How to Set Up Video Tips: Price, Play-Time Tiers, Approval, and OBS in One Sitting (2026)
Video tips are off by default. This is the exact click path to turn them on, choose a floor that keeps them rare, build a play-time ladder that rewards bigger tips, decide how approval works, test the whole thing safely, and get the OBS side right, plus a troubleshooting table for when something does not play.
TL;DR
- Dashboard → Tip Page → Settings. In "Media supporters can attach", switch on Video and set its ₹ floor.
- In Video play time, set the ladder: base seconds, then more seconds from two higher amounts (default 15 / 30 from ₹500 / 60 from ₹1,000).
- Keep approve uploads on. Video tips wait on your Live Alerts page (or Discord / Telegram) until you approve them.
- Test with a ₹1 floor for five minutes, send yourself a Short, then put the real price back.
- OBS: nothing new to add. Video plays through the same browser source and audio track as your other alerts.
Table of Contents
Before you start
- You are on the Premium plan. Video tips live on the tip page, and the tip page is Premium.
- Your tip page is already live, meaning a business UPI gateway is connected under Integration. If you have not done that yet, the tip page guide starts there.
- Your OBS browser source for the Stream Alert widget is already in a scene and firing alerts. Video uses the same source.
All of the settings below are on one page: Tip Page → Settings in the sidebar.
Step 1: Turn Video on and set the floor
- Open Tip Page → Settings.
- Find the card Media supporters can attach. There is a row for GIF, Image, Voice note, Sound, and Video.
- Flip the Video toggle on. The rupee field next to it becomes editable; type the minimum tip that unlocks video. The default is ₹200.
The floor is doing two jobs. It keeps video rarer than a GIF, which is what makes it feel like an event when one lands, and it makes the amount worth the attention a video takes. A rule that holds up: video should never be cheaper than any other media type on the card. If your GIF floor is ₹50 and your voice-note floor is ₹150, video belongs at ₹200 or above.
| Your typical tip | Suggested video floor | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ₹20 to ₹50 | ₹150 to ₹200 | Three to four normal tips. Rare enough to be a moment, reachable enough to happen. |
| ₹50 to ₹100 | ₹250 to ₹300 | Keeps video above your voice-note and sound floors. |
| ₹100 and up | ₹500 | Bigger channels get more attempts; a higher floor keeps the queue short. |
Step 2: Build the play-time ladder
Scroll to Video play time on the same page. It is a three-row ladder, the same editor used for message length and voice-note length:
- Base: the seconds any qualifying video tip gets. Its amount is fixed to your floor; you edit only the seconds. Default 15.
- From ₹500: default 30 seconds. Both the amount and the seconds are yours to change.
- From ₹1,000: default 60 seconds. Same.
Seconds are capped at 300 per row. Two rules for a ladder that works: the base window should be long enough for a punchline (10 to 15 seconds), and the top window should still be shorter than your patience on a dead stream (60 seconds is plenty; 90 is the most I would set). The supporter sees the exact number on the tip page before they pay, so the ladder also works as a nudge: "Tip ₹500 and it plays for 30 seconds" is a sentence people act on.
| Ladder | Base | Middle | Top | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default | 15s | 30s from ₹500 | 60s from ₹1,000 | Most channels. Start here. |
| Tight | 10s | 20s from ₹300 | 30s from ₹500 | Fast games where a long clip breaks the flow: BGMI, Valorant, Free Fire. |
| Reaction | 20s | 45s from ₹500 | 90s from ₹1,500 | Just-chatting, IRL, and reaction streams where the video is the content. |
Step 3: Decide on approval
The approve uploads toggle covers images, voice notes, sounds, and videos in one switch. With it on, a paid video tip appears in the Needs approval box at the top of your Live Alerts page with the thumbnail, the title as a link you can open on YouTube, and the play window. Approve and the alert fires; reject and the supporter still gets a plain name-and-amount alert.
If you have a moderator, connect Discord or Telegram moderation under Tip Page → Moderation so the same approve and reject buttons reach them in chat and you never open the dashboard mid-game. I would not run video with approval off unless your tip page is shared only with people you trust.
How fast do you have to be? Held tips do not expire while you decide, but a supporter who paid ₹500 is watching for their clip. Aim to clear the queue within a minute. A moderator on Discord makes that effortless.
Step 4: Write the rules into your welcome message
Go to Tip Page → Media. The Welcome message box at the top is shown above the form on your public tip page, which is the one place every supporter reads before they paste a link. Three lines is enough:
Thanks for the support! Video tips: memes and clips only, no full songs, chat rules apply on screen. Shorter is funnier. Rejected videos still get a normal alert.
The last sentence is the important one. Supporters are far more relaxed about moderation when they know their tip will not vanish. The rules and moderation playbook goes deeper on what each rule prevents.
Step 5: Test it safely
- Click Save changes. Your public tip page updates immediately; the live preview on the Media page shows the new Video tab.
- Temporarily set the video floor to ₹1 and save again.
- Open your tip page on your phone, enter ₹1, tap Video, paste a YouTube Short, and pay. This is a real ₹1 tip to yourself; it lands in your account like any other.
- Open Live Alerts on your laptop. The tip is in Needs approval with its thumbnail. Approve it.
- Watch your OBS browser source: the alert line, the intro card, the video, and the blue line filling underneath. Confirm you hear it.
- Put the real floor back and save.
Test a Short first because it exercises the shorter-than-window case, then, if you like, test a longer video to see the window cut it off cleanly.
Step 6: The OBS side
There is nothing new to add in OBS. Video plays inside the Stream Alert browser source you already have. A few settings are worth checking once:
- Size. The alert is built 480 pixels wide. If your browser source is set to the full 1920x1080 canvas, the video sits in the middle at that size. Scale the source, or crop it, to place the video where you want it during a media-share segment.
- Audio. If "Control audio via OBS" is on for the browser source, video audio arrives on the same track as your alert sound, so it is already in your stream mix and, if you separate tracks, already off your VOD track if that is how you set alerts up.
- Keep the source active. Leave "Shutdown source when not visible" off for the widget source. A source that is shut down cannot receive the alert, and a video that arrives while the scene is hidden would be lost with it.
- Autoplay. OBS browser sources play video with sound without any click. If you preview the widget in a normal Chrome tab instead, the browser may start it muted until you click the page once; that is Chrome's rule, not OBS's, and it does not affect your stream.
What supporters see when a link is refused
Every link is checked with YouTube before payment. If the video is private, if its owner has switched off embedding, if it is age-restricted, or if it is a stream that has not started, the tip page says so in one line and the supporter can paste something else. Nothing is charged for a refused link, so you will never have to refund a tip that could not play. Links from sites other than YouTube are refused outright; the feature is YouTube only.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No Video tab on the tip page | Video is off, or the amount typed is below the floor | Check the toggle and the floor; the tab shows a lock with the price below the floor. |
| Tip paid, nothing on stream | It is waiting for approval | Open Live Alerts → Needs approval, or check Discord / Telegram. |
| Approved, still nothing | Browser source not active, or the tip is below your general minimum alert amount | Make sure the source is not shut down when hidden; check Minimum Amount in the dashboard. |
| Video plays, no sound | Alert volume at zero, or the browser source audio track is not in your mix | Raise volume in Alert Box; check the source's track under Advanced Audio Properties. |
| Video shows the intro card then clears | YouTube refused to play it in an embed after all (rare: region block, or embedding switched off after the check) | Nothing to fix; the alert clears itself. The tip is still recorded. |
| Clip cut off too early | The window for that amount is short | Raise the seconds on that ladder row. Remember the base row applies at the floor. |
| Alert too small on stream | Browser source at default scale | Scale the source in OBS; the alert stays sharp. |
FAQ
Can I have different floors for GIFs and videos?
Yes. Every media type has its own floor on the same card, and each one is independent.
What happens if the video is shorter than the window?
It plays to the end and the alert clears early. The supporter is not charged less; the window is a maximum.
Can I cap the total length of a video someone can send?
The play window is the cap. A 20-minute video on a 30-second window plays 30 seconds. There is no need to police the source length.
Does the Reset button clear my video settings too?
Yes. Reset returns every tip setting to defaults, which for Video means off, ₹200, and the 15/30/60 ladder.
Can I switch video off for one stream without losing my prices?
Yes. The toggle is independent of the floor and the ladder. Switch it off and back on and your numbers stay.
Do I need a YouTube API key or a YouTube channel connected?
No. The link check is handled by Stream Alert. Nothing about your own YouTube account is involved.
Does the approval toggle affect GIF tips?
No. GIFs are picked from a curated search and never need approval. The toggle covers images, voice notes, sounds, and videos.
For the bigger picture read what video tips are and how they look on stream, and how to price all your donation types so the ladders work together.
Five minutes to your first video tip
Switch on Video, set a floor and a ladder, and let your chat pick the clips.
Open your tip settings