is more elegant, the title appears when a film starts, then disappears so it doesn't sit over the picture for two hours.

Step 6: Save

When the overlay looks right, click Save. The overlay activates on your live stream.

Use With Overlay Templates

If you want this Now Playing setup across multiple shows, save the composition as an Overlay Template and apply it to every relevant playlist or calendar block.

Pro Tips

Match the style to your brand. If your overall look is minimal, keep Now Playing minimal.
Don't fight your visualizer. If you have an Audio Visualizer, position Now Playing complementary to it, not on top.
Use "only on transition" for long-form content. Movies, sermons, episodes, viewers don't need the title sitting over the picture the whole time.
Double-check long titles. A 100-character song title can break your layout. Make sure your styling handles overflow (truncate, smaller font, or wrap to a second line).
Verify metadata. The overlay shows what's in your file metadata. If your library has poorly-named files, the overlay shows poorly-named files. Clean up metadata first.

Common Issues

The overlay shows file names, not titles. Your media library is using filenames as titles. Edit each file in the library to set proper title metadata. See Uploading Videos and Managing Your Media Library.

The overlay flickers between tracks. Likely a fade-out / fade-in animation overlapping a fast transition. Adjust the fade timing.

The overlay is unreadable on bright content. Add a background bar with sufficient opacity, or use a stronger text color with stroke.

The overlay doesn't update. Confirm the playlist or calendar is actually rotating content. If the same item plays in a loop, Now Playing won't change.