The 2019 Wistia Rap-Up
December 19, 2019
Topic tags
Lisa Marinelli
Creative
Can you believe we’re leaving the twenty-teens behind? Neither can we! And if you’re anything like us, chances are you’re feeling pretty nostalgic right about now. Luckily, our Wistia rap-up is here just in time to help you scratch that pesky itch.
We’re closing out nearly ten years of Wistia recaps with this one — yep, you heard that right. The 2010s was a decade full of remixes, rockin' anthems, and raps, and this year is no different. So without further adieu, let’s raise a glass and toast to our favorite moments from throughout the year!
From a brand new studio and an episodic show to shifting our business and going all-in on Brand Affinity Marketing (aka BAM), we made big moves and declared 2019 a year for the books.
Here are some of our favorite moments from 2019:
- One, Ten, One Hundred beat out some big-name brands to take home two Webby Awards!
- We launched Wistia Channels to help you turn your collection of videos into a show-stopping experience right on your website.
- We extended parental leave to 16 weeks — yay new parents!
- Our CEO, Chris Savage, hosted the first season of Brandwagon, the talk show for marketers. Oh! And we made a podcast called The Brandwagon Interviews.
- At our live-streamed event Change the Channel, our co-founders made some exciting announcements: The Brand Affinity Marketing Playbook, new features like Wistia Channel Subscribers and Facebook Custom Audiences.
Now, let’s take a look back at the past eight rap-ups of the decade. We think it’s worth watching them all from start to finish (and we also dare you not to bob your head along with each year’s sick beat)!
2018
Last year we tasked Sandwich Video with producing three different ads at three different price points: $1,000, $10,000, and $100,000 and then made a docu-series about it called, One, Ten, One Hundred. We also created the coveted Soapbox Station, introduced A/B testing, and made publishing your videos to social media from Wistia a thing! Plus, we got really comfy with video marketing during our first virtual conference, CouchCon.
2017
Who could forget the year we celebrated Wistia for Chrome with a super special (somewhat creepy) dance?! We also launched the Wistia iPhone app and Soapbox, our free Chrome extension that enables anyone to record, edit, and share high-quality videos in minutes.
2016
In 2016, Chris Lavigne taught us all how to shoot video with DSLR camera (in 43 minutes, no less!), and we said goodbye to our favorite camera with a heartfelt musical tribute. On a product-related note, this was the year we launched Vulcan, our sleek, speedy new player. And last but not least, we migrated the Wistia Community over to Slack!
2015
Ah, 2015 was a big year for Wistia. We grew from a team of 27 to 56. Over 85,000 video marketers uploaded over 4 million videos to Wistia over the course of the year, receiving over a billion plays. We also did a one-shot parade to launch our enterprise plan, got heady and talked all about ditching your flatsides, and unveiled our native Google Analytics integration.
2014
We held our very first WistiaFest in May and it was pretty spectacular (but don’t just take our word for it). It also was a banner year for content — we published our first guide all about understanding audience retention, we shared tips for overcoming common video thumbnail mistakes, and we made sure to share our best practices for shooting steady footage.
2013
We moved offices — that’s right, 2013 is the year when 17 Tudor came to be. Plus, we added our snazzy Customize panel and Closed Caption functionality to our product. Arguably one of the biggest pieces of news? We launched our Learning Center, which became our number one spot for sharing video marketing content. Oh, and we hit 1 million video uploads thanks to all our lovely customers!
2012
Setting up a DIY office video studio — ever heard of it? This was the year we put the finishing touches on our first official studio and then made a video all about it so you could set one up in your office, too. We also shot a video with an iPhone that would rock the world forever. Our team grew to seventeen and we took our first Wistia ski trip to Vermont!
2011
2011 was the year things really started to heat up for us here at Wistia. We grew from a team of five to a solid crew of 11 and were able to add Facebook embedding and domain restriction to Wistia’s new feature set. Plus, we launched 50 Grove, a site businesses and producers could use to work together.