50% of future B2B events to be completely virtual and “pandemic-proof” – LinkedIn research

Survey of 200 B2B event organisers in UKI finds 72% of businesses will maintain virtual events in the long term and 77% are interested in organising hybrids.

According to an article as published on Event Industry New website -

The study of 200 B2B event organisers in UKI finds 72% of businesses will maintain virtual events in the long term and 77% are interested in organising hybrids. In fact, businesses’ future event mix will be 32% physical, 45% virtual and 23% hybrid. Given £31bn a year was spent on UK B2B events pre-pandemic, this suggests the virtual events industry in the UK could be worth £14bn a year.

Budgets are expected to reflect this change immediately as investment in virtual events will be three-times more than physical ones in the next 12 months. The research also finds that a third of event budgets (29%) will be spent on virtual platforms in 2021.

When asked why they plan to continue organising virtual events, the top responses included that they’re pandemic-proof, cost effective and they give global access to content without travel. This is not surprising given UKI B2B event organisers described 2020 as “challenging” (63%), “a learning experience” (62%) and “frustrating” (40%).

The majority of event organisers (88%) arranged a virtual event, webinar or online talk last year. Data from Linkedin’s own platform shows that LinkedIn Live streams increased over 400% year-on-year and LinkedIn Live broadcaster increased nearly 500%. In fact, in December, 12,000 events were hosted a week with a combined half a million attendees. By pivoting this way, 81% of organisers say virtual events provided opportunities that would not have had otherwise.

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