Creating a RSS/Podcast from a Wistia Project

Video Podcasting (Vodcasting) is one of the best ways to get consistently scheduled content out to your viewers. iTunes has made finding and subscribing to video podcasts easy. With Wistia's Project and Playlist functionality, you can create an RSS feed that will automatically update with the Video Title, Content, Thumbnail, and Description of each new video you add to the Project. In this tutorial, we'll see how to use Wistia's Playlist functionality to create an iTunes podcast.

First we'll need to choose a Project to use as the Podcast. Perhaps you'll want to create a Project in your Wistia account just for regularly scheduled programming. In this case, I'll choose our “Wistia Video Snacks” Project, a set of irreverent videos we've cobbled together over the years.

The second step is to find the RSS feed for your Playlist. Inside of the Project you'd like to use as a podcast, select ”</> Embed Playlist” from under the green “Project Actions” drop-down menu.


The “Embed Playlist” screen includes the embed code for your Playlist. Copy all of this code and paste it into a text editor (I use Text Edit). In all of the madness of the text, there is a snippet that starts “get-embed.wistia.com/….js” (see the portion highlighted below). This is the portion you will need for creating a podcast/RSS feed.

Now that you have your code snippet (that starts “get-embed.wistia.com/…”) paste that into the address bar of an empty browser window. At the end of the snippet, change the '.js' to '.rss'. Hit “enter”, and now you have created an RSS feed for your Project. Copy the URL in the address bar for the next step.

If you were looking to create an RSS feed, you are now all set! If you are looking to make an iTunes Podcast, please read on…

The .rss feed for your Project is now what you will be using to publish to iTunes. First, a quick detour on Feedburner, which we will use to create descriptive elements for our Podcast.

Paste the .rss feed in to the Feedburner field entry and click “Next”. You will be able to give the feed a title and a custom feed address. Once your feed is entered in Feedburner, you will end up in the “Feed Management” area. Of the five tabs at the top, you want to select the “Optimize” tab. Next, select the “SmartCast” feature.

SmartCast is Feedburner's functionality that separates each video into it's neat podcast package and provides the descriptive data that lets your subscribers know they are signing up for good stuff! Filling out the fields means iTunes will be able to pull that data for your podcast. Add an logo image for your podcast, a descriptive summary of your content, and even a copyright message. When everything looks the way you'd like, activate the SmartCast.

Now we need to submit the Podcast to the iTunes Podcast Directory.

In the Feedburner feed management screen, click “Edit Feed Details” under the Title of the Feed. Copy down the URL of the Feedburner “Feed Address” (and not “Original Address”). You will need this to submit in iTunes.

Now, open up your iTunes software. From the iTunes Store home, select “Podcasts” on the top horizontal navigation bar. In the right hand side “Quick Links” section, select “Submit a Podcast”. Paste the “Feed Address” from Feedburner into the box and click “Continue”. This will alert iTunes to your Podcast feed, which then needs to be approved by the iTunes Store gods.

If you have submitted your Podcast correctly, you should receive an email from the iTunes team notifying you that your Podcast is in review. This process can take some time.

Once you have received an approval email, your feed should appear in the iTunes store and in search results shortly after (ranges from a few hours to a day or two). Once the URL from your email opens properly, check to make sure your settings are reflected correctly, and then you can start promoting your Podcast! Huzzah!

Filmed a new episode of your smash hit podcast? Great! Updating your podcast with Wistia is easy. Simply upload the new video file to the Project, adjust the Title and Thumbnail to one of your choosing, and even add a description in a Descriptive Sidebar Element, to tell your viewers whats coming in this week's podcast.