Goldcast analyzed 19,531 webinars across 418 B2B brands hosted on the Goldcast platform in 2024. Use these benchmarks to frame goals and diagnose performance:

• Program Volume
  • Webinars grew 225% year over year.
  • Brands now average ≈47 webinars per year (about 4 per month).
• Audience Size
  • 238 average registrants
  • 51 average attendees
  • 33% average attendance rate (up from 29%).
• On-demand Behavior
  • About 80% of webinars are available on demand.
  • Around 31% of live attendees rewatch on demand, and 7–10% of registrants watch only on demand.

Treat these numbers as reference points, not strict targets. Adjust for your audience size, funnel stage, and program maturity.

Goldcast supports three main webinar types:

• Live
• Pre-recorded (often run as semi-live: pre‑recorded main segment plus live host and Q&A)
• RTMP (for simulcasting to destinations like YouTube or LinkedIn)

In the benchmark data:

• Live: ~80% of webinars
• Pre-recorded: ~19%
• RTMP: <1%

2.1 Use a live webinar when you need real-time interaction

Run a fully live event in Goldcast Events when you require:

• High interactivity, such as:
  • Ask-me-anything sessions
  • Live demos and office hours
  • Community meetups and roundtables
• Time-sensitive topics, including launches, roadmap updates, and regulatory changes
• Relationship building, especially for recurring series where chat and Q&A drive community

Live events make the most of Goldcast engagement tools such as chat, Q&A, polls, resources, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons, and they generate rich behavioral signals for your CRM.

2.2 Use a semi-live (pre-recorded) approach for quality and scale

In a semi-live pattern, you typically:

1. Record content in Goldcast Recording Studio.
2. Run a scheduled event in Goldcast Events where:
   • The main presentation is pre-recorded.
   • The host and speakers participate live in chat and Q&A.

Consider this format when:

• Speakers are busy or camera-shy and prefer recording in advance.
• You operate in regulated industries that require review and approvals.
• You need to run the same content across time zones.
• Content is evergreen, such as onboarding, tutorials, or standard product demos.

A recommended semi-live structure:

• Live welcome (2–5 minutes) – host on camera, agenda, interaction instructions.
• Pre-recorded segment (20–35 minutes) – polished content; team stays active in chat.
• Live Q&A (10–15 minutes) – speakers on camera to answer top questions.

This pattern improves recording quality, reduces day-of risk, and produces a clean asset for your Goldcast on-demand hub.

Average watch time is ≈29 minutes, while 45–60 minute webinars remain the most common. To maintain attention, plan intentional on-camera moments.

3.1 Use video for connection

Have speakers on camera in Goldcast during:

• Opening and framing
  • Greet attendees, state who the event is for, specify outcomes, and explain how to participate.
• Key transitions
  • Turn cameras on when introducing a new segment or speaker.
• Stories and customer moments
  • Share examples, lessons, and personal experiences on camera to humanize the content.
• Live Q&A and closing
  • Bring speakers on camera together for Q&A.
  • End on camera with a clear CTA such as “Book a demo,” “Download the report,” or “Register for the next webinar in this series.”

3.2 Use slides or screen share for explanation

It is appropriate for speakers to be off camera or minimized when:

• Walking through dense user interfaces or complex data.
• Presenting highly detailed slides where visuals should be the focus.
• Playing pre-recorded segments that already include picture-in-picture video.

Use this guideline:

Use camera for connection and slides or screen share for explanation.

4.1 Length

From the benchmark data:

• The most common length is 45–60 minutes (≈58% of all webinars).
• Short webinars (<30 minutes) are growing quickly.
• Long webinars (>60 minutes) are declining.

A practical default agenda:

• 5 minutes – Welcome, value, housekeeping, and first interaction.
• 25–30 minutes – Main content (live or semi-live).
• 10–15 minutes – Live Q&A and closing CTA.

For executive audiences, consider a 30-minute event (20 minutes of content plus 10 minutes of Q&A).

4.2 Days and times

Scheduling patterns and performance differ:

• Most webinars run midweek: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
• Attendance rates often peak on Mondays, and optimal times vary by industry; for example, some tech audiences respond well to Friday midday sessions.

Recommended approach:

1. Use industry timing guidance from the benchmark report as a starting point.
2. Record actual performance in Goldcast Analytics (registrants, attendees, attendance rate, and watch time).
3. Adjust day and time based on your own data.

5.1 Reuse proven webinar formats

Goldcast research highlights several patterns that consistently work across B2B programs:

• Q&A or ask-me-anything
  • Strong for early-funnel education; attendees drive questions and interaction.
• Expert panel
  • Fits mid-funnel decision makers; a host guides a discussion with multiple specialists.
• “5 × 15” multi-session
  • Five topics, ≈15 minutes each, in a single webinar. Useful for broad education and variety.
• Product demo
  • Effective near purchase and for customer enablement; pairs walkthroughs with live Q&A and support.

In Goldcast:

• Use the agenda builder to label segments clearly.
• Mix these patterns across a series to keep episodes fresh while maintaining a consistent experience.

5.2 Apply the Create → Amplify → Measure framework

High-performing Goldcast customers follow a repeatable three-step workflow:

Create

• Plan content with repurposing in mind: identify key questions, examples, and sections that should later become clips or articles.
• Use Goldcast Events for the live experience and Recording Studio for high-quality pre-recordings.

Amplify

• Send the recording into Goldcast Content Lab.
• Use AI to generate:
  • Short video clips
  • Email drafts
  • Social posts
  • Blog outlines and takeaway summaries
• In 2024, customers produced 131,000+ video clips and 94,000+ text assets from webinars, representing a 2,903% increase in video clips and an 11,464% increase in text assets year over year.

Measure

• Use Goldcast’s analytics to track 20+ engagement data points (poll responses, questions, resource downloads, CTA clicks, and more).
• Sync these data to Salesforce, HubSpot, or other CRM and marketing tools to drive lead scoring, routing, and attribution.

Design each webinar assuming it will go through this lifecycle. Avoid one-off events that are not repurposed or measured beyond attendance.

Engagement correlates directly with webinar success and post-event performance.

6.1 Target core engagement metrics

Across webinars hosted on Goldcast, usage patterns look like this:

• Most-used features
  • Chat: 56%
  • Questions: 47%
  • Resource clicks: 27%
  • Polls: 15%
  • CTA clicks: 14%
• Per-webinar benchmarks
  • Chats: 24
  • Resource clicks: 20
  • Poll submissions: 17
  • Questions: 6
  • CTA clicks: 1

Use these numbers as minimum targets when designing your run of show.

6.2 Embed interaction in the agenda

Build interaction into the script rather than treating it as optional:

• At the start
  • Ask attendees to introduce themselves in chat.
  • Run a quick poll to understand roles or challenges.
• Mid-session
  • Use a second poll to validate a key point.
  • Share at least one resource (for example, the benchmark report or a checklist) and direct attendees to the resources panel.
• Near the end
  • Address the most valuable questions on camera.
  • Drive to a single, clear CTA such as accessing the on-demand hub, booking a strategy session, or downloading the full report.

Use the analytics dashboard during the event to monitor spikes and drops in engagement and adjust pacing in real time.

Goldcast’s Webinar operations checklist breaks delivery into three phases: before, during, and after the webinar.

7.1 Before the webinar

Key activities include:

• Clarify purpose and audience
  • Identify the primary objective (pipeline, customer education, thought leadership, or adoption).
  • Define industries, company size, roles, and regions.
• Select date and time
  • Start with midweek 45–60 minute slots; test Monday and industry-specific recommendations using benchmark data.
• Configure Goldcast
  • Choose live or pre-recorded format.
  • Decide which engagement tools you will use.
  • Run a tech check to verify audio, video, lighting, and internet quality.
• Build content and run of show
  • Define the outline, allocate time for each segment, and mark planned polls and CTAs.
  • Identify moments that should become repurposed clips or written content.
• Prepare speakers and moderator
  • Share speaker guides and expectations.
  • Use Goldcast’s backstage, magic links, and layouts to simplify the experience.
• Promote the event
  • Start 3–4 weeks out with email and social sequences, partners, and community channels.
  • Consider including “webinar” and/or “series” in titles, which now correlate with higher registrations and attendance.

7.2 During the webinar

Focus on experience and clarity:

• Start on time, explain the agenda, recording policy, and how to use chat and Q&A.
• Keep chat active; have a moderator greet attendees, answer questions, and share links.
• Trigger planned polls and resources at the scheduled times.
• Monitor engagement in the analytics dashboard and adjust pacing and emphasis as needed.

7.3 After the webinar

Extend value beyond the live session:

• Publish on demand
  • Add the recording to your Goldcast hub. On-demand access is now the norm and supports global audiences.
• Send segmented follow-ups
  • Tailor emails for attendees, no-shows, and registrants who never joined live.
  • Use Goldcast engagement data to personalize outreach (topics viewed, questions asked, resources clicked).
• Repurpose via Content Lab
  • Generate clips, email drafts, social posts, and takeaways in Content Lab.
  • Use these assets to support campaigns for weeks, not days.
• Evaluate performance
  • Review registration, attendance rate, watch time, engagement, pipeline sourced or influenced, and on-demand views.
  • Compare to benchmark scorecards and incorporate learnings into your next event.

Use this checklist when planning or auditing a webinar on Goldcast:

• Format
  • Use live for interactive, time-sensitive sessions.
  • Use semi-live for polished, reusable content and busy speakers.
• Length
  • Aim for 45–60 minutes, with 25–30 minutes of core content and 10–15 minutes of Q&A.
• Speakers
  • Prefer a multi-speaker format (benchmark ≈4 speakers) to keep the experience conversational and dynamic.
• Camera use
  • Use video for welcome, transitions, stories, and Q&A; rely on slides and screen share for detailed demos and explanations.
• Engagement
  • Plan for at least two polls, active chat, resource shares, and one primary CTA, and track results against engagement benchmarks.
• Lifecycle
  • Create in Events or Recording Studio → amplify in Content Lab → measure with analytics and CRM integrations.

This approach aligns your webinars with how leading B2B teams are using Goldcast today to build mindshare, scale video content, and attribute webinars directly to pipeline and revenue.