Webinar / Virtual Events

Share leader for SMB and mid-market webinars, commoditized by AI Companion.

Zoom Events (which bundles Zoom Sessions and Zoom Webinars under one umbrella) is the share leader for webinars at SMB and mid-market scale. Zoom Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) went public in 2019, peaked near $568 in 2020 during the pandemic, and has since reset to a steady-state video-and-collaboration vendor at roughly $60-80/share with material AI investment. The webinar product covers single-session webinars (Zoom Webinars, up to 10,000 attendees), multi-session events (Zoom Events), and on-demand replay. Strengths: largest installed base by far, lowest friction for Zoom-anchored organizations, AI Companion bundled at no incremental cost (transcripts, summaries, Q&A clustering), and reliability that no competitor matches at scale. Best fit for SMB and mid-market organizations already on Zoom for video. Trade-offs: B2B marketing primitives (engagement scoring, MAP integration, account-level intent) are meaningfully thinner than ON24 or Goldcast; the AI Companion bundle accelerates commoditization, which is good for buyers but also signals that Zoom does not see standalone webinars as a strategic moat; and demand-gen teams running content-rich event-led growth programs consistently outgrow Zoom Events.

Marketing-led webinar platform leader despite a brutal post-COVID stock decline.

ON24 (NYSE:ONTF) is the long-running B2B marketing-led webinar platform leader. Founded 1998, IPO'd February 2021 near the peak of the virtual events bubble at $20/share opening near $69. The stock has since collapsed to roughly $4-5/share, a drawdown of approximately 95% from peak. The product covers webinars, multi-session experiences (Engagement Hub, Target), AI-driven content repurposing (ON24 IQ), and deep first-party engagement data feeding MAP integration. Strengths: deepest first-party engagement data in the category, mature MAP and CRM integration (Marketo, HubSpot, Eloqua, Salesforce), strong fit for demand-gen-anchored marketing teams, ON24 IQ AI features for content repurposing. Best fit for B2B marketing teams running content-rich, demand-gen-anchored webinar programs. Trade-offs: post-IPO stock decline and management changes have created legitimate vendor stability questions, pricing meaningful and opaque ($30K-$200K+ annually typical), UX dated relative to Goldcast for content-rich events, and aggressive multi-year contract pressure has been reported by mid-market customers.

Modern AI-driven B2B virtual events leader.

Goldcast is the modern category leader for AI-driven B2B virtual events, founded 2020. The product covers single-session webinars, multi-session events, on-demand content hubs, and (the differentiating capability) AI-driven content repurposing that turns one webinar into dozens of social cuts, blog posts, and demand-gen assets. Strengths: AI-driven content repurposing strongest in category, modern marketing-led UX, founder-led culture, deep MAP integration (Marketo, HubSpot, Salesforce), strong fit for B2B SaaS demand-gen teams running event-led growth programs. Best fit for B2B marketing teams (50-2,000 employees) running content-rich event-led growth. Trade-offs: Smaller deployed base versus ON24 / Zoom Events, pricing public-tier-and-up but opaque at enterprise, Uneven support quality as company scaled, and feature depth for very large enterprise events below ON24.

Long-running mid-market webinar platform under Vista Equity ownership.

GoTo Webinar is the long-running mid-market webinar platform from GoTo (formerly LogMeIn). The parent company was taken private by Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Management in 2020 for approximately $4.3B and rebranded from LogMeIn to GoTo in 2022. The product covers single-session webinars, recorded events, and registration / engagement workflows. Strengths: 19+ year track record (one of the original webinar platforms), reliable mid-market fit, predictable feature set, public pricing, broad SMB and mid-market installed base. Best fit for mid-market organizations (50-2,000 employees) wanting a reliable, no-surprises webinar platform without enterprise complexity. Trade-offs: Vista Equity PE ownership has created legitimate concerns about innovation pace and pricing pressure (consistent with PE playbook), modern AI features behind Zoom and Goldcast, MAP integration depth average, and B2B marketing primitives (engagement scoring, account intent) thinner than ON24 / Goldcast.

Bootstrap-profitable webinar + virtual event hybrid with modern API.

BigMarker is the bootstrap-profitable webinar and virtual event hybrid platform, founded 2010 in Chicago. The company is one of the rare profitable, founder-led, never-raised-meaningful-VC platforms in the category, which became a meaningful competitive advantage post-2022 when VC-backed peers contracted. The product covers webinars, multi-session virtual conferences, evergreen / automated webinars, embedded landing pages, and a notably modern API. Strengths: bootstrap profitability and operating discipline, modern API and embed primitives (rare in category), strong fit for marketing teams wanting embedded webinar UX on their own properties, no aggressive multi-year contract pressure, founder-led culture. Best fit for marketing teams (50-2,000 employees) wanting modern API + embedded experiences, and for teams burned by VC-backed peer instability. Trade-offs: Narrower customer base than ON24 / Zoom Events, MAP integration depth below ON24, customer support response times flagged as variable, and brand recognition lower than peers in B2B marketing circles.

SMB-friendly webinar platform under Banzai (NASDAQ:BNZI) ownership.

Demio is the SMB-friendly browser-based webinar platform, founded 2015 and acquired by Banzai International (NASDAQ:BNZI) in 2021. Banzai is a B2B marketing platform that took itself public via SPAC in 2023 and has had a volatile stock trajectory typical of SPAC-era issuance. The Demio product covers single-session webinars, automated / evergreen webinars, registration workflows, and integrations with common SMB MAP / CRM tools. Strengths: clean SMB UX, browser-based attendance (no install), automated webinar capabilities, affordable SMB pricing, strong fit for recurring lead-gen webinars. Best fit for SMB marketers running recurring lead-gen webinars without enterprise complexity. Trade-offs: parent company Banzai is small-cap public with material stock volatility (legitimate vendor stability question), feature depth below ON24 / Goldcast for B2B marketing-led teams, MAP integration narrower than peers, and concurrent attendee scaling caps below Zoom Events.

Cisco-anchored event platform built on the former Socio acquisition.

Webex Events is Cisco's event platform, built primarily on the Socio acquisition (Cisco bought Socio in July 2021 for an undisclosed sum and rebranded it as Webex Events in 2022). The product covers in-person events, hybrid events, virtual events, and webinars under the Webex umbrella. Strengths: Cisco-anchored stability and global infrastructure, native integration with Webex Meetings and Webex Suite, strong fit for Cisco-anchored enterprises, mature in-person + hybrid event capabilities (the Socio strength), enterprise-grade compliance. Best fit for Cisco-anchored enterprises wanting a native event platform alongside Webex collaboration. Trade-offs: post-Socio integration created some product velocity and brand-confusion issues 2022-2024, B2B marketing primitives below ON24 / Goldcast, MAP integration depth average, and outside the Cisco ecosystem the product is less compelling than category leaders.

Browser-first European webinar leader with GDPR-native architecture.

Livestorm is the European browser-based webinar leader, founded 2016 in Paris. The product covers webinars, multi-session events, recurring training programs, and on-demand content with a strong focus on browser-based attendance and GDPR-native data handling. Strengths: browser-first attendance experience (no install required), GDPR-native architecture (data residency in EU by default), strong fit for European and cross-border programs, modern UX, founder-led culture, multilingual interface and support. Best fit for European-anchored marketing teams and global teams running cross-border programs requiring GDPR-first data handling. Trade-offs: smaller installed base in North America, MAP integration depth below ON24 (though the major MAPs are covered), feature depth for very large enterprise events below ON24 / Webex Events, and pricing scales aggressively above mid-market.

Virtual event platform with material vendor stability questions post-2023.

Airmeet is the virtual event platform founded 2019 in India, headquartered in Delaware with engineering in Bangalore. The company raised aggressively during the 2020-2021 virtual events bubble (Series B at ~$225M valuation in 2021) and has since gone through multiple documented rounds of layoffs in 2023 and 2024 as the post-pandemic virtual events demand normalized. The product covers virtual events, webinars, networking lounges, and hybrid events. Strengths: lower price point than Goldcast, strong engagement and networking features (lounges, tables), Indian engineering cost advantage, founder-led culture. Best fit for buyers wanting a Goldcast-style virtual event platform at lower price who can tolerate vendor stability risk. Trade-offs: documented layoffs in 2023 and 2024 raise legitimate vendor stability questions, customer support quality has been flagged as inconsistent post-layoffs, product velocity slower since 2023, MAP integration depth below ON24 / Goldcast, and brand recognition has declined.

The Hopin assets RingCentral acquired for ~$50M in August 2023, the brand persists; the $7.75B unicorn does not.

Hopin Events is the most cautionary tale in the entire B2B software category. The original Hopin was founded in London in 2019, scaled explosively during the 2020-2021 virtual events bubble, raised at a $7.75B valuation in 2021 (one of the fastest unicorn ascents in European tech history), then collapsed equally fast as post-pandemic demand normalized. In August 2023, RingCentral (NYSE:RNG) acquired Hopin's core Sessions and Events assets for approximately $50M, roughly 0.6% of the peak valuation. The remaining Hopin entity sold its Streamyard assets to Bending Spoons for ~$250M in early 2024 and the original company has effectively wound down. The Hopin Events brand persists under RingCentral as a virtual events module, but it is not what it was. Strengths under RingCentral: integration with RingCentral video and communications, public-parent stability, continued investment in virtual events functionality. Trade-offs: this is the most material vendor-trust event in the entire category; the brand carries baggage that buyers should weigh carefully; product velocity has been modest under RingCentral; and the original Hopin team is largely no longer associated with the product.