Study: Build registered user lists with archived webcasts

Publishers and podcasters should leave their content on-site for longer periods of time, according to a recent study. By doing so, B2B marketers and publishers may actually increase registrants for future webcasts, at the same time increasing their lead generation.

by Kristina Knight

The study, from ON24 Inc., indicates that webcasts are more than simple content. Webcasts are actually a lead generation tool that works. Researchers found that a little more than 29% of listeners participate in the original cast but an additional 24.7% listen after the initial cast has been completed. Roughly 15% of all registrations actually happened after the initial webcast.

According to the report, " Webcasting provides an average ROI of $35 per registrant and $63 per attendee. This is based on an average of $20,000 to market and produce a webcast (may vary depending on costs)."

Clearly, then, archived webcasts can be used as more than simple content. By offering older webcasts for users, publishers give them "something for nothing" - additional content at no extra charge.

Attendees who were studied spent about 40 minutes on-site viewing or listening to content. With webcast viewers increasing by more than 5% (29% participation in 2005 to 34% participation in 2006), offering webcast content is a good way to keep users returning month after month for new information.