ON24’s platform data shows the average webinar drew 239 attendees in 2025, an 11% year-over-year increase and the highest figure the vendor has recorded (ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks). TwentyThree’s State of Webinars 2025 puts the average lower and broader, at 307 sign-ups and a 58% attendance rate across surveyed programs. Blended B2B benchmarks are more conservative still: Contrast’s analysis of over a million registrants pegs the median live-attend rate near 41.6%. Meanwhile the Content Marketing Institute reports 55% of B2B marketers now use webinars as a content distribution channel, ranking them the second-most-effective channel behind only in-person events. This analysis consolidates data from ON24, TwentyThree, GoTo, the Content Marketing Institute, Grand View Research, and 11 other primary sources to separate platform-reported numbers from independent benchmarks.
TL;DR
- The broader virtual events market was worth $98.07 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $297.16 billion by 2030 at a 20.0% CAGR (Grand View Research, Virtual Events Market Report).
- The average webinar drew 239 attendees in 2025, up 11% year over year (ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks).
- ON24’s platform logged a 60% registration-to-attendance conversion, versus a 41.6% median live-attend rate across independent B2B benchmarks (ON24; Contrast).
- TwentyThree’s programs averaged 307 sign-ups and a 58% attendance rate per webinar (TwentyThree, State of Webinars 2025).
- 55% of B2B marketers use webinars as a content distribution channel; 51% rank them their second-most-effective channel after in-person events (Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2025).
- 60-minute webinars capture 67% of registrations, while 30-minute sessions draw only 8% (GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats).
- The average webinar cost per lead is $72, versus $92 for search marketing and $811 for trade shows (Visitor Queue analysis).
- Roughly one-third of registrations now arrive on the day of the broadcast, up from 24% in 2022 (GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats).
- 89% of marketers say webinars outperformed other channels for creating qualified leads (Statista).
- 98% of marketers planned to fold AI into their webinar programs in 2025 (Kaltura).
- 81% of webinars now include a live Q&A segment (Actual Tech Media).
1. Market Size and Growth
The “webinar market” has no agreed boundary, which is why published estimates span two orders of magnitude. Grand View Research values the broader virtual events market at $98.07 billion in 2024 and projects $297.16 billion by 2030, a 20.0% CAGR (Grand View Research, Virtual Events Market Report). Market Research Future draws a wider circle still for virtual events but a narrower one for pure webinar and webcast software, at $25.89 billion in 2025. The takeaway is not a single number but a direction: every methodology, from the roughly $1.14 billion narrow-software floor to the $297 billion virtual-events ceiling, points up and to the right through the decade.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual events market (2024) | $98.07B | Grand View Research, Virtual Events Market Report |
| Virtual events market (2030 proj.) | $297.16B, 20.0% CAGR 2025-2030 | Grand View Research |
| Virtual events market (2024, alt.) | $198.7B | Market Research Future |
| Virtual events market (2035 proj.) | $849.53B, 14.12% CAGR | Market Research Future |
| Webinar & webcast software (2025) | $25.89B | Market Research Future, Webinar & Webcast Market |
| Webinar & webcast software (2035 proj.) | $137.15B, 18.14% CAGR | Market Research Future |
| Webinar & webcast market (2025, narrow) | >$1.14B, 7.6% CAGR 2026-2035 | Research Nester, Webinar & Webcast Market |
| Webinar market (2032 proj.) | $134.2B, 13.9% CAGR from 2023 | Market Research Future |
Outlier note: the 260x spread between the narrowest ($1.14B) and broadest ($297B) estimates reflects whether a report counts only webinar software or all virtual-event spend.
2. Attendance and Conversion Benchmarks
Attendance benchmarks split along a predictable line: platform vendors report their own high-intent audiences, independent aggregators report everyone. ON24’s enterprise platform logged a 60% registration-to-attendance conversion, while Contrast’s cross-platform analysis of ON24, GoTo, and BrightTALK data puts the median B2B live-attend rate at 41.6% (ON24; Contrast). Neither is wrong; they measure different populations. If you run gated, sales-led webinars to a warm list, plan toward the 55 to 60% band. If you buy cold registrations through paid social, 40 to 45% is the honest ceiling. Video-conferencing habits set the baseline expectation here (see our video conferencing statistics).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average attendees per webinar (2025) | 239 (+11% YoY) | ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks |
| Registration-to-attendance conversion | 60% | ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks |
| Average sign-ups per webinar | 307 | TwentyThree, State of Webinars 2025 |
| Average attendance rate | 58% | TwentyThree, State of Webinars 2025 |
| Median B2B live-attend rate (Q3’25-Q1’26) | 41.6% (mean 46.2%) | Contrast, Webinar Benchmarks |
| Live attendance rate | 49% | Univid, Webinar Report 2026 |
| Total attendance (live + replay) | 57% | Univid |
Outlier note: TwentyThree’s high performers averaged 375 registrants with 214 attending, well above the 40 to 45% blended band.
3. Engagement, Duration, and Drop-Off
Engagement time has held remarkably steady even as attention elsewhere fragments. ON24 reports the average attendee stays engaged for 49 minutes, close to the length of the webinar itself (ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks). Duration is a trade-off, not a target: GoTo data shows 60-minute slots capture 67% of registrations, but Contrast finds only 37% of attendees last the full hour, while 30-minute webinars clear 85% completion. Poor presenter audio is a silent churn driver on long sessions; clean capture and real-time noise suppression protect the retention that drop-off data says matters most.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average engagement duration | 49 minutes | ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks |
| Registrations captured by 60-min webinars | 67% | GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats |
| Registrations captured by 30-min webinars | 8% | GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats |
| Attendees who stay the full 60 minutes | 37% | Contrast, Webinar Benchmarks |
| Completion rate for 30-min webinars | 85%+ | Contrast, Webinar Benchmarks |
| Webinars featuring a live Q&A | 81% | Actual Tech Media |
| Viewers who stop watching if content is boring | 22% | TechSmith, Video Viewers (2023) |
| Highest CTA conversion, by length (60-min) | 26% | Univid |
Outlier note: 90-minute webinars post the highest live-attendance rate because they self-select for the most committed audiences (Contrast).
4. B2B Marketing, Lead Generation, and ROI
For B2B marketers, webinars sit near the top of the channel stack on effectiveness, not just volume. The Content Marketing Institute found 51% of B2B marketers rank webinars among their most effective distribution channels, trailing only in-person events at 52% (Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2025). The economics explain the loyalty: at roughly $72 per lead, webinars undercut search marketing ($92) and dwarf trade shows ($811 per lead). That efficiency is why 55% of B2B marketers keep webinars in the mix even as 89% say the channel outperformed others for qualified-lead creation.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| B2B marketers using webinars as a channel | 55% | Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2025 |
| Rank webinars most-effective channel | 51% (2nd to in-person, 52%) | Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2025 |
| Plan to increase webinar investment (2025) | 32% | Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2025 |
| Say webinars outperformed other channels for leads | 89% | Statista |
| Average webinar cost per lead | $72 (vs. $92 SEM, $811 trade shows) | Visitor Queue analysis |
| Marketing teams that use webinars | 85% | TwentyThree, State of Webinars 2025 |
| Sales teams that use webinars | 71% | TwentyThree |
| Organizations running 11+ webinars a year | ~50% | TwentyThree |
Outlier note: 62% of companies call webinars extremely or very important to their digital strategy, and 35% now staff a dedicated webinar team (TwentyThree, State of Webinars 2025).
5. Timing, Promotion, and Registration
Webinar scheduling has consolidated into a two-day, two-hour window, and the promotion timeline has compressed. Roughly one-third of registrations now arrive on the day of the broadcast, up from 24% in 2022, making the day-of reminder the highest-impact send in the sequence (GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats). Wednesday and Thursday each pull about a quarter of all attendees, and the 11am-2pm block dominates start times. For distributed, multi-timezone audiences, that window is a genuine constraint, the same one that shapes remote work meeting culture.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Registrations arriving day-of broadcast | ~33% (up from 24% in 2022) | GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats |
| Share of attendees on Wednesday | 26% | GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats |
| Share of attendees on Thursday | 26% | GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats |
| Peak attendance day (Thursday) | 64% | TwentyThree |
| Most common start time | 11am local | GoTo, Big Book of Webinar Stats |
| Best time-of-day window | 11am-2pm | BigMarker |
| On-demand views within 10 days of event | 47% | Actual Tech Media |
Outlier note: the Tuesday-through-Thursday block captures the large majority of successful webinars, leaving Monday and Friday as low-attendance dead zones.
6. AI, Personalization, and On-Demand
AI has moved from novelty to plumbing in the webinar stack, mostly on the back end. Nearly all marketers, 98%, planned to fold AI into their webinar programs in 2025 (Kaltura data via Zoom). The measurable wins are in personalization and repurposing: ON24 reports personalized CTAs lifted clicks 118%, and tailoring the on-demand experience raised average attendance from 97 to 125 per session. Because a single 49-minute session holds roughly 10,000 spoken words, one webinar now seeds weeks of derivative posts, clips, and emails, the same repurposing logic behind online learning content libraries.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Marketers planning AI in webinars (2025) | 98% | Kaltura |
| Lift in on-demand attendance from personalization | 97 -> 125 (+25%) | ON24, Webinar Benchmarks |
| On-demand CTA conversion rate | 19% | TwentyThree |
| Live CTA conversion rate | 63% | TwentyThree |
| Email open-rate advantage for webinar emails | 1.7x higher | BigMarker |
| Email click-rate advantage for webinar emails | 4.5x higher | BigMarker |
| People preferring video for instructional content | 83% | TechSmith, Video Viewers (2023) |
| People who watch 1+ instructional video weekly | 66% | TechSmith, Video Viewers (2023) |
Outlier note: personalized CTAs lifted clicks 118% in ON24’s data, the single largest personalization effect the report measured.
Summary: Webinars by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual events market (2024 -> 2030) | $98.07B -> $297.16B, 20.0% CAGR | Grand View Research |
| Webinar & webcast software (2025 -> 2035) | $25.89B -> $137.15B, 18.14% CAGR | Market Research Future |
| Average attendees per webinar (2025) | 239 (+11% YoY) | ON24 |
| Registration-to-attendance conversion | 60% | ON24 |
| Median B2B live-attend rate | 41.6% (mean 46.2%) | Contrast |
| Average sign-ups per webinar | 307 | TwentyThree |
| Average attendance rate | 58% | TwentyThree |
| Attendees who stay the full 60 minutes | 37% | Contrast |
| 60-min webinars’ share of registrations | 67% | GoTo |
| B2B marketers using webinars as a channel | 55% | Content Marketing Institute |
| Webinars ranked most-effective channel | 51% (2nd to in-person, 52%) | Content Marketing Institute |
| Average webinar cost per lead | $72 | Visitor Queue |
| Marketers saying webinars outperformed other channels | 89% | Statista |
| Registrations arriving day-of broadcast | ~33% (up from 24% in 2022) | GoTo |
| Wednesday / Thursday share of attendees | ~26% each | GoTo |
| Marketers planning AI in webinars (2025) | 98% | Kaltura |
| Lift in clicks from personalized CTAs | +118% | ON24 |
| Webinars featuring a live Q&A | 81% | Actual Tech Media |
| Marketing teams using webinars | 85% | TwentyThree |
| Companies calling webinars very important | 62% | TwentyThree |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered by aggregating published figures from platform benchmark reports, market-research firms, and B2B marketing surveys, prioritizing 2025-2026 primary sources and tracing trade-press figures back to the original report wherever possible.
- ON24, 2026 Digital Engagement Benchmarks Report and Webinar Benchmarks Report (2026) - on24.com
- ON24, The State of AI in B2B Marketing (2025) - on24.com
- TwentyThree, State of Webinars 2025 - twentythree.com
- GoTo, The Big Book of Webinar Stats / webinar benchmarks (2025-2026) - goto.com
- Contrast, Webinar Benchmarks (1M+ registrants, 2026) - getcontrast.io
- Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2025: Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends - contentmarketinginstitute.com
- Zoom, 40 Webinar Statistics Every Business Should Know (2025) - zoom.com
- Cvent, 42 Webinar Statistics You Need to Know (2026) - cvent.com
- Grand View Research, Virtual Events Market Report - grandviewresearch.com
- Market Research Future, Webinar & Webcast Market and Virtual Events Market - marketresearchfuture.com
- Research Nester, Webinar & Webcast Market (2023-2035) - researchnester.com
- Univid, Webinar Report 2026 / 35 Webinar Statistics
- BigMarker webinar benchmarks
- Kaltura, State of Virtual Events / AI survey
- TechSmith, Video Viewers study (2023)
- Statista webinar marketing data
- Actual Tech Media webinar engagement data
- Visitor Queue webinar cost-per-lead analysis
Where a primary figure was accessed second-hand, the original source is named; figures attributed to Univid, BigMarker, Kaltura, and Statista were sourced via Zoom’s 2025 webinar-statistics roundup, and Actual Tech Media data via Cvent’s 2026 roundup.
Data watch: ON24 publishes its Digital Engagement / Webinar Benchmarks report annually, with the next edition expected in early 2027; TwentyThree’s State of Webinars refreshes each year, so a 2026 edition is due in late 2026; and the Content Marketing Institute releases its B2B Content Marketing benchmark every autumn, with the 2027 report due in fall 2026. Market-sizing figures from Grand View Research and Market Research Future are revised on a rolling annual basis. Where the strongest available figure predates 2024, it is flagged inline (for example, TechSmith’s Video Viewers data, 2023).
Last updated: July 11, 2026. We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.