90 Mind-Blowing Event Marketing Statistics for 2021

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Virtual & Hybrid Events

79% of companies expect to host hybrid events even once in-person events resume. (Source: Splash)
32% of companies moved all of their 2020 events to virtual events, rather than postponing them. (Source: Splash)
55% of attendees think virtual events should be 30 minutes or less. (Source: Splash)
35% of retail and wholesale companies struggled with learning new skills to produce virtual events. (Source: Splash)
Large companies (1,000 – 10,000 employees) are more likely to host online conferences, panel discussions, and town halls than smaller companies (fewer than 100 employees). (Source: Splash)
46% of event attendees have registered for and attended 1 – 5 virtual events since March. (Source: Splash)
Fewer than 7% of event attendees believe virtual events should be longer than an hour. (Source: Splash)
63% of people say that the ideal time for a virtual roundtable discussion is between 60 and 90 minutes. (Source: Markletic)
56% of marketers say that it takes between 2 – 4 weeks to plan a small virtual event. (Source: Markletic)
The most popular type of virtual event is small gatherings. This is followed by networking events and roundtable discussions. (Source: Markletic)
The ideal audience size for a virtual roundtable discussion is between 8 – 10 people. (Source: Markletic)
80% of marketers believe webinars are an effective channel to create a pipeline. (Source: Marketing Charts)
34% of companies have made webinars a permanent core strategy. (Source: Marketing Charts)

Event Engagement

93% of marketers say their organizations place a priority on hosting events, including 57% who give it a high priority. (Source: Splash)
84% of people have experienced Zoom fatigue and webinar burnout. (Source: Splash)
Fewer than 7% of event attendees believe virtual events should be longer than an hour. (Source: Splash)
44% of attendees can commit to one hour of virtual events per week. (Source: Splash)
85% of B2B marketers believe engagement at events is an important way to accelerate the buying journey. (Source: Demand Metric)
More than 65% of event organizers make their virtual events available on-demand. (Source: Markletic)
90% of virtual event organizers use surveys to measure attendee satisfaction. (Source: Markletic)
60% of marketers are satisfied or very satisfied with their event strategies and results. (Source: Demand Metric)
91% of consumers have more positive feelings about brands after joining events and experiences. (Source: EventMB)
49% of marketers say audience engagement is the biggest contributing factor to having a successful event. (Source: Markletic)
More than 80% of virtual event organizers use event polling to improve interaction. (Source: Markletic)
61% of marketers use videos during virtual events to keep people engaged. (Source: Markletic)
75% of surveyed attendees say networking and making connections was important to them. (Source: AgencyEA)
73% of B2B marketers say events are better than other tactics for customer engagement. (Source: Demand Metric)
39% of event professionals agree that engaging attendees is the most crucial element of a live event. (Source: EventMB)

Event Marketing Budgets

The advertising and media industry was most impacted by reduced event marketing budgets during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Source: Splash)
21% of companies’ event budgets increased in 2020. (Source: Splash)
On average, B2B companies spend 29% of their marketing budgets on events versus 19% for B2C companies. (Source: Splash)
Most companies allocate between 10 – 20% of their marketing budget to virtual events. (Source: Markletic)
The majority of the budget per virtual event is spent on the hosting platform. The second-largest cost is speakers and moderators. (Source: Markletic)
55% of virtual event organizers plan to invest more in virtual events in 2021. (Source: Markletic)
Almost 34% of marketers say the average cost per virtual event attendee is between $500 – $1000. (Source: Markletic)
The average cost per attendee for a large virtual conference is $1000 – $1500. (Source: Markletic)
Early in the pandemic, 72% of marketers projected overall 2020 B2B marketing budgets would increase, stay the same, or only be cut moderately (by less than 20%). (Source: B2B Marketing Zone)
Early in the pandemic, 65% of marketers planned to reallocate some or most of their live event budgets to online events, such as webinars. (Source: B2B Marketing Zone)
Top spending categories for those planning to reallocate live event budgets are content creation, hosted and sponsored webinars, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and vertical lead generation programs. (Source: B2B Marketing Zone)
In the next 3 – 5 years, CMOs expect to allocate 21 – 50% of the marketing budget to experiential marketing. (Source: Freeman)
Among the biggest concerns of event marketers are budget (82%), new ideas (62%), and ROI (54%). (Source: EventMB)

Event Goals, Data, & ROI

52% of business leaders say event marketing drives more ROI than any other marketing channel. (Source: Splash)
30% of companies cite revenue and sales growth as the most important six- to 12-month goal. (Source: Splash)
Revenue growth and sales is the primary event goal in 2021 for companies in advertising and media. (Source: Splash)
Finding new customers is the primary event goal in the first six months of 2021 for advertising and media. (Source: Splash)
Keeping their brand visible and top of mind is the primary event goal for healthcare in 2021. (Source: Splash)
Revenue growth and sales is the primary event goal in 2021 for companies in retail and wholesale. (Source: Splash)
Companies are measuring success by attendance (52%), impact on revenue (43%), registrations (38%), and new leads (34%). (Source: Splash)
Both hosted events and event sponsorships can increase revenue growth by more than 30%. (Source: Splash)
23% of marketers can track the ROI of their events, but 55% say they can’t track event ROI. (Source: Splash)
37% of marketers who adopt event technology can more easily track their event ROI. (Source: Splash)
64% of event organizers use feedback received from their sales team to determine attendee satisfaction. (Source: Markletic)
39% of marketers say their sales teams generate a significant amount of event registrations. (Source: Markletic)
65% of brands say events and experiential programs are directly related to sales. (Source: Event Marketer)
88% of companies use their event marketing data to inform wider marketing strategies and make other important tactical decisions. (Source: Freeman)
76% of B2B marketers agree that the main objective of their experiential and event marketing campaigns is to increase brand awareness. (Source: Freeman)
More than 45% of marketers say the primary goal of virtual events is to generate a pipeline. (Source: Markletic)
35% of US-based B2B marketing decisions-makers rank events among the top four most effective tactics for generating demand. (Source: Forrester)
78% of businesses that use an event marketing platform say it contributes to a positive event ROI. (Source: Markletic)
67% of marketers measure ROI on attendee satisfaction, 52% on staying within budget, and 51% on the number of registrations. (Source: EventMB)

Event Promotion

The number of people with non-marketing titles now creating events compared to before COVID-19 has increased by 29%. (Source: Splash)
60% of virtual event organizers use social media to drive significant registrations. (Source: Markletic)
76% of marketers say email is the single most effective way to drive registrations. (Source: Markletic)
Only 30% of event organizers send their attendees giveaways. (Source: Markletic)
49% of marketers say programmatic advertising is a large contributor to event registrations. (Source: Markletic)
51% of B2B companies use their business partners to drive registrations. (Source: Markletic)
Only 20% of marketers live stream their events to social media. (Source: Markletic)
The average event promotional period lasts 3.5 weeks. (Source: Markletic)
The average event promotional period for C-level virtual events is six weeks. (Source: Markletic)
For small virtual events, most people need 3 – 6 weeks to promote their event successfully. (Source: Markletic)
30% of businesses use an event solution for their virtual events. (Source: Markletic)

Event Technology

66% of event professionals are creating virtual events using the same event marketing tools as they used before the pandemic started. (Source: Splash)
57% of event professionals are using the same processes to create, design, and market events as before the pandemic started. (Source: Splash)
90% of event technology adopters consider themselves well-positioned for future success as compared to 65% of non-adopters. (Source: Splash)
The top benefits for event technology adopters are improved ability to track and measure their events (40%), increased process productivity (31%), and a better attendee experience (30%). (Source: Splash)
The global event management software market was valued at $6.89 billion in 2017. It will reach a projected value of $12.51 billion by 2023. (Source: EventMB)
94% of marketers and industry leaders agree that technology has a positive impact on an event. However, fewer than 50% have seen success using emerging technologies. (Source: AgencyEA)
72% of B2B marketing professionals learned new tech tools for collaboration, while 57% learned how to present in a virtual environment. (Source: Marketing Profs)
98% of consumers create digital or social content at events. (Source: Chaos Theory)

Virtual Event Design

46% of companies agree that brand consistency is extremely important, while 42% think it’s very important. (Source: Splash)
In 2020, 40% of companies hosted online conferences, followed by training (37%), team building (31%), and recruiting events (26%). (Source: Splash)
On average, virtual event pages have fewer content sections than in-person event pages, indicating that required information can be conveyed more simply. (Source: Splash)
77% of virtual event pages place registration buttons in the first block of content, drawing attention to the specific CTA sooner. (Source: Splash)
Almost 90% of successful virtual event pages use primarily white backgrounds with black or dark grey as the body copy color. (Source: Splash)
More than 62% of successful virtual events at the beginning of the pandemic used a primarily white background (Source: Splash)
97% of successful virtual event pages passed an industry color accessibility standard, which measures contrast adequacy for people with visual impairments. (Source: Splash)
Virtual events drive higher attendance rates (+79%) when reminder emails are sent the day before and an hour before the event. (Source: Splash)
The median start time for successful virtual events was 2 pm, indicating attendees respond better to afternoon start times. (Source: Splash)
Almost 43% of virtual events occur on Thursdays. Wednesday is the second-most popular day for virtual events at nearly 29%. (Source: Splash)
39% of customers will stop engaging with content when the images won’t load or the loading time takes too long. (Source: Adobe)

Find out what you need to know about virtual and hybrid events in 2021.

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Written by

Haley Kaplan

Haley is the Marketing Assistant at Splash. Haley supports the marketing team by creating a community of resources for event marketers. As a former event planner, Haley understands the important role events play in supporting business goals. Located in sunny Phoenix, Haley enjoys hiking, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.

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