Product Spotlight: See What’s New in Wistia [2025]

This year, we’re all about giving you more control over your videos, making your video workflow smoother, and helping you get better results.

See the features and updates we’ve released so far:

May

New languages and regional accents for dubbing

Big news on the dubbing front: We now support 22 more languages and 64 regional accents!

• New languages include Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Burmese, Estonian, Georgian, Icelandic, Irish, Kazakh, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Maltese, Pashto, Serbian, Sinhala, Somali, Swahili, and Uzbek.
• Regional accents include 16 in Arabic, 15 in English, 21 in Spanish, and more in French, German, Tamil, and Swahili.

You can also generate dubs from your translated scripts without re-transcribing. Edit the translation, then dub it for better accuracy and control.

Interactive transcripts for Wistia Channels

We just gave the videos in your channels interactive transcripts (in your brand colors) that highlight each word as it’s spoken in real time. Viewers can follow along, jump to key moments, and even download the transcript. They can also turn on autoscroll and toggle the transcript display.

Gradient styling for playlists

Your playlists, your vibe. You can now add custom gradients to the floating playlists in your channels. Choose any two colors (including your brand colors!) and create a sleek, cohesive look that stands out.

This feature is only available for floating playlist layouts and is supported on Pro, Advanced, and Premium plans.

Refreshed recording UI

We’ve made the preflight screen (for both solo and group recordings) look cleaner, more modern, and more aligned with the rest of the platform. And we removed dark mode for visual consistency. Everything still works the same; the experience is just better.

Social clip page redesign

Now you can create clips from the transcript right on the social clip page, and there’s a scroll map to help you find highlights fast. We also made layout improvements that make your clips look sharper.

Single-speaker recordings also got a visual boost, with better ways to show speakers and screen shares. You can also toggle captions on and off, collapse side panels for a distraction-free view, and regenerate AI-written social copy until it feels just right.

Expiring links (formerly audience links)

Sharing a time-sensitive video or just want to add a layer of security to your content? We’ve made it possible to schedule a video link to go live and choose when it expires.

Set start and end dates, deactivate or reactivate links, and see real-time status updates: scheduled, active, expiring soon, or expired. When your link expires, viewers will land on a 404 page.

This only works for anonymous media page links, not embeds or downloads.

Compatibility with HubSpot’s new form editor

HubSpot just rolled out a new form editor, and we made sure it works seamlessly with the Wistia player. Whether you’re using the old version or the new one, your viewers will get the same smooth experience after filling out a form (video auto-plays, form hides on submit, etc.).

A way to sync HubSpot registration forms with Wistia

If you’ve ever wanted to drop a custom HubSpot form on your webinar registration page and have all that data magically show up in Wistia, your wish has been granted. There’s a new custom workflow action you can use to trigger Wistia webinar registrations directly from HubSpot forms.

With all your registrants’ info in Wistia, we’ll handle all the reminder emails and you’ll get detailed attendee-level analytics.

Company logos in webinar registration analytics

Now you can see company logos that show how many people from each organization registered for your webinar. This makes it easier to spot high-value accounts and filter attendees by company.

Logos appear in real time only during the live registration window. After your webinar goes on demand, they stay visible but won’t show any new sign-ups. This feature is only available for events created on or after January 23, 2025.

Webinar attendance data in Marketo Engage

When a lead joins one of your live webinars hosted on Wistia, a “Wistia Event” activity appears in their Marketo activity log with the event name and time. This makes it even easier for your team to track engagement!

If you’re an Advanced or Premium user, you can start using this feature for your current and future events. Just update your Marketo permissions, reconnect the integration, and make sure your forms are linked.

Poll & Q&A syncing to Marketo Engage and HubSpot

Speaking of new custom activities in Marketo, poll responses and Q&A submissions from your Wistia webinars are in there too! They’ll show up as a “Wistia Event” (with the event name, poll questions, and answers) in the lead’s activity log about an hour after the webinar ends. Using HubSpot? You’ll see the same info in the contact timeline.

This works only for webinars that use Wistia registration forms and are connected to either Marketo Engage or HubSpot.

April

Interactive heatmaps for individual webinar attendees

The audience page just got a major upgrade. Now there’s an interactive heatmap next to each registrant that shows you exactly how they interacted with your event. You’ll see when they tuned in and dropped off, all the times they left a comment in the chat (and what they said!), and how focused they were.

The best part? You can sync all that data to your favorite marketing automation platform (e.g., HubSpot, Adobe Marketo Engage, or Pardot) and easily identify your high-intent leads for your follow-up campaigns.

Single checkbox fields for webinar forms

You asked, and we checked. You can now add a single checkbox field to your webinar registration forms to collect opt-ins, confirmations, or any simple yes/no responses. This keeps the registration flow for your audience much smoother with no drop-downs slowing them down.

Webcam feed placeholders

Say goodbye to blank squares. When a panelist has their camera turned off during a webinar, they’ll now appear as a branded icon with their initials or a chosen emoji. This may be a small change, but it makes a big difference in helping your audience identify who’s speaking on stage.

Video dubbing & localization (out of beta!)

Our dubbing feature is officially out of beta and ready for prime time across all paid plans! For just $2 per minute (with one free trial dub for select short videos), you can now use AI to dub your videos in multiple languages right in Wistia.

What’s more, this feature also translates your chapters, calls to action (CTAs), and forms to match the dubbed language. Anyone watching your videos can easily switch between languages during playback.

Wistia app makeover

Welcome to a new, more intuitive Wistia experience! We’ve redesigned the app interface with a full-width navigation bar and simplified media pages to help you move faster and stay focused on what matters: editing, diving into analytics, and creating clips.

Sign-in wall for locked Wistia Channels

We’ve added a proper login wall to locked channels. When someone tries to access a channel or episode set to “invited users” without being logged into their Wistia account, they’ll see a login prompt instead of a blank page.

This update only affects shared links, not embedded channels.

Password-protected channels

Now you can lock down an entire channel or playlist with a single password, whether you’re sharing it directly or embedding it on your site.

Viewers only need to enter the password once to unlock all the content in that collection. They can move between videos without being prompted again.

This feature is available on the Pro, Advanced, and Premium plans.

Custom preview images for channels

Want your channel to look just right when it’s shared? Now you can set a custom preview image to control how your channel appears when you share it on social, in messages, and anywhere else.

This update also includes support for Open Graph meta tags when you embed a channel on your site.

Improvements to the video editor

Creating social clips in Wistia just got easier and more flexible. You can now make clips from transcripts with no minimum length. Trim ‘em down as short as you like!

We’ve also added a “mega-zoom-out” view in the timeline that shrinks all your clips, so it’s easier to rearrange long videos without all the scrolling.

A better download modal

We’ve redesigned the download modal from the ground up to make it faster and easier to grab your media assets.

You’ll find all your downloadable assets — videos in all resolutions, transcripts, dubbed versions, thumbnails (with a play button overlay that matches your player’s color!), storyboards, audio descriptions, and more — in one place.

Smarter folder permissions

The checkbox madness is over! We’ve simplified folder permissions to just two clear roles:

• View: For folks who only need access to content
• Manage: For those who need full control

If you’re on a Premium or legacy plan, you can still use granular settings (now called Custom) to fine-tune access with options like upload, download, share, and analytics.

We also refreshed the share link flow and users page to make permissions easier to manage across the board.

March

More accessible captions

Now your viewers can choose how their captions look. The video player comes with new built-in customization options that let them adjust the text size, color, and contrast of the captions to fit their needs and preferences.

Effortless syncing and sharing for Wistia Channels

Managing your channels just got even smoother. Videos now automatically sync from a folder to a channel or playlist — no extra steps required. And when you add new content, your subscribers automatically get notified. Last, but not least, we’ve unified the Share and Embed modal for channels to make it easier than ever to showcase your videos.

Zooming in the editor

Need to highlight a key moment? Zoom in on specific parts of your video without affecting other clips. We’ve also added a manual scaling option so you can fine-tune your edits with precision.

New layouts & scaling options for social clips

Now you can resize your social video to fill more of the frame, zoom in to remove the background, and choose from sleek layout options:

• Tile layout: Rounded corners and padding for a polished look
• Full layout: A bold, edge-to-edge style that puts your video front and center

But wait, there’s more. You can also add custom gradient backgrounds with any two colors to match your brand. (Pro tip: Use the tile layout to make your gradient shine!)

Pre-recorded webinars & events

We’ve updated the “autostart” feature and renamed it “pre-recorded event.” Pre-recorded events now start and end automatically, so hosts don’t need to control the flow manually. You can still engage with attendees via chat, Q&A, and polls. And with improved reliability, you can scale your webinars without the stress.

Smoother, more reliable webinars

Say hello to network connection indicators, a new feature that helps hosts and panelists monitor their connection in real time. Get live updates, guidance on improving network quality, and alerts for critical issues like disconnections so you can keep your webinars running smoothly.

Plus, collaboration behind the scenes just got easier. Hosts and panelists can now mention each other in private chat and get toast notifications when tagged.

ICS attachments & CSV imports

We’ve made managing live event registrations smoother than ever for you and your registrants. With the new ICS calendar attachments, your registrants can add events to their calendar straight from the confirmation email. Plus, you can bulk import external registrants via CSV. It’s a simple way to add signups from MAP forms, social media, or other non-Wistia sources without requiring them to register again.

Searchable lists for lead syncing

Whether you’re using a form on your video or hosting a webinar, syncing your leads to your favorite marketing tool is now easier. The list limit is gone, and we’ve added type-ahead search so you can find the right list to sync your leads in no time.

February

Standard and extended audio descriptions

Now you can add audio descriptions that narrate the visual elements of your video. This makes your video content easier to consume, especially for folks who have trouble seeing their screen. You can either upload your own standard audio descriptions or order them directly through Wistia for $8 per minute. We’ll deliver them within five days and automatically add them to your video — no extra tools or manual work needed.

Want more detailed audio descriptions? You can order extended audio descriptions for $12 per minute. These pause the video to provide extra narration, which makes them perfect for moments that need more visual context.

Video dubbing and localization (now in beta)

Pack your bags, because your videos are going global!

With AI-powered dubbing, you can seamlessly translate your videos into over 30 languages. And that’s not all. Our AI also adjusts lip movements to match the new audio for a natural, polished look. You’ll also get an editable transcript with every translation.

Want to try it out? Opt into our beta features program and get up to 60 minutes of free video dubbing during the beta period. No passport required.

Burned-in captions

Now you can burn captions right into your videos to make sure your message always comes through, whether the sound’s on or off. The best part? You get plenty of templates and styling options to match your brand’s look.

Player gradients

We’ve made it possible to customize your play button and playback bar with gradients. Choose from our pre-made options or create your own with brand colors.

Waveforms in the video editor

We heard you all loud and clear: Waveforms make precise editing easier. That’s why we brought the waveform view back!

This view lets you trim your video based on changes in sound. And you can easily switch back to the thumbnail view whenever you need a different perspective.

Audio-only editing

Speaking of waveforms, you can also use them to edit your podcasts or other audio-only content. Just like you can clean up your videos, you’ll be able to cut audio clips, stitch them together, add background music, and enhance sound quality.

January

Playlists

Now you can embed a Wistia Channel as a dynamic playlist to make it easier for viewers to binge your curated collection of videos (like tutorials, product showcases, or educational series). Your playlists will automatically follow the order you set in your channel and update whenever you make changes to it.

Thumbnail picker

Did you know that custom thumbnails can boost play rates by 7%? That’s why we’ve added a shiny new thumbnail picker to your media page! Now it’s easier than ever to upload your own custom thumbnail or choose the perfect frame from your video.

Audience page

Say hello to your new go-to spot for webinar registrant and attendee insights! With a sortable table, you can see who showed up, how much they watched, and how they interacted with your content. Plus, you’ll get detailed engagement metrics like watch time and chat activity for each attendee.

“Request a video” feature

Need video assets from contractors, agencies, or other collaborators ASAP without the usual delays? The new “request a video” feature can make that happen. Just send your collaborators a link, and they can upload or record straight into a folder — no Wistia account needed.

Importing via URL

Say goodbye to downloading and re-uploading videos! With our new “import via URL” feature, you can effortlessly add your videos from across the web to Wistia. Just paste the link, and we’ll handle the rest.

LinkedIn Live integration

Streaming to LinkedIn just got easier. No more copying RTMP URLs or searching for stream keys! Just connect your LinkedIn account to Wistia, and you’re ready to go. This feature is available for users on the Pro, Advanced, and Premium plans.

Group recording improvements

We’ve added streamed backups to make sure you never lose a recording. If an upload fails, you’ll find a backup ready for download right on your media page, clearly labeled and organized with your other files. No more lost content, no more stress — just a smoother recording process to keep your projects on track.

Quick search improvements

We’ve made our quick search feature more intuitive and efficient with improved filters, expanded results, and new icons.

Improvements to personal settings

With your profile and notifications now separated into two pages, it’s faster to find what you need. Plus, you can upload your own profile picture to add a personal touch to Wistia’s collaborative features like team commenting.

That’s a wrap! Stay tuned for more exciting updates coming your way next month.