How Wistia Helps the YMCA Manage 4,000+ Videos from Hundreds of Partners

In 2019, the YMCA had a big idea: take everything members love about their local Y — from group exercises and strength training to art classes and nutrition — and put it all into a digital platform that’s available on TVs, laptops, and mobile devices. They called it YMCA 360.

Building that library wasn’t easy, though. The small YMCA 360 production team had to handle content sourced from hundreds of Y partners across the country and release new videos every week. They needed a central, reliable hub to organize and manage thousands of files, so they picked Wistia.

Today, seven years later, YMCA 360 has over 4,000 pieces of content in 135 categories and serves more than two million members. And Wistia is still the hub that holds it all together.

“We have a lot of content, and the data we need is extensive. Wistia is the best platform to meet our needs.”

Lynn Wilmot-Stenehjem, Director of Programming, YMCA 360 Studios

YMCA 360’s team drops new content every Monday like clockwork

Getting a single video onto the platform takes real effort. For each Y production partner, the production team consults on what to make, supports production, and reviews the finished footage before anything goes live. Multiply that across hundreds of partners, and you have a super full plate for a small team.

Wistia is where the workload gets lighter. Once a video is approved, a team member uploads it to Wistia and picks an eye-catching thumbnail. From there, a native integration automatically pushes the video to YMCA 360’s content management system, where it shows up on the platform the following Monday.

Wistia keeps YMCA 360’s sprawling library organized

Managing 4,000+ videos is a lot. Without the right tools, finding a single video can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Wistia keeps it manageable with a couple of key features:

• Partner folders: Every Y partner gets their own folder, so content stays cleanly separated.
• Subfolders: Some folders have ballooned to over 600 videos, so YMCA 360’s team uses subfolders to create "buckets within buckets” to keep everything organized.

Because the team doesn’t have to spend a ton of time looking for files, they can focus on what really matters: creating content.

“Wistia helps us keep our partners' content in separate folders. This makes everything easy to access, easy to navigate, and easy for our partners to use.”

Lynn Wilmot-Stenehjem, Director of Programming, YMCA 360 Studios

YMCA 360’s team gets the support it needs

A reliable hub isn’t just about software. It’s also about the people behind it. With a library this size and a member base this big, YMCA 360 needs to know that when they run into a problem, someone’s on the other end.

They’ve found our team to be supportive, proactive with issues, and open to feedback throughout the partnership.

“Wistia’s team members are responsive and have been an absolute delight every time we connect with them.”

Lynn Wilmot-Stenehjem, Director of Programming, YMCA 360 Studios

Wistia raises the bar for video hosting

Today, YMCA members expect 24/7 access to Y content. They might be traveling, recovering from an injury, new to exercise, or just not ready to walk into a physical branch yet. Digital programming meets them where they are.

That’s only possible if the video hosting platform behind it is rock solid. YMCA 360’s team plans to keep producing high volumes of high-quality content, and a secure, reliable hub for all of it is non-negotiable.

We’re proud to be that hub.

“We would absolutely recommend Wistia to organizations hosting the amount of content we have. The platform is easy to use, and the team is genuinely great to work with.”

Lynn Wilmot-Stenehjem, Director of Programming, YMCA 360 Studios