Webinar Marketing: Strategies, Trends, and Benchmarks for 2025

Webinars have become an indispensable tool for marketers seeking to engage audiences, generate leads, and build brand awareness.

To stand out against the competition and incorporate relevant trends, you need to know how to host successful webinars.

This ultimate guide features benchmarks and actionable tips from Livestorm’s 2024 Webinar Marketing Report to elevate your webinar marketing efforts in 2025.

Why are webinars essential?

Together, live and on-demand webinars offer unparalleled opportunities for audience interaction, lead generation, and customer education. These virtual experiences have proven to be flexible, scalable, and measurable ways to connect with large and small audiences alike.

According to Livestorm’s 2024 Webinar Marketing Report, 62% of marketers increased their webinar activities in 2024 compared to 2023. This trend highlights the growing importance of webinars in B2B marketing strategies.

Webinars and virtual events give businesses and industry leaders space to establish thought leadership, build deeper customer relationships, and drive ROI through strategic engagement.

For many webinar hosts, audience engagement is the most important element. By combining interactive tools such as polls, Q&A sessions, and live discussions, webinars can create dynamic experiences that build trust with viewers.

Webinars can do much more than just deliver meaningful value. They also provide actionable insights that marketing teams can use to improve their demand generation tactics.

Top webinar goals and objectives

To organize a successful webinar, start by setting clear objectives that align with larger marketing goals. By establishing measurable goals and monitoring the right metrics, you can create content that truly resonates with your audience while working toward key business objectives.

Top goals for hosting webinars

Not sure where to start? According to our survey, some of the most common goals for hosting a webinar include:

• Brand awareness: 62% of marketers cite building awareness as the primary purpose of their webinars.
• Lead generation and revenue: 53% of marketers focus webinars on driving leads and making sales.
• Audience engagement: Many marketers concentrate their efforts on interactive content, which creates better connections and keeps viewers engaged.
• Customer education and retention: To build trust and improve retention, marketers often focus on educating customers about products, services, and solutions.

What is the right frequency and the best time to host a webinar?

Use these insights from our 2024 Webinar Marketing Report to plan webinar frequency and timing and get ideas for audience engagement.

Webinar frequency

Our report shows that webinar frequency stabilized in 2024 following a pandemic-driven surge. On average, organizations host eight webinars in the first half of the year.

Among the marketers we surveyed, 44% run between six and 12 webinars annually. Only 15% push beyond 13 webinars per year.

Seasonality and timing

Seasonality plays a significant role in the success of your webinar program. Our data shows that the peak months for hosting webinars are March, June, and November. These months align with business planning and quarter-end campaigns.

However, the marketers we surveyed generally avoid hosting webinars in July and August. Audience engagement typically drops during these summer months, when many viewers are on holiday.

Our data reflects that webinar attendance rates peak in January, April, September, and November. This data suggests that certain months may already be too overloaded with events. During these months, it’s harder for brands to stand out and more challenging to attract viewers.

Interestingly, 59% of all webinars take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, making these days the most popular for online events. Consider prioritizing these days in your webinar schedule to align with attendee preferences and maximize attendance rates.

Audience engagement

For many webinar hosts, audience engagement remains a major challenge. Across industries, the average attendance rate has decreased to 48%. This trend reflects the growing competition for audience attention.

In addition, attendees only stay engaged for an average of 24 minutes out of a typical 61-minute session. This data emphasizes the importance of hosting concise, targeted, and interactive content that captures attention quickly and holds it throughout the event.

Biggest challenges for webinar marketers

Despite the growing popularity of webinars, marketers still face significant challenges with execution, promotion, and engagement.

1. Limited time and resources

From planning and promotion to hosting and following up, webinar production can be incredibly time-consuming. As a result, marketers often struggle to allocate resources effectively to each phase.

To manage webinars more efficiently, use automation and AI-powered tools. For example, automate webinar reminders to improve attendance. Use AI-powered content repurposing tools to share webinar content across marketing channels.

2. Low registration numbers

Attracting enough registrants remained a top challenge throughout 2024, although the reasons varied. In some cases, marketers didn’t develop sufficient webinar promotion tactics. In other cases, they used an overly broad approach to attract attendees.

To boost registrations, focus on crafting personalized emails, leveraging social media, and partnering with influencers or industry experts to expand reach. Aim to begin promotion at least two to three weeks before the webinar. Create two to three email and social media touchpoints leading up to the event.

3. Audience engagement

Keeping attendees engaged during webinars is increasingly difficult. To address this issue, use interactive features like Q&A sessions, polls, and live chat in every webinar.

These tools not only boost participation but also create a dynamic, two-way experience. Engaging directly with speakers and organizers tends to leave a lasting impression on attendees.

What are the best channels to promote your webinar?

To attract the right audience and maximize attendance, develop a plan to promote your webinar before and after the event.

Webinar promotion before the event

Promoting your webinar is critical for driving registrations and attendance. Our report shows that the top channels for webinar promotion are:

• Social media: 71% of marketers rank social media as the most effective channel. Social media promotion offers broad reach and real-time engagement. It can also create opportunities for viral traction through likes, shares, and comments.
• Email campaigns: 67% of marketers rely on personalized email sequences that include invitations, reminders, and follow-ups. Segmenting email lists and using compelling subject lines can help increase open rates and conversions.

In addition, partnerships with influencers and industry leaders can further amplify your promotion efforts. With a strategic mix of these channels, you can maximize visibility and reach the right audience.

Repurposing webinar content after the event

Repurposing content extends the lifespan of webinars and broadens their impact, helping you do more with less. Our report reflects that the top channels for content repurposing are:

• Social media: 67% of marketers share webinar highlights, snippets, and key takeaways on platforms like LinkedIn and X.
• YouTube videos: 54% of marketers repurpose webinars into long- and short-form video content to reach wider audiences.
• Blog posts: 45% transform webinar transcripts into blog articles to reinforce messaging and improve SEO performance.

Repurposing content also gives you a chance to connect with viewers who missed the live session. By sharing takeaways and links to on-demand content, you give your audience other options to consume your content.

How to measure the success of a webinar

Tracking and analyzing webinar metrics is essential for understanding overall performance, audience engagement, and ROI. By monitoring relevant metrics, you can identify strengths, address weaknesses, and refine your webinar best practices.

According to our report, these webinar metrics are most important to marketers:

• Registrations and attendance: The average number of registrants is 63 per webinar, with attendance rates stabilizing at 48%.
• Replay views: 17% of attendees watch live and view the replay later, highlighting the importance of offering on-demand content.
• Engagement duration: Attendees engage for an average of 24 minutes, underlining the need for focused, high-impact content.

What are some marketing webinar trends for 2025

The future of webinars in 2025 and beyond focuses on a few key trends:

1. On-demand content: As demand for flexibility grows, prioritize offering on-demand and replay options.
2. Shorter webinar formats: Micro-webinars, typically under 30 minutes, are gaining traction for their ability to hold the audience's attention.
3. Hybrid events: Combining virtual and in-person elements offers broader reach and richer experiences for attendees.
4. Interactive features: Tools like polls, Q&A, and live chats will play a larger role in keeping audiences engaged and gathering feedback.

Webinars remain a powerful marketing tool for lead generation, audience engagement, and brand awareness. But to overcome challenges, marketers must:

• Set clear goals and align webinars with broader marketing strategies.
• Promote webinars through social media, email campaigns, and partnerships.
• Prioritize engagement by delivering focused, high-impact sessions.
• Repurpose webinar content to maximize ROI across multiple channels.

By implementing these strategies and staying ahead of trends, you can unlock the full potential of webinars and drive measurable results for your business.

Start your webinar marketing journey

Ready to host impactful webinars? Implement these strategies and trends to drive engagement, generate leads, and position your brand for success in 2025.