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

After creating a channel, you can publish your media at a specific time, create sections to organize your content, and even collect subscribers to notify them about new episodes.

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 new channel, head to the “Channels” tab in the left-side navigation menu.

From here, click "Create" to add a channel.

If your channel has podcasting enabled, you can start your podcast from scratch or import an existing podcast from an RSS Feed URL. You can always enable this setting later as well. Check out our podcast documentation for everything you need to know.

You can also create a channel from a folder by sharing your folder's content to a new channel. On any folder page, click "Share" and then "Share as a channel."

Name the channel, select a syncing option for new episode uploads, and click "Publish" to create it.

For a full breakdown on sharing a folder as a channel, check out this article.

You also have the option to manually select media to create a new channel, or add to an existing one. Select the checkbox next to any number of media in a folder or on the Content Library page in the Media tab. Then, at the bottom of the page, click "Create Channel" to create a new channel. Click the ellipsis icon and then "Add to Channel" to add the content to an existing channel or create a new one.

To edit your channel’s title, hover over and click on the existing title.

Once done, click anywhere outside of the textbox or hit the enter key to save your changes.

The Info section on the right side of the page contains an overview of your channel details, including the channel URL, description, and access settings.

On your channel's page, click "Add" and then select from the options:

You can also create a new section and drag and drop files from your computer directly into your 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 "Choose existing," you'll be able to navigate to a folder where you'd like to add your content from.

When you select to add a webinar, you can choose from upcoming and completed events. You can also click "Create event" to create an event directly from your channel and add it.

If you'd like to sync a folder, you can select the folder you'd like to sync and choose your publishing preference.

You can also share a folder to sync as a channel or playlist from directly within the folder. Check out this page for a full breakdown on syncing your content.

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 a modal where you can edit details about it, including the 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.”

From this 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, and update the published status.

If you’ve enabled podcasting, you’ll also be able to 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 YouTube Music, links to these platforms and your podcast will also appear on the episode’s popover in the channel.

Any media you upload to your channel will be in a draft state, so if you’ve shared your channel already, your audience will not see the new media until you publish it. To publish your media, click into its modal and scroll to the Publish status dropdown menu 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. Click the ellipsis from your channel page, and select "Settings."

In the Settings modal, check off the option under Auto-publishing. Then, click "save."

To publish or unpublish media in bulk, select the checkbox next to any number of media and click “Publish” or “Unpublish” in the bulk actions menu.

After you have your Channel set up with some published media, you can preview it from the channel's media page. Click the "View" option in the Info panel to view it in a new window.

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 it's modal from the channel, and then click the popup arrow below the media.

For further details, 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 its modal, and then click the popup arrow below the media preview. On the media's page, click the ellipsis to open up a dropdown menu, and select "Replace."

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 reorganize your episodes by dragging and dropping them into your preferred order. They'll play in your channel in the way in which you've ordered them, including any sections that you add.

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:

The channel Settings modal is where you can add the URL where you've embedded your channel, and enable auto-publishing. With this, any new media you upload publishes immediately.

On your channel page, open up the ellipsis menu and then click "Settings" to access this modal.

Add your embed location URL, and enable or disable auto-publishing.

When you're all set, click "Save."

On your channel's media page, select "Customize" to customize and share your channel via a link.

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

Done customizing your channel and ready to share? From your channel's media page, click "Embed."

From the Customize page, click "Copy link" to copy the public URL for your channel.

In the Share modal, if you choose to share your channel via a link, you can select the access setting for the channel:

From the Share modal, into to sharing your channel via a link, there are a few different embedding options.

All options can be responsive or fixed size.

Clicking "Share" and then "Share link" will also take you directly to the Share modal where you can copy the public link to yourc Channel (as well as see all embed options).

Click to "Copy" the link, or share directly to X or Facebook. You can also click "View" to see how the channel will appear.

If you'd like to share a specific media from within a channel, click the media to bring up its modal, and then click the copy icon.

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 "Password" or "Invited users."

If you choose the Password option, only users who know the password can view the channel. The Invited users option only allows invited users to access the channel after logging into Wistia.

See our Channel Permissions article for more information on locked channels.

From your channel's list view, where you can see all of your channels, there are a couple of quick actions you can take from the ellipsis menu.

Click the ellipsis menu for your desired channel to access any of these options. And, you can add a channel to your favorites by clicking the star icon.

You can also change the order in which your channels appear, list them alphabetically, when they were last updated, or when they were last created.

Finally, you can choose between a list view, or a grid view.

From your channel's page, click "Analytics" to learn about how your channel is performing.

You can see a ton of data here, including:

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 all 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.

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.

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 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 podcasting documentation for more information.

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.

To download all media from your Channel, open the ellipsis menu at the top right of the Channel page and click “Export all media”.

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 to which you’ve distributed it. 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.