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

After creating a Channel, you can choose to publish your media at a specific time, create sections to organize your content, and even collect subscribers to notify them about new media! Then, go ahead and embed your Channel in the wild.

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 Channel, select “New” from the Content Library, and click “Channel.”

From here, you can give your Channel a title and description, and choose whether or not you’d like to enable podcasting for it. You can then start your podcast from scratch or import an existing podcast from an RSS Feed URL. Check out our Podcast section for everything you need to know about podcasting!

To add content to your Channel, click “Add” and then either “Upload” or “Add from Folder.”

Selecting “Upload” will prompt you to select content from your computer to upload to your Channel. After you’ve selected your desired content, choose a folder where you’d like your media to live. Your Channel will then reference this media.

If you select “Add from Folder,” you’ll be able to navigate to a folder with your desired media in it.

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 the “Edit details” modal and add a 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.”

In the “Edit details” 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.

To remove any media in bulk, hover over a media and check the box next to each one you’d like to select, then click the "Remove from Channel" option.

If you’ve enabled podcasting, you’ll find a "Podcast Details" section where you can 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 Google Podcasts, links to these platforms and your podcast will appear on the episode’s popover in the Channel as well.

Any media you upload to your Channel will be in a draft state, so if you’ve shared your Channel out already, your audience will not see the new media until you publish it. To publish your media, click into the "Edit details" modal and scroll to the "Publish status" section 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. Head to the "Settings" page to enable automatic publishing.

To publish or unpublish media in bulk, hover over your desired media to check them off and then click the appropriate eye icon.

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 the "Edit details" modal and then click "View in folder." For further detail, 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 the "Edit details" modal and then click "View in folder."

From here, click "Replace Media" and 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 re-organize your episodes by dragging and dropping them into your preferred order. Episodes at the top of their section will display first on your Channel.

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:

Head to the Settings page to add a URL for your Channel’s embedded location. On this page, you can also enable automatic publishing to publish new media to your Channel as soon as they are uploaded.

Remember to click "Submit Changes" once you’ve finished updating your Channel details.

On your Channel's media page, select "Edit/Preview Channel" to customize and share your Channel!

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

Done customizing your Channel and ready to share? Click into “Edit/Preview Channel.” From here, there is an option to “Embed & Share.”

There are a few different ways to share your Channel. If you have embedding enabled, there are two embed codes that you can choose from:

Both options can be responsive or fixed size!

If you haven’t enabled embedding for your account, you can still share your Channel via a Public URL. If you’d like to embed your Channel elsewhere, check out our Plans Page for more information!

If you'd like to share a specific media from within a Channel, click the media to bring up the edit modal, and then click "Copy Link."

This will direct visitors to that media popped over the rest of the content in the Channel.

When you’re not on the Edit/Preview page for your Channel, you’ll notice a number of other options in Wistia. One of these is Analyze.

On your Channel’s Analyze page, you can see a ton of super cool stats! This includes Total Plays, Total Time Played, and Top Episodes. 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 stats to view trends for the last 7 days, 28 days, or a custom range.

You can export your Channel’s analytics using the “Export as CSV” button on the top right of your Analyze page. The export will include stats 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 stats.

For more in-depth information on your Channel’s stats, head on over to our Channel Stats Overview page.

So you’ve been building your audience with new subscribers! Head over to your Subscribers page, where you’ll be able to see the Name (if you decided to collect names), Email, and the date they subscribed on.

Click here to learn more about Channel subscribers.

Use the Notify option on your episode pages to keep your subscribers in the loop about your new content! Your email notifications can be configured for when you publish each individual episode in your Channel.

Next, customize the subject line, preview text, the button link to your episode, 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.

If you have Reach & Retarget for Facebook or Google enabled in your account, click the Promote tab to curate episodes for your audience based on their watch behavior. Reach & Retarget allows you to enable pre-built audiences to retarget based on engagement with your content.

If you haven’t connected Facebook or Google yet, you can configure them under the Integrations tab.

For more detailed instructions on setting up and using Reach & Retarget, see our pages on Facebook or Google.

Select the Podcast Settings tab to view your find 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 of 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.

Enabling and sharing your podcast involves a lot of important steps. Refer to our Help Center Podcast section to find everything you’ll need!

All Account Owners and Managers have the necessary permissions to create a Channel, upload content, add customizations, and enable podcasting.

To add users to your Channel, select the Permissions tab and click Add User. You’ll have the option to add users who can view and comment on your Channel, or collaborators who can edit the Channel. You can even add a personalized message to your invite.

Click View User to view their name, email, and role.

Here, you’ll be able to see when they were added to your account, if they’ve activated their login, and a number of other details about their permission status. You can add them to folders in your account as well.

To remove a user from your Channel, click the X next to View User, confirm your decision, and you’ll be all set!

Account Owners, Managers, and users with Collaborator permissions can lock a Channel. On the Channel’s Permissions page, toggle “Set Channel to locked” to lock the Channel. Once locked, Channel collaborators and viewers must be logged in to access it.

If a locked Channel is already embedded on a webpage, it will stop working in that location.

You can still view analytics for locked Channels by heading to a Channel’s Analytics page.

For more information about permissions and users in Wistia, head over to our Permissions page or visit Sharing Media Privately to specifically learn more about private sharing with folders.

Export or delete your Channel using these options.

Exporting all of the content in your Channel will create a ZIP archive.

Deleting your Channel will remove all of your episodes, as well as Channel stats. If you’ve enabled podcasting, your podcast will also be removed from any directories that you’ve distributed it to.

Once you click Delete Channel, you’ll be prompted to confirm your decision.