Virtual Events Statistics and Facts (2025)
Barry Elad
Updated · Mar 21, 2025
WHAT WE HAVE ON THIS PAGE
Introduction
Virtual Events Statistics: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted traditional in-person events, leading to a substantial shift toward virtual platforms. In 2020, 93% of event planners transitioned from physical to virtual events due to the pandemic. This adaptation resulted in a global virtual events market size of USD 199 billion in 2022, with projections indicating growth to USD 1,066 billion by 2032, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.8%.
In North America, the virtual events market was valued at USD 34.39 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 17.6% from 2024 to 2030. This growth is driven by the widespread adoption of collaboration tools across various industries, including banking, finance, security, insurance, education, media, and entertainment.
Notably, 93.2% of event organizers considered their virtual events successful in terms of attendance rates. Additionally, 77.2% of organizers favored virtual events due to their ease of attendance. These statistics underscore the pivotal role of virtual events in maintaining engagement, expanding reach, and ensuring continuity in the events industry during unprecedented times.
Editor’s Choice
- 93% of event marketers intend to invest in virtual events in the foreseeable future.
- 99% of companies utilize webinars as a key component of their marketing strategy.
- 90% of event management organizations believe that all large-scale events will be hybrid or virtual within the next two years.
- In early 2024, 35% of all events were conducted virtually, reflecting the ongoing relevance of virtual formats.
- 79% of event management companies state that virtual events provided opportunities that were not available in physical formats.
- 66% of event management professionals report that virtual events offer greater ROI than physical events.
- 76% believe that attendee variation is essential to virtual event success.
- 49% of B2B marketers host between 20 to 30 virtual events annually, highlighting frequency in business sectors.
- 40.6% of attendees prefer hybrid events, indicating a shift towards blended experiences.
- The top benefits of virtual over physical events have been identified as a 36% increase in event registrations, 26% growth in ROI, and a 25% rise in attendance engagement.
- 92.1% of marketing companies rate their online experience as very or somewhat successful.
- 82% of event management leaders planned the same or more virtual events during the latter half of the previous year.
- The event management sector anticipates growth in key metrics: 15% in lead generation, 15% in attendance, 14% in event registrations, 13% in engagement, and 12% in budget allocation.
- 78% of event professionals have redefined success metrics for virtual events.
- 74% of event leaders are aiming to hire talent with relevant virtual event skills.
- 79% of event managers recognize the need to upskill to support virtual event initiatives.
- 68% of a session, on average, holds the attention of virtual attendees, indicating relatively high engagement rates.
- 57.2% of virtual event attendees prioritize learning opportunities, highlighting the importance of educational content.
- 80% of attendees express interest in MasterClass-style content, demonstrating demand for immersive experiences.
- 78% of participants are engaged by interactive features such as Q&A sessions.
- 75% of global marketers use live video streaming as a digital engagement tactic.
- 38% of marketers report technical issues during virtual events, underscoring the need for reliable technology.
- 49% of marketers identify audience engagement as the biggest challenge in virtual events.
- Nearly 25% of companies follow a virtual-only event strategy, while approximately 66% adopt a hybrid approach.
General Virtual Events Statistics
- According to virtual events statistics, about 32.9% of event managers face connectivity problems, but only 12% have backup internet connection solutions ready.
- According to Forbes, Zoom’s share price will increase during the pandemic and hit $560 in 2020.
- As per the LinkedIn survey, about 45% of business-to-business events are predicted to be virtual.
- According to virtual events attendance statistics, 63% of event leaders trust that mobile events applications increase the assignment of attendees.
- According to Marketing Tech News, LinkedIn Live has increased almost 500%, and 81% of the leaders of these events claimed that they showed opportunities that would have otherwise been unavailable.
- According to 38% of marketers, hybrid and virtual event statistics state that it takes more time to put up hybrid events than in-person or virtual-only events.
- 37% of the measure the success of a virtual event with satisfaction.
- The Salesforce World Tour Sydney imagined event has 80,000 live-streaming viewers.
- As per Marketing Tech News, 77% of business-to-business events companies are interested in hybrid events.
- As per Marketing, 46% of the company further states that speakers struggle to engage two different types of audiences simultaneously.
- 67% of the event managers had the correct technology issued, whereas 35% saw finding the right venue as their big challenge.
- Hybrid and virtual event statistics, while some 21% of companies are making efforts to get a mixed event soon.
- In 2021, 99% of the companies stated that webinars were challenging in their event planning.
- Meanwhile, Virtual events statistics state that 61% use video to keep customers engaged, 68% use video streaming, and 30% organize giveaways.
- Meanwhile, Virtual events statistics state that about 74% of business-to-business event organizers see a positive ROI of at least 50% annually.
- As per Bizzabo, 62% of the virtual events are single-day events.
- Almost 49% of event management organizations find time zones crucial when organizing a worldwide hybrid event.
- According to the predictions, 34% of companies plan to invest more in hybrid events over the next couple of years and say they will start using mixed events soon.
- The types of virtual events in the coming years are expected to be 32% physical, about 45% virtual, and 23% hybrid.
- 87% of the marketers choose virtual events platforms with virtual franchise booth capabilities.
- In 2022, the share of virtual events was complete, 40% virtual, despite the planner’s expected protection measures.
- Almost 67.7% of marketers state that keeping a virtual event attendance continuously engaged is challenging.
- Roughly 60% of companies have created webinars to convert users into clients, whereas virtual events statistics show that the attendance rate is almost 40% to 50%.
- About 70.6% of the respondents look for good marketing automatic integration tools.
- About 34% of the event managers send virtual gift bags, and 59% use gamification events to increase engagement.
- Just 30% of organizations use applications for their virtual events, even though the evidence shows that this boosts engagement with organizations.
- 58% of virtual sessions have around 300 live leaders.
- 70% of leaders keep track of attendee engagement as a KPI for event success.
- As per Meeting Net, 52% of the event organizers of the virtual sessions focus on interaction, and just 42% of the attendees answer and say that they match the whole virtual event.
- The average duration of a virtual class is 54 minutes.
- In 2021, about 1/3rd of the trade shows were hybrid events.
- In 2021, the virtual events market size was valued at $114.12 billion globally.
- Almost 50% of the markets prefer personal events over virtual meetings.
Hybrid Event Statistics
- According to the Bizzobo platform, hybrid events increased from 6% in March 2023 to a planned 18% in June 2023.
- As per Bizzabo, 87.1% of the organizers said at least 50% of their business-to-business events were in person.
- In 2023, nearly 67.8% of the attendees preferred in-person plus hybrid events.
- In 2021, according to Amex, 25% of event professionals consider the venue’s ability to host a hybrid meeting an essential factor in choosing the location of the meeting.
- As per AMEX, 35% of the hybrid events would need the services of a full-time service agency that will depend on what is required and can provide present training, pre-recorded interviews, virtual studio spaces, and post-events and edited sessions made available to attendees.
- In 2022, nearly 30% of the event managers plan to switch to a hybrid model in their consecutive events.
- Roughly 63% of the virtual event attendees stated needing to socialize more successfully in hybrid events.
- As per Marklectic, nearly 46% of the event organizers stated that the speakers had problems engaging a virtual and in-person audience simultaneously.
- As per AMEX, nearly 67% of the event organizers stated that their meetings and events policies contain different language around safety and security.
- About 40.6% of the respondents stated that the hybrid was their favourite event format to attend.
- In 2021, nearly 57% of the in-person attendees of events stated that socializing during hybrid events was successful.
- 68% of the event professionals are looking for a hybrid format for the maximum number of events that will take place in 2023.
- According to Marketing Charts, almost 50.7% of executives think that all in-person programs will become virtual in the future.
- As per Marklectic, 38% of event organizers stated that it takes more effort to prepare and more time to host a hybrid event than an in-person or even a virtual event.
- As per Bizzabo, 71% of the event managers think they clearly understand what a hybrid event is.
- 50% of hybrid speakers stated that feeling connected is most important to them.
- In 2023, 22% of the events planners planned to opt for a hybrid format for most events.
Attendee Engagement and Event Experience.
- According to Marketing, 4% of virtual event organizers stated that the average cost per attendee is between $500 and $1000.
- Bizzabo says an average online attendee watches about 68% of a 20-minute session.
- About 68% of business-to-business managers say that live events help generate maximum leads.
- The average no-show amount of virtual events is 35%, slightly higher than in-person events.
- Nearly 80% of the people take part in virtual events for education.
- Technical problems affect almost 38% of marketers when hosting virtual events.
- SocialMediaHat shows that networking is a big reason for participating in virtual events.
- The two biggest challenges to virtual events are audience engagement and interactions.
- According to Vimeo, almost 68% of the attendees watched the event again after attending other events.
- About 46% of the event managers state that the primary goal of virtual events is to increase lead generation.
B2B Event Industry Statistics
- About 90% of Business-to-business event organizers cited reaching the participants and securing the sponsors as their two main challenges.
- A study by Lindi stated that about 45% of future business-to-business events are anticipated to be virtual.
- The global event industry is estimated to generate $1.46 billion in revenue by 2028, with a remarkable yearly growth rate of 23.1% CAGR from 2021 to 2028.
- Business-to-business organizations allocate 10% to 20% of their yearly marketing budget to virtual online events.
- Nearly 54% of business-to-business event managers plan to host more events online.
Success and Challenges in Virtual Events Statistic
- Nearly 66% of the event managers decide to place their virtual events on-demand after the event.
- The two significant challenges for a virtual event manager are audience interaction and engagement.
- According to the study, 85% of managers consider the satisfaction of virtual event participants an essential aspect of the success of any event.
- The Virtual Event participant’s satisfaction is an aspect of successful events for 85% of marketers.
- 23% of the participants postponed or cancelled their meeting because they were virtual.
- The reason behind 27% of the business did not conduct online events.
- About 38% of event managers need help with hosting a virtual event.
- The average share of virtual event no-shows is 35%, which is higher than the percentage of in-person events.
- In 2021, 20% of all the trade shows were organized as virtual events.
Event Marketing Budget Statistics
- As per Knowland, nearly 89.7% of event companies believe that offering flexible contract terms is essential.
- In 2023, about 48.1% of the event organizers thought food and beverage costs would increase.
- 21% are worried about their clients reducing event budgets.
- About 46.3% of event managers consider the increase in the price of putting on an event the biggest challenge.
- Only 7% of the events managers are not worried about the recession and its potential impact on the industry.
- 90% of the public will spend most of their time with organizations that personalize the customer service they offer them.
- According to the study, almost 59.8% of the event teams agreed that the value of a feeling is an essential factor to consider for events in 2023.
- Roughly 64% of the event managers say their overall meeting spending is increasing.
- In 2023, 54.5% of the organizers managed an event budget of more than $500,000, and 22.35 had a budget of $1M or even more.
- About 39.8% of the event teams estimated that video/audio costs would increase between 20% and 50%, whereas 15.6% think they will increase even more.
- Nearly 13.8% of the companies have a budget of over $500,000 for virtual events, whereas 14.2% have a budget of $100,000 and $500,000, and 18% can spend between $10,000 and $100,000.
Zoom Virtual Event Statistics
- Zoom meeting time has increased from 101 billion to 2.6 trillion in only three months.
- As per Splash, about 92% of the organizations continued to host virtual and hybrid events even after physical events.
- More than 10,000 participants, of which 14% of the women self-reported feeling fatigued after the video meetings.
- Zoom’s total revenue for 2021 has increased by 326% year over year to $2.7 billion.
- During the pandemic, Zoom offered free services to about 125,000 schools from 25 countries.
- The platform has almost 500,000 business customers.
- 37% of respondents stated that being on camera at the time of video meetings helped them feel less lonely.
- Zoom has a considerable profit, going from $21.7 million to $671 million in 2020.
- 55% of the platform’s high-revenue customers began with the trial of only one employee.
- The Zoom platform is used in almost 90 countries and by over 65,000 companies and organizations.
- According to the researcher, a significantly higher level of Zoom fatigue is found in men than women.
- As per Matthew Woodward, Zoom was the fastest growing application in 2020 and 2021, with a 2900% growth in active meetings.
- As per Virtia, 50% of them are professionals working remotely, which translates to 32 million individuals who reported high exhaustion as a direct result of daily work.
- As per Virtira, 33% of the respondents said that it was company or departmental policy to have cameras on for all meetings.
- Zoom allows up to 1000 meeting participants with its Large Meeting add-ons.
Webinars Statistics
- The average webinar attendance is 55% of the registered participants.
- About 29% considered the Question and Answers sessions a favourite part of the webinar, whereas 1% said free giveaways.
- Nearly 50% of the event participants like webinars, and they prefer this tool for virtual events.
- By 2023, the global webinar market is estimated to reach $800 million.
Conclusion
The virtual events industry is a significant option and will be a prominent feature moving forward, but it will not remain the only option for planning events. As we learned in Virtual Event Statistics, successful virtual events have proven to have an increasing rate of ROI even with a low budget.
Even though the printing cost of entry tickets can be proved less, virtual events allow for increased event registration and are also not confined by the capacity of the participants. Virtual event statistics say that the events, whether webinars or hybrid events, will stay and grow in the coming years.
Sources
Barry Elad
Barry is a technology enthusiast with a passion for in-depth research on various technological topics. He meticulously gathers comprehensive statistics and facts to assist users. Barry's primary interest lies in understanding the intricacies of software and creating content that highlights its value. When not evaluating applications or programs, Barry enjoys experimenting with new healthy recipes, practicing yoga, meditating, or taking nature walks with his child.
