MarTech Interview with Chris Savage  CEO and Co-Founder of Wistia

Chris, can you share more about your passions, aspirations, and how they led you to ultimately found Wistia with your Co-Founder? Looking back, what thoughts do you have about that journey now?

My Wistia journey started in the early 2000s when I was a student at Brown University. I bounced between a few majors and, eventually, I landed on getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Semiotics – the study of signs. This was the closest major I could get to film production with theory. I have always been fascinated by film, and during my time as a student, I completed a good amount of film theory courses. I remember one class I took was on celebrities and what it meant to be a celebrity from a societal perspective – that was fun. Video production was always on my mind and something that I knew I wanted to be a part of, I just wasn’t sure how.

Brown University is also where I met my best friend and Wistia co-founder, Brendan Schwartz. When we graduated, we decided to put our heads together and create a business idea surrounding video and film. We gave ourselves a timeline of 6-8 months, which at the time, seemed like plenty of time to come up with the “next best thing.” During those months, we had a lot of unique, but complicated, product ideas swirling around our heads. It wasn’t until our self-imposed deadline began creeping up that we realized that there was an appetite for video creation and hosting. And thus, Wistia was born.

Creating Wistia in 2006 was harder than we anticipated and it also took longer than our 22-year-old selves expected. Looking back now, and thinking about my perception of time then, it feels like a blink. We’ve come such a long way. Today, I have Brown University to thank for providing me with the opportunity to grow my video skills, and also for introducing me to Brendan. He’s great, too.

Can you share an overview of Wistia and your current area of focus in 2024?
Wistia is a complete video marketing platform that helps teams create, host, and analyze the impact of their videos, all in one place. Our platform is designed to support the needs of B2B companies using branded video for everything from marketing, support, and sales. With Wistia, video creators can seamlessly create, host, and edit their videos all in one place We also track in-depth analytics from our customers’ videos; we look at how their audiences consume and interact with their video content such as how long they watch a video or which type of video content sees the most engagement. We also have tons of educational resources on our website providing guidance on how brands can enhance marketing strategies through video creation.

Recent Wistia research found that viewers still enjoy low-budget videos when the content is valuable – but that doesn’t mean the video can’t look good. In 2024, Wistia will focus on eliminating the technical barriers that hold non-video producers back when creating videos and/or live events. This includes prioritizing a user-friendly platform, which not only improves the overall user experience but also helps them move the needle for their business.

Tell me about Wistia’s State of Video Report, the methodology, and what findings you think marketers will find more surprising.

Every year, Wistia releases an annual State of Video Report. We compile the report based on real Wistia user data as well as feedback from an in-depth customer survey. In this year’s report, we analyzed over 90 million videos and over 100,000 businesses on the Wistia platform during 2023. Our customer survey includes qualitative feedback from more than 2,000 businesses using videos and was conducted at the end of 2023.

One of the most surprising findings from this year’s report was that 78% of businesses want more video content, and more than half (57%) are willing to invest more to get it. The demand for video is strong and continues to grow year-over-year. Consumers are watching more videos than ever and brands that weave video into their marketing strategy are more likely to reach a wider audience. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is also growing among the video community. AI is now a big driver in helping make videos more accessible with most creators using AI tools for auto-generating captions or transcripts.

The report also found that shorter videos aren’t necessarily more engaging. Our data showed that the engagement rate for videos between 1-5 minutes is almost the same – no matter the length – giving brands the freedom to experiment with longer videos and not risk consumer fatigue. The data also showed that educational or instructional videos lead to higher engagement compared to promotional brand videos. Even longer instructional videos maintain a higher level of engagement than promotional videos. Is this a result of how audience preferences are changing? Maybe. Gen Z, for example, consumes a lot of content from TikTok which is a source of how-to videos and hacks for what seems like everything under the sun. This speaks to the importance of creating content that is helpful for your audiences.

You mentioned that a major trend in the 2024 report was the use of AI to improve accessibility. Can you talk more about this?

Our 2024 State of Video report revealed that the use of AI to enhance video accessibility dramatically increased last year. Fifty-nine percent more videos saw a higher accessibility score in 2023 than in 2022. Why? We found that 254% more businesses had closed captions on their videos. Transcripts and closed captioning are two examples of how AI is making people’s jobs easier in video production. It’s become standard to have these and it’s incredibly easier for an AI tool to do this than a human. As more automation tools become available, we expect video accessibility will become not just easier, but more important to brands to reach a wider audience.

How will AI continue to evolve the video industry in the next few years and where do you see Wistia in that evolution?

AI is already affecting the way we create videos; however, I’ve noticed that AI tools are used predominantly in the editing process to supplement quick, mundane tasks.
For example, Wistia’s AI highlights tool is built into our video editor and can suggest key video highlights based on a video’s transcript. There are also other tools on the market that eliminate background noise and start a first draft of a script.

While AI video generators are valuable, most organizations are using these tools for educational purposes internally. In other words, on something low-risk. Consumers will always value the human connection when it comes to video, and when we leverage an AI-generated person or avatar, the connection is lost. The use of AI for total video creation from beginning to end is far from consumer ready.

At Wistia, we want to be at the forefront of ethical AI. Though we see a lot of promise when it comes to AI (i.e. increasing the accessibility of videos) and are incorporating it into our production workflow, there are some AI capabilities we need to be wary of. For instance, with generative AI a user can clone a voice-over from an on-camera talent and have them say whatever they want with text-to-speech capabilities. This can be incredibly powerful in the production process but requires another level of trust between the video producer and the talent. These tools can cut production times and increase quality but they require more back and forth and approval on final versions before these videos are sent out into the world. At Wistia, we require on-camera employees to sign a video release form – a legal document that grants us permission to use these employees’ likeness and voice for marketing purposes.

With the rise in disinformation and deepfake videos, video creators must keep a human touch and authenticity. Transparency around AI and ethical video creation practices will help everyone in the long run.

What are the top challenges organizations are facing when creating videos?

Despite economic uncertainty and limited resources throughout 2023, our State of Video report found that organizations didn’t struggle with their video budget. Only 4% of organizations reported they’ll likely have fewer resources for video in 2024. The report found that the top challenge organizations face when creating videos is time and bandwidth, with 61% of businesses saying that’s their biggest hurdle. Forty-four percent also said team size, resources, and technical capability were a struggle. Even with these hurdles, video was still a priority for companies, and the majority plan to produce more video content throughout this year.

How has social media affected the video landscape for B2B businesses? How are businesses most inclined to use videos in marketing currently?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of consumers watching videos spiked. While some thought it was a fad, our data proved this theory wrong. Consumers love video and brands that aren’t creating videos for social media are limiting their reach. Our State of Video report showed that a growing number of businesses are planning to make more short-form social videos this year.

Breaking down across social media channels, our data showed that in 2023, 43% of businesses regularly uploaded videos to LinkedIn, followed closely by YouTube at 40%. Instagram and Facebook aren’t far behind, with 22% and 19%, respectively, regularly uploading videos. And though TikTok is gaining popularity as a valuable platform for brands, only 7% of organizations are posting regularly. We will also have to see what a TikTok ban in the U.S. could mean for video strategies.

What other forthcoming trends should B2B marketers have their eye on now?

MarTech leaders should expect to see a lot more specialization. Competition in the market is going to stem from organizations being more specialized.We’re going to see products that are hyper-specialized, meaning the standard of quality for products will also be higher. The bar for quality content, media, and products is rising, and with competition heating up, it’s only going to climb higher.

For organizations that have the “best products” so to speak, they will get the most attention. MarTech leaders need to focus on refining the quality of their products to ensure (1) customer expectations are met and (2) that they can keep up with the rising competition.

Chris, what personal strategies have guided your journey with Wistia and helped you navigate the ever-changing tech and marketing landscape?

In the early days of Wistia, I had a certain perception of what it meant to be an entrepreneur and a leader. Brendan and I embraced a “growth at all costs” mindset – always operating in survival mode. Because of this, we found ourselves unable to control Wistia’s spending rate, and the profits from our prior years were getting smaller. Our commitment to scale the company led to multiple buying offers – a potentially lucrative exit strategy. It wasn’t until we received these offers that we realized this didn’t feel like the right path toward achieving our goal of helping users succeed with video. So we made a big decision. We turned down a buy-out option and took on $17.3 million in debt to buy our company back. This past year, we paid off all the debt.

This experience, which I am grateful to have shared with Brendan, has helped guide my journey at Wistia. Today, I feel as though I’m closer to who I was when I was a kid. I’m more curious and willing to be wrong and to fail. I have been wrong (and failed) but it has helped me become a better entrepreneur and stronger leader. I trust my gut and can clearly see what’s working and what’s not. This mindset and experience helps me support our Wistia team and navigate the ever-changing MarTech landscape.

Before we close out this interview, is there anything about the current state of tech and marketing that fascinates you right now? What would you recommend other leaders do to keep up with the constant changes?

Despite having a remarkable product on the market, so many organizations are not reaching their customers. The Tesla Cybertruck is a great example of this. It has created buzz on the road and people are intrigued, yet the first time most learn about it is when it physically drives past them. Why haven’t they heard about it before? There’s a clear disconnect.

Competition is fierce right now. Organizations need to be deliberate in reaching their target audience rather than relying on luck that their customers will cross paths with their products – or, in Tesla’s case, drive by one. This all comes down to informative marketing.

Findings from the 2024 State of Video Report showed us that MarTech leaders should focus on creating educational and instructional videos. Imagine if Tesla had published more viral Cybertruck videos on strategic platforms – it could have zoomed right onto their target audience’s radar and supercharged adoption rates. Luckily, top-notch production values and resources don’t always dictate engagement, which is good news for brands big and small. Weaving video into your marketing strategy is a turbocharged way to cultivate leads and reach customers. Even Tesla’s Cybertruck strategy could use an extra dose of video.