Study: B-to-B Publishers Produce 33 Percent More Webcasts in 2006
January 23, 2007
By Marrecca Fiore

Business-to-business publishers produced 33 percent more Webcasts in 2006 than they did in 2005, according to a new study from ON24, a Webcast and rich media solutions provider.

For its inaugural "ON24 Insider on Publishing" study, the company analyzed Webcasting statistics from 35 of publishing clients, which include CMP, Reed Business, VNU, IDG and TechTarget, among others, said Sharat Sharan, President and CEO of ON24.

Sharan said the idea for the study grew from feedback ON24 received from its clients. "Publishers are focused on growth in Webcasting as a category," he said. "But they didn't have benchmark to use in terms of how effective they were being."

Sharan said the study, which defines a Webcast as a 60-minute audio or video presentation that publisher's offer to customers live or on-demand for the purpose of lead generation, will be conducted every six months on an on-going basis. The first study analyzes and compares data from the first six months of 2005 and 2006. "It's available complementary to our customers so that they can have a benchmark to use that will allow them to do better Webcasts moving forward," Sharan said.

Key findings of the study include:

• Number of Webcasts up. In 2005, publishers surveyed did 946 Webcasts, which had a total of 497,505 registrants and 305,425 attendees. In 2006, those same publishers did 1,261 Webcasts with a total of 715,937 registrants and 405,324 attendees.
• Live is more popular than on-demand. In 2006, 85.24 percent of Webcasts were live, an increase of 9.74 percent over 2005.
• Video grows quicker than audio. The average number of registrants for video Webcasts grew 45 percent from 773.91 in 2005, to 1,127.64 in 2006. Audio Webcasts saw a slight decrease in average attendance.
• Interactive features increase. The majority of Webcasts included interactive features at 93.09 percent compared to 87.62 percent in 2005.
• Attendees don't want to take surveys, polls. Response levels from attendees on surveys and polls fell in 2006 to 22.04 percent, from 33.12 percent in 2005.
• Publishers producing more video. Whether live or on-demand, publishers produced 31.81 percent more audio Webcasts and 43.96 percent more video Web casts in 2006, compared to 2005.
• Registrants up, but attendees flat. The average number of registrants per Webcast was 567.75 in 2006, an increase of 8.87 percent over an average of 521.49 in 2005. Average number of attendees was basically flat, however, 321.43 in 2006, compared to 320.15 in 2005.
• Conversion rate drops. Average conversion ration of registrants to attendees remained above 55 percent with a slight drop from 61.39 percent in 2005 to 56.61 in 2006.
• Attendees don't mind Q&A. Poll and survey participation may be down, but percentage of attendees participating in question and answer session increased to 7.21 percent from 6.68 percent in 2005.
• Attendees still not spending the whole hour. Average number of minutes attendees spend at a Webcast in 2006 was 40, unchanged from 2005.
• Archiving Webcasts increased the percentage of attendees that viewed the content to nearly 46 percent.

The study does not talk about the cost or revenue potential of Webcasts. When asked, Sharan said video Webcast cost more than audio Webcasts due to the sophistication of technology needed for the event, but did not talk specifics on pricing. He said publishers can make anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 in revenue from a Webcast depending on the type that is used.

As appeared in Folio Publishing Technology