How Wistia reached the online video market that YouTube missed (and succeeded)

by Justine Hofherr
March 2, 2017

Most people can't imagine life without YouTube. But, when the online video platform was starting up, a Boston duo saw something they were missing.

Chris Savage and Brendan Schwartz launched Wistia from Savage’s living room in 2006 and have since grown the company into a global, multi-million dollar video platform that makes it easier for businesses to use video across their marketing, sales, training, support and HR departments.

But back in 2005, Wistia's founders were operating on the hunch that there might be segments of the online video market that YouTube was ignoring — and they were right.

Savage was pursuing his dreams as a filmmaker then, and to get more work, he began creating short videos and putting them on YouTube using the open source tool.

Savage got in touch with his college buddy, Schwartz, and the pair started talking about the business opportunities at the intersection of their interests. Schwartz had studied computer engineering at Brown and was working as a developer at computer software company Duck Creek Technologies (formerly AgencyPort).

They talked about how YouTube was showing everyone around the world the power and potential of video — whether you were interested in watching cats fall off chairs or sharing your work as a filmmaker with colleagues. Andin December 2005, YouTube was reporting over 8 million views per day and there were no signs of slowing down. 

Though its business model wasn’t as sexy as YouTube’s, Wistia found a corner of the market they ignored. The Boston company developed tools to help businesses use their videos to capture leads and increase signups. They eventually created a learning center, hiring video producers to help businesses get better at using video cameras. Wistia even formed a support team to answer any questions that came in.

Soon, the startup began landing big customers like Cirque du Soleil, Cushman & Wakefield, NBC and A&E who wanted help sharing video. “We thought, ‘Maybe there’s something to this?’” Savage (pictured below) said. “As video was getting easier to use, more businesses were evaluating the tools available to them to evolve areas like marketing.” 

Ten years later and Wistia has grown from a team of five to an office of 83, and has over 350,000 customers using their video platform and analytics tools. Sylvane uses video on their e-commerce site to boost conversions and sales, for example, while Buildium uses video to humanize their brand.

Over time, Wistia’s product suite has grown, offering tools like video heatmaps that show which parts of video a viewer watched, skipped or rewatched, and viewer history tracking that lets companies identify their most engaged prospects.

By offering a more targeted product designed as a B2B offering rather than something for everyone, Wistia found its bread and butter.

In total, Wistia has raised $1.4 million in funding. Unlike YouTube, which earns revenue based on the number of advertisements it serves, Wistia’s pricing plans track their customers' business success with video. Customers pay for increased bandwidth and more videos, letting them own the entire video experience from analytics to lead capture.

As the company grew, they finally settled in Cambridge. Savage said staying out of the limelight — both in their product offering and early press — has actually helped the business.

“We’ve been able to quietly do this in Cambridge,” Savage said. “People often assume we’re based in NYC or San Fran. We don’t make a lot of noise, but we’re a global company sitting right here.”

He also said being based in Cambridge has given Wistia access to top tech talent.

“There’s a lot of talent in Boston,” Savage said. “When we were small, we were so glad that there were other startups here and people I could talk to and commiserate with, and now I’m glad that we have a large enough tech community that I can hire senior talented people who don’t have to move here. You don’t hear that story very much.”

In 2017 and beyond, Savage said he’s interested in “democratizing video,” which means making video a medium that companies aren’t afraid to use and experiment with.

“Our marketing team made 400 videos last year alone just teaching how to use video well and how to shoot, light and edit,” Savage said. “So many people are afraid they will go on camera and actually hurt their business. Now, we’re building more tools to democratize process.”

 

Photos via company

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