Webinars are a popular tool for B2B marketers. They build brand recognition, establish thought leadership and generate new leads. 

With the widespread cancellation of events and trade shows this year, B2B webinars have become even more prominent in the marketer’s playbook. 

As a result, we have seen an increase in B2B webinar advertisements. 

Here, we share the data we uncovered related to the recent spike in B2B webinars. 

We encourage you to subscribe to our blog for the latest data surrounding the advertising industry. We will provide daily updates as COVID-19 continues to make its mark on the US economy.

B2B webinars were already a favorite, but are now essential

Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, a study found that 91% of professionals said webinars were their top learning format. The same survey found that 54% of B2B marketers engaged with webinars on a weekly or daily basis. 

Webinars allow leaders to promote a product, while engaging with leads in a more conversational way. In normal times, webinars are highly valuable for industry leaders to connect and learn from each other. 

But these are not normal times — now marketers need to lean into their virtual tools even more than before.

“There’s this big pressure to reallocate budget, reallocate quickly, to get to a place where we’re going to be able to fill this gap in demand that we were relying on for these shows,” told Ashley Shailer, VP of Marketing at Inverta to Demand Gen Report. Before the crisis got heated up in mid-March, 50 corporate event cancellations had already disrupted the plans of more than a million attendees. 

With event cancellations, marketers had to readjust their strategies. In a recent study, 65% of B2B marketers said that they planned to reallocate some or most of their live event budgets to online events, such as webinars.

On top of replacing live events, many marketers are using webinars to discuss what their work looks like during times of uncertainty, working from home with kids and all the other questions professionals are having right now. 

No matter the purpose of the webinar, it is clear that webinars are having a moment.

MediaRadar Insights

B2B webinars are competing for many eyes. 

When it comes to the number of B2B brands running webinar ads, there was a 36% increase between February and March. This is more than double the month-over-month increase we saw last year.

Some of the most active brands promoting webinars in March included:

• Oracle
• Cisco
• Six Group
• Porex Corp

Most of the creative did not specifically mention the virus. Instead, it seemed most brands were looking to simply promote their products and services. 

However, there were some outliers. 

Campbell’s sponsored a webinar on how restaurants are responding to the crisis.

Aside from event cancellations, there are many factors driving webinars — a lack of social interaction in the office, industries pivoting, unemployed individuals seeking new learning opportunities, etc.

While we don’t know how long the sickness will impact the economy, we will continue to track its impact on ad spending. 

For more updates like this, stay tuned. Subscribe to our blog for more updates on coronavirus and its mark on the economy.