A keen focus on attendee engagement and experience combined with holistic AI-driven technology transformation, and continued strengthening in hybrid events are driving transformative changes in the global webinars and virtual events landscape. Extended reach, enhanced ease of use, advanced analytics, and a focus on sustainability are the primary growth vectors. Further, the industry is experiencing an unprecedented pace of innovation with AI simplifying event planning and execution cycles. Now, providers who deliver intelligent, engaging, and scalable web event platforms with flexible pricing options are well positioned to capitalize on opportunities in a market sized at $2.25 billion. The question is — Which tools, partnerships, and growth processes will empower your organization to make the most of this transformation?
Webinars and Virtual Events: Tech Dynamics
Amid this transformation, the following technology trends are helping event providers maximize customer value:
- AI and Insights
- Hybrid Experiences
- Production-Quality Content
- Engagement and Interactivity
- The Metaverse Era
Download full analysis to access growth opportunities and technology differentiators.
Adapting to Changing Customer Perspectives: Hybrid Events, AI, and UCC
Now, the once-clear distinctions between webinars, webcasts, and online events are fading, catalysed by the growing demand for interactive, scalable, and accessible content formats. In the wake of a post-COVID slump, the industry is rebounding with innovative, data-driven, and AI-powered solutions that make event planning and production more efficient. Frost & Sullivan finds that the following trends are accelerating this momentum:
Transforming Provider Ecosystems
- The web events landscape is highly fragmented, with the top 5 providers accounting for 56.3% of revenue share.
- Leading UCC vendors are rapidly strengthening their web event portfolios, extending their solutions to offer an end-to-end stack for calling, meeting, messaging, chat, webinars and virtual events. This is challenging the dominance of pure-play web event providers.
- Vendor strategies are pivoting towards a horizontal approach, thereby targeting enterprise-level adoption across multiple use cases, while offering customization for different buyer personas.
- Companies to Action: Cisco, Cvent, GoTo, ON24, Zoom, Microsoft, and RingCentral.
- Other Leading Providers: BrandLive, BrightTalk, Enghouse, GlobalMeet, Kaltura, vFairs, and Zoho.
- Hybrid Work: By 2026, 72% of organizations expect one-quarter to three-quarters of their employees to work remotely at least twice per week.
- UCC: Improving information management and boosting team collaboration have become prominent unified communications and collaboration (UCC) investment factors. This presents new avenues for vendors to augment their web event portfolios by leveraging innovative business models and subscription plans.
- Holistic Event Platforms: Customers are increasingly demanding a single platform that meets the full spectrum of their needs, from online meetings to events of all sizes. Additionally, seamless integrations with business tools for marketing automation, customer relationship management (CRM), and project management are becoming table stakes.
Are your teams equipped to adapt event strategies amid these headwinds?
Growth Opportunities in the Spotlight: Webinars and Virtual Events
Going forward, as providers experience rising competitive intensity in terms of cost, reliability, feature sets, scale, performance, security, compliance, support services, partnerships, and customer relationships, there is an increasing pressure to stand out. The following growth opportunities present new avenues to create strategic differentiation:
- AI For Personalization: Leveraging AI for optimizing event management — from automated email invitations, transcription, and translation to customized platforms and collaboration tools — thereby improving user experience.
- App-Based Experiences: Building mobile apps that support end-to-end event lifecycles, while enabling attendees (in-person and remote) to access more content amid tight schedules or crowded sessions.
- Programable Event Platforms: Offering built-in application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) that easily embed web event functionality into websites, desktop clients, or mobile applications.
- Video Conferencing: Facilitating real-time collaboration among event panelists, attendees, sponsors, and other participants by adding video conferencing functionalities to web event solutions.
- Sustainability and Inclusivity: Partnering with environmental and social organizations to develop innovative tools like personal and event-wide carbon offset calculators, thereby integrating sustainability into web event portfolios.
Which frameworks and tools will help your organization calculate the ROI potential of these growth opportunities?
In conclusion, the future of webinars and virtual events hinges on holistic platforms that merge cutting-edge event technology with seamless hybrid event experiences. With AI insights, interactivity, hyper-personalization, and scalability as cornerstones, businesses can position themselves to thrive in this ecosystem.
