New York, NY, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kaltura (Nasdaq: KLTR), the Video Experience Cloud, today released a new report “The State of Events 2023”, a global survey on the state of events. This is the second annual report issued by Kaltura that assesses and analyzes the ever-changing events industry, following “The State of Events 2022” published last year.
Marketers are continuing to plan in-person, hybrid, and virtual events, but in terms of business priorities, virtual events take the top spot, with 74% of marketers stating that virtual events are most important for overall strategy, both this year and for the future. In-person events, however, are still driving clear value with 63% of marketers planning on hosting in-person events in the next 12-24 months. Despite the high number of marketers planning to do so, 59% clarified that if they had to, they would cancel the in-person event and focus on producing a virtual one.
Despite the clear prioritization of virtual and hybrid events, organizers are still figuring out the best practices to keep participants engaged, with 42% of respondents ranking engagement as the top challenge for virtual events. Marketers are aware that virtual events lack the personal touch of in-person events. Their future goal is to find more ways to help attendees network during virtual events and experience an immersive virtual experience. When considering a virtual events platform, it’s not surprising that 43% of marketers say that robust engagement tools are their number one priority.
For attendees, the winning elements of virtual vs. in-person events are also clear. The report found that 44% of attendees find that educational sessions are most valuable in virtual or hybrid events. It remains clear that networking opportunities are the most significant advantage of in-person events, with 44% of respondents selecting networking as the top reason for attending.
“It has become abundantly clear that virtual and hybrid events are here to stay even with the full return of in-person events, so we now must look at how we can best optimize these experiences for attendees and organizers alike,” said Lisa Bennett, EVP Marketing at Kaltura. “For events to continue to generate attendee engagement, organizers will need to take a look at the strategic goals of each and every event, and find the ideal mix on the event spectrum.”
Additional key findings from the report include:
- Both in-person and virtual events share a second top challenge: production quality (43% for in-person and 44% for virtual events). This is closely followed by event content (42% of marketers across all formats).
- The need for quality content and experience is similar no matter the event type, and at its core – content remains king
- Marketers are optimistic about virtual event growth rates across the board, expecting significant growth in all areas of virtual events in 2023. ROI, budget, and networking are expected to grow by 12%, engagement by 13%, registrations by 14%, and attendance and lead generation by 15%. These estimates indicate a moderate but optimistic market outlook for virtual events, with marketers recognizing the market’s continuous growth and demand.
- Attendance at in-person events still has not recovered, with 46% of marketers identifying attendance as the greatest challenge for in-person events.
- 93% of marketers have, if necessary, plans in place to shift in-person events to virtual events.
- Engagement tools are key in selecting an events technology platform. All-in-one solutions (42%) and integration capabilities (38%) are ranked highly as well.
The full “The State of Events 2023” report can be accessed here.
If you would like to learn more about the report, Yair Neumann, VP Product at Kaltura will be presenting additional findings from the report at Virtually Live!, Kaltura’s industry event taking place online on November 15th and again on the 16th. You can find the complete star-studded lineup of executives from leading global brands and a packed agenda here.
Methodology
This report was created based on data from a survey of 500 event organizers, CMOs, VP Marketing, Field/Regional Marketing Managers, and Directors of Events, with a company size ranging from 500 to 10,000 employees, as well as data gathered from 1,044 attendees who have attended in-person, virtual or hybrid events. Respondents were spread among the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.
About Kaltura
Kaltura’s mission is to power any video experience for any organization. Kaltura’s Video Experience Cloud offers live, real-time, and on-demand video products for enterprises of all industries, as well as specialized industry solutions, currently for educational institutions and for media and telecom companies. Underlying our products and solutions is a broad set of Media Services that are also used by other cloud platforms and companies to power video experiences and workflows for their own products. Kaltura’s Video Experience Cloud is used by leading brands reaching millions of users, at home, at school, and at work, for events, communication, collaboration, training, marketing, sales, customer care, teaching, learning, and entertainment experiences. For more information, visit www.corp.kaltura.com.
