SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 23, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- ON24, Inc., the global leader in webcasting and video communications solutions, today revealed webcasting findings that focused on how various webcasting factors attracted and engaged audiences. This inaugural report, titled "ON24 Insider on Publishing: Key Webcasting Findings for the Publishing Industry," is the first of a series of reports seeking to uncover key webcasting trends for business-to-business (B2B) publishers.
"Until now, there hasn't been a definitive report to benchmark how well our webcasting programs did within the B2B publishing industry," stated Peter Spande of CMP Technology's TechWeb Network. "This report provides invaluable and actionable data that will help us evaluate and quantify the success of our webcasting programs, as well as make webcasting a more effective marketing and sales lead generation tool for our customers."
"ON24 has been an excellent partner providing not only a robust webcast platform, but also reports and data that we use to demonstrate the value of webcasting for our customers. With this new report, we now have key industry benchmarks to evaluate our own webcast programs and help our customers attract, retain and engage attendees," adds Eric Shanfelt, Senior Vice President of eMedia for Penton Media.
ON24 Insider on Publishing highlighted webcasting trends and attendee behaviors from the first half 2005 to the first half of 2006. Overall, the report determined that publishers planned, scheduled and delivered 33.29% more webcasts in 2006 than 2005. Specifically, live webcasts outperformed on-demand webcasts with attendee viewing times averaging 49 minutes versus 34 minutes respectively(1).
Key report findings:
* Webcasting is an effective method to attract and retain a significant number of attendees. Overall, webcasts drew an average of over 500 registrants per event with a registrant-to-attendee conversion ratio above 55 percent. * Video webcasts attracted more registrants and attendees than audio webcasts from 2005 to 2006. Video webcasts attracted an average of 45-47 percent more registrants and attendees, while registrants and attendees for audio webcasts declined by 3 percent and 9 percent, respectively. * Polls and surveys engaged more attendees in 2006 than in 2005. When incorporated into live webcasts, audience response rates to polls and surveys increased by 13.57 percent.
"B2B publishers are constantly seeking data to verify the effectiveness and impact of their marketing initiatives," stated Sharat Sharan, ON24, Inc.'s President and CEO. "With this inaugural report, B2B publishers now have quantifiable data demonstrating the effectiveness of webcasting to attract, retain and engage audiences for a significant period of time."
Request a copy of the "ON24 Insider on Publishing: Webcasting Strategies for the Publishing Industry" at www.on24.com or email solutions@on24.com.
Methodology
The findings in this report were based on webcasting events -- live or on-demand, audio or video streamed -- held on ON24's proprietary webcasting network platform by a subset of 35 publishers. ON24 then limited the scope of webcasts to those planned, scheduled and held from January to June in 2005 and 2006 respectively. To minimize instances when an event console may have been left on after an event had concluded, ON24 excluded webcasts that lasted over 60 minutes. The report then compares trends between event types (live vs. on-demand), interactive features (polling, surveys and Q&As) and streaming formats (audio vs. video) to provide additional insight on attendee behaviors. The findings have an error rate of 2-3 +/-%.
About ON24 Insider Series
Issued on a biannual basis, the ON24 Insider is a series of reports by ON24, Inc. that evaluates the best strategies for producing effective webcasting programs and emerging webcasting trends. The series evaluates webcasting information, such as event type (live vs. on-demand), interactive features (polling, surveys, and Q&A), and streaming methods (audio vs. video).
About ON24, Inc.
ON24, Inc. is the global leader of webcasting and rich media marketing solutions. ON24's solutions provides companies a full range of applications and services to meet corporate and marketing initiatives such as lead generation, conferences and events, product launches, continuing professional education, internal communications, and executive announcements.
More than 500 global organizations in publishing, technology, life sciences, government, and financial services rely on ON24, including Cardinal Health, Cisco Systems, Motorola, CMP Media, Credit Suisse, Department of Education, Hewlett-Packard, National Science Foundation, and Samsung. ON24 is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Washington, D.C., New York and London.
"A World of Webcasting Solutions. One Webcasting Provider"(tm) -- is a trademark of ON24, Inc.
The ON24, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2290
(1) Live webcasts are audio or video streamed events held on a specific day and time, while on-demand webcasts are streamed only upon request anywhere, anytime.