ON24 Releases 2015 Webinar Benchmarks Report

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- ON24, Inc., the world's leading webinar marketing platform for demand generation, lead qualification and customer engagement, today released the 2015 edition of its annual Webinar Benchmarks Report, which analyzes key trends observed in ON24 customer webinars over the last year.

"The report can be used as a set of guidelines to create and deliver dynamic webinars for improved audience engagement and sales," explained Jayesh Sahasi, ON24 Chief Product Officer and CTO. Webinars have never played a more important role for B2B marketers. As buyers continue to self-educate, engaging with sales much later in the decision process, webinars have become a primary source of information at each stage of the purchase decision.

ON24 supports more than 40,000 webcasts annually and is uniquely qualified to establish industry benchmarks. The 2015 edition of the Webinar Benchmarks Report draws on analysis of 9,375 webinars conducted during 2014 by more than 500 enterprise and SMB customers.

Interactivity on the rise: Increased audience engagement is evident in the significant growth in the use of interactivity tools. Thirty-five percent of webinars integrated social media applications, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and 24 percent of webinars used polling as a way to directly engage audience members. Q&A remains the most popular interactivity tool at 82 percent.

Video use doubles: Video saw a dramatic rise, from nine percent in 2013 to 16.5 percent in 2014, due to the evolution of video technology, reduced costs, and the ability to reliably push video without bandwidth constraints.

Growth in large audiences: There has also been a marked increase in large webinars. In 2013 only one percent of webinars drew more than 1,000 attendees, while in 2014 nine percent of webinars passed the 1,000 mark. This increase signifies that webinars that draw more than 1,000 attendees are no longer limited to events held by large enterprise brands. Businesses of all sizes are using webinars to engage larger audiences.

Viewing duration stays high: Furthermore, average webinar viewing times continue to defy the industry trend around "snackable" content that appeals to limited attention spans. Compared to an average of 38 minutes in 2010, average live webinar viewing has steadily risen and is now holding steady at the 56-minute mark, indicating that webinars continue to grow in importance as buyers self-educate as they work towards a purchase decision.

"Increased content availability and growing audience engagement and size are indicative of how essential webinars are to marketers," said Sahasi. "Previously, webinars were used primarily for top-of-funnel lead generation. Now webinars take a much more prominent role in the marketing and sales process, nurturing prospects through each stage of the buyer's journey."

Additional key findings include:

• Webinars held on Wednesdays and Thursdays have the highest attendance, followed closely by Tuesdays.
• In North America, webinars held at 11:00 a.m. PT/2:00 p.m. ET have the highest attendance.
• On average, between 35 and 45 percent of registrants for marketing webinars attend the live event. This conversion rate has held steady for several years.

A complimentary copy of the 2015 edition of the ON24 Webinar Benchmarks Report can be downloaded here: bit.ly/1Kl5VY7

About ON24, Inc.
ON24 is the leading webinar marketing platform for demand generation, lead qualification and customer engagement. Its award-winning, patented, cloud-based platform enables companies of all sizes to deliver engaging live and on-demand webinars. Providing industry-leading analytics that can be integrated with all leading marketing automation and CRM platforms, ON24 enables marketers to optimize demand generation, enhance lead qualification and accelerate sales pipeline opportunities.

Additional applications for the ON24 product portfolio include virtual training, talent development and town hall meetings. More than 1,000 enterprises rely on ON24, including IBM, CA Technologies, Merck, JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, Credit Suisse and SAP. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout the world. For more information, visit http://www.on24.com.

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