Report: Webinar Views Shifting from Live to On-Demand

The 2015 “Webinar Benchmarks Report” conducted by ON24 shows that 43 percent of people who registered for a webinar in 2014 chose to view it on-demand, rather than live. This is an increase from the 21 percent who said they took this approach in 2013.

“This repeat viewing can be the result of people having to drop off the live airing and wanting to catch up on what they missed or in some cases people who want to go back and re-view specific parts of the presentation,” wrote the authors of the report.

Statistics also show that 20.6 percent of people chose to register for an event after it ended. This meant that they received a pre-recorded, on-demand version of the webinar. In 2013, the amount of people who went this route was 18.5 percent.

“On-demand registrations can occur many weeks after the initial live airing, particularly as companies find new ways to promote their on-demand content,” the researchers concluded.

The report also showed that the registrant-to-attendee conversion rate has been holding steady at 42 percent over the past few years. The authors of the study conclude that for marketers, anywhere between 35 and 45 percent is strong.

The Challenges Associated with Webinars

Webinars can be an interactive way to build relationships with prospects, but data shows that they can be challenging for marketers. The “Content Marketing Trends Survey” published by Ascend2 recently found that 50 percent of marketers consider webinars to be the most difficult type of content to create. It ranked second behind videos, which received 59 percent of the vote.

“The most difficult types of content to create such as videos, webinars and research-based papers often require resources and capabilities not available in-house,” wrote the authors of the report.