Generate news digest videos from WordPress to YouTube with Shotstack

Daily News Digest Video Generator for YouTube Shorts

Instalations Instructions

Youtube Instalation Instructions

Overview

This workflow automatically creates and publishes daily news digest videos from WordPress articles to YouTube. It runs every evening at 7 PM, compiling the day's top stories from a news portal into a professionally formatted vertical video (1080x1920px) optimized for social media platforms like YouTube Shorts.

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What It Does

1. 🕐 Scheduled Trigger

• Runs automatically every day at 19:00 (7 PM)

2. 📰 Fetches Today's Articles

• Retrieves all published WordPress posts from the current day

3. ✅ Validates Content

• Ensures there are at least 3 articles before proceeding

4. 🎬 Video Detection

• Scans article content HTML for embedded videos
• Extracts MP4 URLs from WordPress video players
• Parses wp-playlist-script JSON data
• Falls back to <video> and <source> tag detection

5. 🧹 Data Processing

• Extracts article titles, links, and featured media IDs
• Decodes HTML entities: Converts – to –, " to ", etc.
• Fetches featured images from WordPress Media API
• Assigns default images for articles without featured media
• Calculates reading time per article (3-7 seconds based on word count)
• Cleans text: Removes HTML tags and normalizes whitespace

6. 🎥 Video Generation (via Shotstack API)

Intro Slide (3 seconds)

• Black background
• Large logo (centered)
• Title on center
• Current date in DD-MM-YYYY format

News Slides (3-7 seconds each)

Each article is displayed with:

• Background: Video (if available) or featured image, cropped to fit
• Dark overlay: 40% opacity black layer for text readability
• Article headline: Large white text at top
• Small logo: Top-right corner
• Pagination counter: Bottom-right white badge (e.g., "1 / 22")
• CTA button: Centered CTA
• Background music: Subtle looped audio track
• Transitions: Smooth fade in/out between slides

Outro Slide (3 seconds)

• Identical to intro slide
• Provides clean ending to the video

7. ⏳ Processing Wait

• Waits 30 seconds for Shotstack to render the video
• Polls Shotstack API to verify video completion

8. 📥 Download Video

• Retrieves the finished MP4 file from Shotstack
• Downloads video data for YouTube upload

9. 📤 YouTube Upload

Automatically uploads to YouTube with:

• Title: "Daily Digest - [Day] [Weekday], [Year]"
• Description: Same as title
• Category: News & Politics
• Made for kids: Yes
• Tags: dailydigest

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✨ Key Features

Intelligent Content Handling

• ✅ Automatic video/image detection and intelligent media selection
• ✅ Dynamic reading time calculation for optimal viewer engagement
• ✅ HTML entity cleaning for proper text display (WordPress compatibility)
• ✅ Fallback default images for articles without media
• ✅ Video background support with automatic muting

Professional Video Production

• ✅ Vertical format optimized for mobile viewing (1080x1920px)
• ✅ Professional branding with logos and consistent styling
• ✅ Smooth fade transitions between slides
• ✅ Background music with looping support
• ✅ Dynamic pagination counters
• ✅ Call-to-action buttons for engagement

Customization

• ✅ Centralized variables for easy branding updates
• ✅ Configurable logos, colors, and text
• ✅ Adjustable reading time calculation
• ✅ Flexible date formatting
• ✅ Customizable audio track

🎯 Use Cases

Perfect for:

• 📰 News websites wanting to repurpose daily articles
• 📱 Media outlets creating social media content
• 🎥 Content creators automating video production
• 🔄 Publishers maximizing content distribution
• 📊 Marketing teams driving traffic from social platforms

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🔧 Customization Options

Easy Changes

• Update logos by changing logo_big and logo_small URLs
• Modify branding colors via button_bg_color variable
• Adjust button text with button_text variable
• Change video title with daily_digest_text variable
• Update background music by replacing audio URL

Advanced Customization

• Adjust reading time formula in calculateReadingTime() function
• Modify date format in getRomanianDate() function
• Change video dimensions (currently 1080x1920)
• Update font family and sizes
• Adjust overlay opacity and colors
• Modify transition effects

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📋 Prerequisites

Required Credentials

1. WordPress API - Access your WordPress site
2. Shotstack API - API key for video rendering (Stage environment)
3. YouTube OAuth2 - Authenticated YouTube account for uploads