Wistia GTM Event Listener

Track Wistia video interactions in GTM. Monitor play, pause, seek, percentage milestones, and end events with videoAction, videoLabel, and videoHashedID variables.

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Event fired

video

Key variable

videoAction

Wistia

Overview

Wistia is a video hosting platform optimized for business and marketing, featuring lead capture (Turnstile), chapter markers, and detailed viewer analytics. This listener hooks into Wistia's JavaScript API to track video interactions with rich context including the hashed video ID for cross-referencing with Wistia's own analytics.

Event fired: video Variables: videoAction, videoLabel, videoHashedID, videoCurrentTime, videoDuration

Why Use This Listener

Wistia's own analytics are excellent, but you need video events in GA4 to:

Cross-reference video engagement with ad campaign performance
Build audiences in Google Ads of users who watched specific videos
Include video watching in GA4 conversion funnels
Send video completion events to Meta for custom audiences

Tracked Events

videoAction	Description
`play`	Video starts
`pause`	Video paused
`seek`	User seeks to position
`end`	Video completes
`percentwatched-25`	25% milestone
`percentwatched-50`	50% milestone
`percentwatched-75`	75% milestone
`percentwatched-90`	90% milestone
`turnstile`	Lead capture gate shown

Installation

html

<!-- GTM Custom HTML Tag: Wistia Video Listener -->
<script>
window._wq = window._wq || [];
window._wq.push({ id: '_all', onReady: function(video) {
  var tracked = {};
  var milestones = [25, 50, 75, 90];
  
  function wistPush(action, v) {
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    window.dataLayer.push({
      'event': 'video',
      'videoAction': action,
      'videoLabel': v.name(),
      'videoHashedID': v.hashedId(),
      'videoDuration': v.duration(),
      'videoCurrentTime': v.time()
    });
  }
  
  video.bind('play', function() { wistPush('play', video); });
  video.bind('pause', function() { wistPush('pause', video); });
  video.bind('seek', function() { wistPush('seek', video); });
  video.bind('end', function() { wistPush('end', video); });
  
  video.bind('percentwatchedchanged', function(percent) {
    milestones.forEach(function(m) {
      var key = 'p' + m;
      if (percent * 100 >= m && !tracked[key]) {
        tracked[key] = true;
        wistPush('percentwatched-' + m, video);
      }
    });
  });
  
  video.bind('turnstile', function() { wistPush('turnstile', video); });
}});
</script>

Data Layer Output

Play Event

json

{
  "event": "video",
  "videoAction": "play",
  "videoLabel": "Product Tour - Dashboard",
  "videoHashedID": "abc123def",
  "videoDuration": 185.4,
  "videoCurrentTime": 0
}

Trigger Configuration

All Wistia Events

Trigger: Custom Event | video

Completion Trigger

Condition: DLV – Video Action | equals | end

High-Intent Milestone

Condition: DLV – Video Action | equals | percentwatched-75

Variables to Capture

Variable Name	DL Key	Example
DLV – Video Action	`videoAction`	`"play"`
DLV – Video Label	`videoLabel`	`"Product Tour"`
DLV – Video Hashed ID	`videoHashedID`	`"abc123def"`
DLV – Video Duration	`videoDuration`	`185.4`

GA4 Mapping

GA4 Event	Trigger	Parameters
`video_start`	play	video_title, video_provider: "wistia", video_id
`video_progress`	percentwatched-75	video_percent: 75
`video_complete`	end	video_title, video_duration

Debugging

Problem	Cause	Fix
`_wq is not defined`	Wistia not loaded	Check Wistia embed code
Multiple events per play	`_all` matches multiple videos	Use specific video hash instead of `_all`
Turnstile not tracked	Wistia Turnstile feature not enabled	Enable in Wistia account settings

Best Practices

Use videoHashedID to cross-reference GA4 data with Wistia's own viewer analytics
Track Turnstile events, the moment the lead gate appears is a key intent signal
Per-video conversion rates: divide end events by play events per videoHashedID
Combine with Calendly, companies often place Calendly after product videos