FlixCine Pro
Build a Netflix-style video streaming website on WordPress — complete with a beautiful player, hover previews, and built-in ad monetization.
Your Own Streaming Platform
FlixCine Pro turns any WordPress site into a full-featured video platform. Upload your own videos, embed YouTube, organize by genre, show hover previews like Netflix, and even run your own pre-roll ads — all without touching a line of code.
Movie / Video Library
A dedicated "Movie" content type keeps your videos organized and separate from regular posts. Add genres, tags, poster images, and a short description for each one.
Beautiful Plyr.js Player
Uses the industry-standard Plyr.js player — sleek, modern, and fully customizable. Supports self-hosted MP4 files and YouTube embeds out of the box.
Netflix-Style Hover Preview
Movie cards play a silent video clip on hover — just like Netflix. A small preview video autoplays when a visitor mouses over a card, then stops and resets on mouse-out.
Built-in Pre-roll Ads
Show an image banner or video clip before your content plays. Set a click-through URL to your sponsor's page. Viewers can skip after 5 seconds — just like YouTube.
SEO Schema Markup
Automatically injects Google's VideoObject structured data on every movie page, making your videos eligible for rich results in Google Search.
Fully Customizable UI
Pick your brand accent color. Toggle player controls on or off — hide the PiP button, show/hide volume, enable AirPlay — all from a simple settings panel.
Full Feature Breakdown
Everything the plugin registers and manages, explained in plain language.
Content Management
- Custom Post Type: Movie — with title, description, featured image (poster), and excerpt
- Custom Taxonomy: Genre — hierarchical (like categories), e.g. Action > Thriller
- Custom Taxonomy: Movie Tags — flat tags for flexible labeling
- Genre column shown in the WP admin movie list for quick reference
- Full REST API support — ready for headless or app integrations
🎥 Video Sources
- Self-hosted MP4 — upload via WordPress Media Library and link with one click
- YouTube embed — paste any YouTube or youtu.be URL and it just works
- Live preview of the video appears in the admin editor as you type the URL
- Poster image (featured image) shown before the video loads
- Hover preview video uses the same self-hosted MP4 field
🎛️ Player Controls (Toggle Each On/Off)
- Large play button (center overlay)
- Small play/pause button in controls bar
- Progress / seek bar
- Current time display
- Mute toggle & volume slider
- Settings menu (quality, speed)
- Picture-in-Picture, AirPlay, Fullscreen
📢 Pre-Roll Ad System
- Ad type: Image (JPG/PNG banner) or Video (MP4 clip)
- Ad file selected from WordPress Media Library
- Optional click-through URL opens in new tab
- "Skip Ad" button appears after 5 seconds
- Ad is removed cleanly before the main video starts
- Poster image shown while ad is loading for a polished feel
Getting Started
From install to your first video page in under 10 minutes.
Install & Activate the Plugin
Upload flixstream.php to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder, or install via the WordPress admin. Click Activate. The plugin will automatically create the Movies menu and flush your site's URL rules.
Configure Your Settings
Go to Settings → FlixCine in your WordPress admin. Set your brand accent color (used for the player's progress bar and controls). Toggle which player controls you want to show or hide. Leave the Ad section disabled for now if you don't need it yet.
Create Your Genres
In your admin sidebar, go to Movies → Genres and add your categories — e.g. Action, Comedy, Documentary. These work exactly like WordPress categories.
Add Your First Movie
Go to Movies → Add New. Fill in the title, a short description, and set a featured image (this becomes the poster). In the Video Sources & Preview metabox below the editor, either:
Click "Upload" → select your .mp4 from the Media Library
Option B: YouTube video
Paste your YouTube URL → e.g. https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
A live preview will appear in the admin panel as you add the URL. Assign a Genre, then publish.
Display the Player on a Page
On any page or post (or your movie's single template), use the player shortcode:
When placed inside a movie post, it automatically loads that movie's video. On any other page, pass the movie ID:
Show a Movie Grid
Use the grid shortcode on any page to show a browse-style grid of your movies with hover previews:
Cards automatically show the poster, title overlay, and play a hover preview if a self-hosted video is attached.
Shortcode Reference
All three shortcodes work in the WordPress block editor, classic editor, or any page builder that supports shortcodes.
| Shortcode | Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
[flix_player] |
id |
current post | Movie post ID. Omit when used inside a movie's own page. |
width |
100% |
Player width (CSS value, e.g. 800px or 100%) |
|
height |
auto |
Player height. Leave as auto to maintain 16:9 ratio. |
|
[flix_grid] |
count |
10 |
Number of movies to display. Shows most recent first. |
[flix_hover_demo] |
id |
required | Movie post ID to feature. Used for single-card landing page demos. |
span |
30 |
Grid row span for masonry layout height control. |
Example Usage
[flix_player id="42"]
// Show 6 movies in a responsive grid
[flix_grid count="6"]
// Landing page hero card for movie ID 7
[flix_hover_demo id="7" span="25"]
Pre-Roll Ad Monetization
FlixCine Pro has a built-in pre-roll ad system — no third-party ad network required. You keep 100% of the revenue.
Go to Settings → FlixCine → Monetization section
You'll see the pre-roll ad panel at the bottom of the settings page.
Choose your Ad Type
Select Image Banner for a static JPG/PNG ad (great for sponsor logos or display ads), or Video Clip for a short MP4 video ad (like a YouTube pre-roll).
Upload your Ad File
Click Select to open the WordPress Media Library and pick your image or video file. The plugin auto-detects the file type and sets the Ad Type accordingly.
Set a Click-Through URL (optional)
Enter the URL you want viewers to visit when they click the ad. This opens in a new tab. Leave blank if you just want a non-clickable ad.
Save — it's live!
The ad now shows on every [flix_player] instance across your site. Visitors see the poster image with a play button → click to play → ad shows → skip after 5 seconds → main video plays.
💡 Disable Ads Anytime
Set the Ad Type back to "Disabled" in settings to turn off the pre-roll globally without deleting your ad configuration.
SEO & Schema
FlixCine Pro automatically adds structured data markup to help Google understand and showcase your video content.
What gets added automatically
- VideoObject JSON-LD schema on every single movie page
- Video name, description, thumbnail URL, and upload date
- Content URL pointing to the video source (MP4 or YouTube)
- Schema is only injected when a video source and poster image are both present
This makes your videos eligible for rich results in Google Search — including video carousels and knowledge panel entries — with no additional plugin required.
Best Practices for SEO
- Always set a Featured Image — it becomes the video thumbnail in Google
- Write a meaningful Excerpt — it's used as the video description in schema
- Use descriptive movie titles — these appear directly in search results
- Assign correct Genres — they generate archive URLs that Google can crawl
- Use the Movie Tags for actors, directors, or topics for better internal linking
Pro Tips
Get the most out of FlixCine Pro with these recommendations.
🎯 Use Short Clips for Hover Previews
The hover preview plays the same MP4 as the full movie. For best performance, create a separate 10–15 second teaser clip and use that as the self-hosted URL. It loads faster and doesn't waste bandwidth.
🖼️ Poster Images Matter
Set a high-quality 16:9 featured image on every movie. It's shown on cards in the grid, as the player poster before playback, and as the video thumbnail in Google search results.
🎨 Brand Your Player
Go to Settings → FlixCine and change the Accent Color to match your site's brand. This colors the progress bar and active controls in the Plyr player.
📺 YouTube vs Self-Hosted
YouTube embeds are free and stream reliably, but you lose some control. Self-hosted MP4s give full control but require server storage and bandwidth. You can use YouTube for full movies and self-hosted for hover preview trailers.
💡 Player Controls — Less is More
For a clean, cinema-like feel, consider disabling AirPlay, PiP, and the large play button, keeping only the progress bar, small play button, volume, and fullscreen.
⚡ Grid Performance
The grid uses preload="none" on hover preview videos — they only load when hovered. Keep your [flix_grid count] reasonable (under 20) to avoid a heavy initial page load.
🔗 Deep Linking
Every movie gets its own URL at yoursite.com/movie/movie-title and genre archives at yoursite.com/genre/action — use these for sharing and internal linking.
📢 Ad Creative Tips
For image ads, use a 1280×720 PNG for best quality. For video ads, keep it under 15 seconds at 720p. A shorter, punchy ad gets fewer skip-aways before the content plays.