Virtual Event and Webinar Statistics in Canada

Virtual events and webinars have been around for a while yet they were not hugely popular before 2019. When COVID-19 stopped people from attending actual conferences, lectures, and other live events, the popularity of virtual events soared as they enabled people to attend events and training without being physically present.

Although social distancing and travel restrictions no longer apply, the popularity of webinars and virtual events has continued growing as Canadians have embraced the possibility of attending events and training regardless of the location. Continue reading as we explore webinars and virtual events from a statistical viewpoint.

Virtual Event and Webinar Statistics for Canadians

• The global market value of webinars and virtual events is expected to reach US$30.6 billion by 2027.
• Over ¾ of people who attend webinars and virtual events find them easy to access. 
• Most people, over 60% attend webinars and virtual events to learn something new. 
• 20 minutes is the best length for a webinar or a virtual event session. 
• Almost 60% of webinar and virtual event organisers have used games to improve attendance and engagement. 
• Hybrid events are not expected to be as popular in 2024 as in earlier years with only 20% of events expected to cater for both in-person and virtual attendees. 
• Approximately half of marketers prefer hosting in-person events to hybrid or virtual events. 
• 15% of employees carry out other chores during online work meetings. 
• Almost one in four virtual event organisers has used event apps to organise and run events. 
• Almost 70% of virtual event and webinar hosts have experienced some level of technical problems. 

What Are the Differences Between Virtual Events and Webinars?

There are some key differences between virtual events and webinars. While webinars are generally single-session events, virtual events will include multiple activities and sessions. Webinars are often used for product explanations or demonstrations, education, and internal communications, while virtual events include events such as conferences, trade shows, networking events, and entertainment events. 

Both virtual events and webinars offer participants opportunities for interaction, which improves engagement rates. Webinars are usually shorter and have fewer attendees than virtual events, which can have thousands of attendees and span several days. 

Market Value of Virtual Events and Webinars

As the popularity of virtual events and webinars has grown, so has the market value. In 2022, the global market value was US$12.4 billion. In 2027, the market is expected to reach US$30.6 billion globally. 

Virtual Events and Webinars in 2023

In 2023, 88.1% of the people who hosted online events hosted at least one virtual event. Almost half (46.3%) hosted at least four virtual events while over a quarter (28.4%) hosted over ten virtual events. 

Why Have Webinars And Virtual Events Become Popular?

Attending webinars and events online has become popular because you can attend an event organised on the other side of the world. As long as you can get online, you can attend from anywhere. While some people experience technological issues when attending webinars and virtual events, 77.2% consider them easy to attend. 

They are also great from the organisers’ viewpoint. 99% of companies believe that webinars should be a key part of their future marketing strategies while 91% of big event organisers are making money through sponsored sessions. In 2023, 93.2% of organisations and companies that hosted live online events considered them a success and 95.5% said they were planning to host webinars and virtual events in 2024. 

Many webinars and event organisers also appreciate the ability to reach global audiences through online events. 64.9% of those who organised events in 2023 said global reach was a key reason for them. The low cost of virtual events and webinars was a key driver to 47.4% of organisers while 14% said attracting sponsorships was important. 

Most People Attend Live Virtual Events to Learn Something

The main reason for attending webinars and live events is to learn something. 62% of people who have attended online events said it was because they wanted to learn something new. Networking was the main purpose for 26% of those who attended webinars and virtual events, while only 10% said they attended them for fun. 

Audience Engagement

When people are attending virtually, it can be even more challenging to keep your audience engaged than it is when hosting in-person events. 58% of marketers report that they find it hard to keep the attendees’ attention. However, there are some ways marketers can use to improve engagement. 

Studies have shown that when it comes to virtual sessions, shorter is better. The ideal length is 20 minutes with 68% of attendees staying focused for the whole session. However, the average webinar session is 54 minutes long, with most attendees only watching approximately 37 minutes of the live event. 

To help keep attendees more engaged with their content, organisers try to make virtual sessions fun and interactive. For example, 59% of organisers have used games to improve engagement while 30% have offered prizes.  

Over 40% of People Who Register Do Not Attend

Because webinars and live events are very easy to register for, generally your name and email are enough, many people register but do not attend or watch replays. Approximately only 58% of people who register watch either the live sessions or replays. 

Out of those 58%, the majority make it to the live session with 54% watching the live and 46% only watching the replay. There are also some people, about 37% of those registered, who watch both the live and the replay. Despite nearly half of the registrants only watching the replay, only 63% of hosts offer on-demand access following the live event. 

Hybrid Events

Some event organisers are offering events that allow people to attend both virtually and in person. However, since the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, the number of hybrid events has reduced. In 2021, when many restrictions still applied, 30% of events were hybrid events and 40% were virtual. It is predicted that in 2024, 20% of events will be hybrid and 59% will be in-person events with the remainder organised only virtually. 

While hybrid events may sound great from the organisers’ point of view, after all, they allow the organisers to reach a far wider audience than they could with in-person events only, hybrid events are not ticking the boxes for attendees. For example, almost 40% of people who attend hybrid events virtually feel left out and 71% of organisers say they find it challenging to keep the virtual attendees engaged simultaneously with the in-person audience. 

Marketing and Virtual Events

Despite the growing popularity of virtual events, marketers still prefer in-person meetings over fully virtual or hybrid meetings. Just over 50% of marketers would rather host in-person events, while 49.3% said they would be interested in hosting some in-person and some virtual events. Just 7.5% were interested in hosting virtual events only. 

However, many marketers see the value of virtual events with 55% using them to improve their relationships with customers and to educate or retain them. 45.7% of marketers say their main focus is to get leads from hosting webinars and virtual events. B2B marketers are especially likely to see value in holding online events, with 68% saying live events are best for getting leads. 

Work-Related Webinars

Hosting webinars to train staff became popular during the pandemic and many companies, especially those with multiple locations, have continued to utilise web-based training sessions since then. However, studies have shown that 15% of workers do non-work-related chores when attending these trainings from home. 

Event Apps

Event apps have been an integral part of facilitating online events and webinars. Organisers can easily turn in-person events into hybrid events using mobile event apps. The apps make communication between organisers and attendees easier. Many of them also enable attendees to communicate with each other. 

78% of event organisers already use event apps to boost engagement. They also use these apps to handle the signing up for their events and webinars. In addition, apps can be used to keep attendees up to date on any changes and future events. 68% of marketers organising these events believe that event apps will continue to be important for the future of online events

Challenges of Webinars and Virtual Events

While there are some virtual events that attract a large number of attendees, most have small attendance numbers. 58% of online events have less than 300 people watching live at any given moment. 

One of the main challenges of hosting virtual events and webinars is technological issues with 67% of hosts having experienced some level of technical problems. Especially smaller companies that may lack the technical know-how, are prone to these issues. 

Conclusion

Virtual events have become more and more popular in recent years and their popularity was boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While event organisers have been able to arrange in-person events again for a while now, they have continued to host webinars, virtual events, and hybrid events alongside them. 

The benefits of virtual events and webinars for organisers include low costs and being able to reach wider audiences while the benefits for attendees include ease of access regardless of their location and the opportunity to learn something new. While there are still many challenges to overcome when organising online live events, with technological issues being the main one, we are likely to see companies and organisations hosting even more virtual events and webinars in the future.