Share a short message or link with viewers using customizable annotation links. Annotation links can be used to direct viewers to another webpage, a specific timestamp in the video, or other content.

On your video's manage page, click "Customize." Under Viewer Engagement, open the "Annotation links" tab. In that modal, you can add annotation links and configure the start and end times, title, description, URL, image, color theme, and position.

Once you've opened up the Annotation link section in Customize, you can preview different layouts for your link. These include Compact, Large, or Minimal.

Once you've decided on a layout, click "Use this style."

You can enter timestamps manually in the "Start" and "End" fields, or adjust them in the customization timeline. Drag and drop the annotation marker to the desired time or click and hold either side of the marker to expand and shorten its duration.

You can also customize the title and description for the annotation link, and add a URL. If you're using a Compact or Large annotation link, you can use an image as well.

In the Color section, you can choose from Brand dark, Brand light, Dark, or Light. The brand colors are pulled directly from your Brand Assets.

In the Position section, you can choose from nine locations within the player to position your Annotation link.

To add more Annotation links, click the back arrow or "Annotation links" at the top of the Annotation link panel.

Here, you'll see a list of your current Annotation links and you can click "+ add new annotation link" to add another one.

Click into any Annotation link to edit it, or click the trash can icon to delete it.

You can also configure annotation links to direct viewers to a specific point of the same video—think Netflix’s “Skip Intro” button. To generate a link to a specific point in your video, plug your video’s unique hashed ID into the snippet below:

#wistia_(HashedID)?time=0s

Enter that snippet into the URL field to point the annotation link to the specified timestamp. For example, the following snippet will lead viewers to the 20-second mark of the selected video: #wistia_a62xl92vp9?time=20s

For videos over a minute or an hour long, adjust the timestamp to include minutes or hours (i.e., ?time=00h00m00s).

Play the video below to interact with a live annotation link example:

To see how many of your viewers clicked on your annotation links, navigate to the media's analytics page, open the "Engagement" tab, and click "Show Details". The number of annotation link clicks will be listed in the "Actions" row.

To learn more about tracking viewer actions, check out our Average User Engagement Analytics article.

You can also see if an individual viewer has clicked on an annotation link from the media's Audience page, within a viewer's heatmap.

Your website's CSS can sometimes restyle elements inside the player, which can change an annotation link's fonts or spacing, or add unexpected icons. If your annotation link looks right on its Wistia manage page but not on your site, ask your web developer to check for site-wide styles that target links or icons inside the embed.

Check these fields before saving:

If you're still having trouble after these steps, reach out to our Support team with a link to the page where your video is embedded.