Channels are a great option for customizing and sharing a series of video and audio media using just one embed code. You can access your Channels in the sidebar of your account.

After creating a Channel, you can choose to publish your media at a specific time, create sections to organize your content, and even collect subscribers to notify them about new media! Then, go ahead and embed your Channel in the wild.

Want to turn your Channel into a podcast? You can enable podcasting for your Channel and submit it to popular directories like Apple, Spotify, and Google! Pretty cool, right? We think so. Now, let’s get down to business.

To create a Channel, select “New” from the Content Library, and click “Channel.”

From here, you can select a Channel template. The predefined options available are:

Once you’ve made your selection, give your Channel a title and description. If your Channel has podcasting enabled, you can start your podcast from scratch or import an existing podcast from an RSS Feed URL. If you chose a template that didn’t include podcasting, you can always enable this later. Check out our Podcast section for everything you need to know about podcasting!

If you'd like to add a Channel to your favorites, click the start icon on the Channel's media page.

If you'd like to edit your Channel's title and description after you've created it, click the pencil icon on the Channel's media page.

Once you've finished editing, click "Save."

To add content to your Channel, click “Add” and then either “Upload” or “Add from Folder.” You can also drag and drop files from your computer directly into the Channel.

Selecting “Upload” will prompt you to select content from your computer to upload to your Channel. After you’ve selected your desired content (or dropped it into place), choose a folder where you’d like your media to live. Your Channel will then reference this media.

If you select “Add from Folder,” you’ll be able to navigate to a folder with your desired media in it.

Your media can have a separate title and description within a Channel than it does in its folder.

In the Channel, click on your media to open the “Edit details” modal and add a title and description. This will override the media’s title and description from the folder it lives in, so you can choose for these to be different within separate locations in your account. The media will then display with a separate title and description in your Channel.

Once complete, click “Save.”

In the “Edit details” modal, you can click to view the media directly in the folder it lives in, or remove it from the Channel. You can also click to preview how it will look in your Channel.

To remove any media in bulk, hover over a media and check the box next to each one you’d like to select, then click the "Remove from Channel" option.

If you’ve enabled podcasting, you’ll find a "Podcast Details" section where you can select the episode type, number, mark whether it contains explicit content, or hide that specific episode from your podcast feed.

If you’ve added an episode summary or ordered transcripts, these tabs will appear on your episode’s popover in your Channel. This will allow your viewer to quickly navigate to view different information about your episode.

If you’ve enabled podcasting and syndicated your podcast to Apple, Spotify, or Google Podcasts, links to these platforms and your podcast will appear on the episode’s popover in the Channel as well.

Any media you upload to your Channel will be in a draft state, so if you’ve shared your Channel out already, your audience will not see the new media until you publish it. To publish your media, click into the "Edit details" modal and scroll to the "Publish status" section to schedule a publish date or time, or publish immediately. You can also change your media back to a draft state to unpublish it. Then, click "Save."

Or, click the three dots to the right of the media and click “Publish" or "Unpublish."

Lastly, you can also choose to automatically publish future uploads. Head to the "Settings" page to enable automatic publishing.

To publish or unpublish media in bulk, hover over your desired media to check them off and then click the appropriate eye icon.

After you have your Channel set up with some published media, you can preview it from the Channel's media page. Click the arrow icon to view your Channel. From here, you can see how your Channel will appear for viewers.

To move, copy, or archive any media that are referenced in a Channel, navigate to the folder a media lives in to complete any of these actions from there. Click a media to bring up the "Edit details" modal and then click "View in folder." For further detail, head over to our section on moving and copying media here.

For a full breakdown on archiving media, head here.

Need to make any tweaks or major changes to a media you’ve already published? Our Replace Media tool will allow you to replace your media without needing to adjust the embed code.

To replace a media in your Channel, click the media to open the "Edit details" modal and then click "View in folder."

From here, click "Replace Media" and then select your desired option.

Overwriting is a popular choice for making small tweaks to a media, while swapping is meant for larger edits or entirely new content. Once the replacement has completed uploading, your folder, Channel, and all embedded instances will reflect the updated version.

You can re-organize your episodes by dragging and dropping them into your preferred order. Episodes at the top of their section will display first on your Channel.

For more episode options, hover over an episode and click the ellipsis that appears on the right-hand side. You’ll see a menu that includes the following actions:

Head to the Settings page to add a URL for your Channel’s embedded location. On this page, you can also enable automatic publishing to publish new media to your Channel as soon as they are uploaded.

Remember to click "Submit Changes" once you’ve finished updating your Channel settings.

On your Channel's media page, select "Edit/Preview Channel" to customize and share your Channel!

For a full breakdown on how to customize your Channel, head to over here.

Done customizing your Channel and ready to share? From your Channel's media page, you can click to "Embed" or "Share" it.

There are a few different ways to share your Channel. If you have embedding enabled, there are two embed codes that you can choose from:

Both options can be responsive or fixed size.

If you haven’t enabled embedding for your account, you can still share your Channel via a public URL. If you’d like to embed your Channel elsewhere, check out our Plans Page for more information!

Click "Share" to copy the public link to your Channel, or share directly to X or Facebook.

If you'd like to share a specific media from within a Channel, click the media to bring up the edit modal, and then click "Copy Link."

This will direct visitors to that media popped over the rest of the content in the Channel.

Channels are unlocked by default. To lock a Channel, click into the "Share" dropdown menu and select "Share link."

From here, open up the "Access" dropdown menu to change the Channel's status to "Locked."

Once locked, only users with Channel access can view it and must be logged in to do so.

From your Channel's list view where you can see all of your Channels, there are a couple of quick actions you can take. You can copy your Channels, delete them, share, embed, or view them without clicking into a specific Channel. You can also add a Channel to your favorites by clicking the star icon.

Hover over the paper icon to select to copy your Channel, and hover over the trash can icon to delete it.

Click into the three dots menu to share, embed, or view a Channel.

When you’re not on the Edit/Preview page for your Channel, you’ll notice a number of other options in Wistia. One of these is "Analytics."

On your Channel’s Analytics page, you can see a ton of data. This includes Total Plays, Total Time Played, and Top Episodes. If you’ve enabled podcasting and syndicated your RSS Feed URL to directories, you’ll also be able to see Plays on Wistia, Plays on Other Platforms, Listening Platforms, Time on Wistia, Time on Other Platforms. Phew, that’s a lot! Pretty sweet, right? You can even adjust your Channel analytics to view trends for the last 7 days, 28 days, or a custom range.

You can export your Channel’s analytics using the “Export” button on the top right of the page. The export will include data from the date range you have selected in the date picker. We’ll email you a link to download a CSV file with your Channel’s analytics.

For more in-depth information on your Channel’s stats, head on over to the Channel Analytics Overview page.

On your Channel's media page, you'll see a play count for each media. This number includes the all-time plays the media has received in the Channel (not the overall plays for the media itself).

Clicking that play count will take you directly to the media's analytics page. Check out this page to learn more about media analytics.

If you're building your audience with new subscribers, head over to the "Subscribers" page, where you’ll be able to see the name (if you decided to collect names), email, and the date they subscribed on.

Head over here to learn more about Channel subscribers.

Notify your subscribers to keep them in the loop about new content! Your email notifications can be configured for when you publish each individual episode in your Channel. Click the three dots next to a Channel media and then click "Send Notification" to set it up.

Next, customize the subject line, preview text, the button link to your media, and more! In order to set up your email notifications, the Account Owner must first configure the Email Settings in your account. Read our Channel Subscribers and Notifications article for more information.

If you have Reach & Retarget for Facebook or Google enabled in your account, click the "Promote" tab to curate media for your audience based on their watch behavior. Reach & Retarget allows you to enable pre-built audiences to retarget based on engagement with your content.

If you haven’t connected Facebook or Google yet, head over to the "Integrations" tab.

For more detailed instructions on setting up and using Reach & Retarget, see our pages on Facebook or Google.

Select "Podcast Settings" to view your Checklist, Feed Details, and Distribute pages.

The Checklist walks you through all the steps you’ll need to take before distributing your podcast to directories.

Head to the Feed Details tab to fill out a few of important details, such as your podcast’s show art, format, categorization, and more.

You’ll need an RSS Feed URL to submit your podcast to directories. You can find this URL in the Distribute tab, along with podcast directories to distribute to.

Enabling and sharing your podcast involves a lot of important steps. Refer to our Help Center Podcast section to find everything you’ll need!

Account Owners, Managers, and Standard Users have the necessary permissions to create a Channel, upload content, add customizations, and enable podcasting.

To learn about adding users to your Channel, head to our Channel Permissions page.

For more information about managing your team of users and their permissions in Wistia, head over to our Manage Team page or visit User Roles to learn about all of the different user options.

Exporting all of the content in your Channel will create a ZIP archive.

Deleting your Channel will remove all of your media from that location in your account, as well as Channel analytics. If you’ve enabled podcasting, your podcast will also be removed from any directories that you’ve distributed it to. Any media referenced in your Channel will still exist in the folders they live in.

Once you click "Delete Channel," you’ll be prompted to confirm your decision.