Out of all these myriad of components, the frequency of hosting your webinars must absolutely be an important part of your event strategy. It not only helps you determine the total number of webinars the company is aiming to host, but it also enables you to decide the overall budget & manpower you will need going forward.
You can host webinars at a selective frequency or at a mix of frequencies, depending on their business goals and requirements. There are a variety of evaluations one needs to successfully complete, before deciding their ideal webinar frequency range.
In this article, we will discuss the types of webinar frequencies, and the strategies to determine the optimal webinar frequency, and more to help you get the most out of your webinar initiatives.
Webinar Planning & Scheduling
A webinar cycle involves various stages. Webinar planning, budget allocation, or the final scheduling are among the important ones.
It is safe to say that webinar planning & scheduling are the cornerstone of successful webinars. It’s not just about picking a date and sending out invites—it involves a series of steps:
- Defining your goals
- Deciding the frequency of webinars
- Outlining the key topics
- Creating engaging & informative content
- Choosing the right speakers
- Finalizing the agenda
- Selecting best webinar timing & day
A well-timed webinar and its frequency are among the critical components that impact your webinar’s registration and attendance rate. This helps you boost your attendance rate if timed correctly, while poor timing may lead to low turnout.
Now, we will discuss the webinar frequency and its types to understand how frequently one can host a webinar.
Types of Webinar Frequency
Webinar frequency simply means the number of webinars you can schedule within a year or within a stipulated range of time. It often varies depending on your business and marketing goals, audience engagement, and content strategy.
From high-frequency webinars, like weekly, to low-frequency ones, such as monthly, quarterly, and seasonal, there are various ways a webinar can be scheduled.
Below, we’ve highlighted widely preferred webinar frequencies:
Weekly Webinars
These webinars are generally hosted once a week and are planned to maintain consistent engagement with the target audience. It helps companies establish a strong connection with their webinar attendees and build a loyal and interactive community.
There are various ways to host weekly webinars, including:
- Introduce a new topic every week
- Have a series of webinars, each focusing on different sub-topics of a broader concept
- Host fireside chat sessions with industry experts
Monthly Webinars
Monthly webinars are hosted on a monthly interval basis, i.e. one webinar per month. These webinars allow for a detailed exploration of topics without continuously overwhelming the audience.
In comparison to weekly ones, monthly webinars have a more manageable schedule, making it easier to plan and execute with ample time for preparation and promotion. Monthly webinars ideas can include:
- Changing industry trends, latest developments & recent discoveries
- Minor product updates
- Customer engagement sessions
Quarterly Webinars
Quarterly webinars are held every three months. These webinars are ideal for sharing significant developments, long-term strategies, or comprehensive training with detailed presentations and comprehensive Q&A sessions.
These webinars can be hosted for:
- Sharing major product and services updates, as well as upcoming developments
- In-depth employee training & L&D sessions
- Educational purposes and community building
- Thought leadership sessions
- Sharing company quarterly updates
Seasonal Webinars
These webinars are held during specific seasons or times of the year. Seasonal webinars capitalize on seasonal interest, holidays, or industry events to attract a wider audience.
There are a number of ideas you can implement for such webinars, like:
- Seasonal industry updates
- Exclusive product updates as well as offers
- Theme-based webinars for your target audience
- Video podcast sessions with influencers & experts
Top 10 Tips to Decide Your Webinar Frequency
In this section, we’ve highlighted the top 10 tips to help you determine the frequency of your webinars.
1. Identify your goals & expectations
It is crucial to understand your expectations, like,
- What do I want to achieve in event marketing, this financial year?
- How many webinars should I host to get this outcome?
- What are the quarterly goals?
For instance, if your goal is lead generation, more frequent webinars might be beneficial.
2. Conduct competitor analysis:
Monitor how often your competitors are hosting webinars, their topics, and their formats. This will help you find the gaps in the market that your webinars could fill, decide the frequency, and identify unique approaches that could set your webinars apart.
3. Pay attention to audience availability:
If your target audience is B2B, hosting weekly or monthly webinars during work hours is ideal. On the other hand, if your target audience is B2C, they might engage more with evening or weekend sessions.
4. Categorize your content strategy:
Weekly webinars might work for shorter, focused topics and frequent updates, while monthly, quarterly, or seasonal webinars would be more suitable for detailed information, comprehensive content, and occasional updates.
5. Consider team’s capacity & capability:
Consider your team’s ability to create content, manage logistics, and follow up with attendees consistently.
In general, a weekly webinar tends to be more demanding in terms of time, effort and resources. Everything needs to be planned and executed to perfection to pull off a successful webinar every single week. On the other hand, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal webinars may require lesser time and effort as you have the luxury of spacing them out. However, some extra resource and effort is required, in this case, to keep your audience connected and involved with your company.
6. Align with other marketing efforts:
To plan the frequency, you can also timely align your webinars to support the company’s marketing efforts and promotions for large-scale events, such as product launches and trade shows.
7. Analyze seasonal factors:
The frequency of your webinars also depends on seasonal trends and holiday factors. It is preferred to increase frequency during peak buying seasons and reduce frequency during holiday periods, when attendance might be lower.
8. Monitor webinar analytics:
Your webinar analytics will be extremely important while evaluating your webinar frequency options. Metrics like attendance rates, engagement scores, feedback surveys, lead quality, and conversion data will help you identify which frequency has suited your marketing efforts the most.
9. Categorize your webinars:
Categorizing webinar themes or topics vis a vis their frequencies will offer you the flexibility to host a variety of webinars throughout the year, serving more than one goal. For example,
- Host weekly webinars for product demos and fireside chats
- Monthly webinars for industry insights and broader concepts
- Quarterly webinars for company updates and thought leadership for all audiences.
10. Try different frequencies:
Another way to decide on the frequency is to host weekly webinars for a month, then switch to monthly and quarterly. This will help you determine the most effective frequency.
Planning Webinar Schedule: Best Days and Time to Host Webinars
Best Days
While individual audiences may vary, research generally suggests that midweek days, specifically Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, are optimal for hosting webinars. These days typically have higher attendance rates as people are settled into their work routine and less likely to be on vacation.
It’s been observed that corporate, business-related, and employee-based webinar registration and attendance are typically very low on weekends, Mondays, and Fridays.
If the webinar is focused on recreational activities and personal hobbies, people might be willing to register for it on Saturdays. In general, Mondays and Fridays are not considered to be the ideal days for hosting any type of webinar.
While Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the most preferred days, it is still very important to consider all the factors, like public holidays, major industry events, time zones, cultural preferences, and target audience interests, before scheduling your webinar.
Optimal Time & Duration
Late morning webinars and early afternoon slots tend to attract the most participants. The most preferred webinar timing is typically between 11 AM and 2 PM, except during the lunch hour, i.e., 12:00-1:00 PM. This works well across different time zones, accommodating both early risers and those who prefer attending sessions later in the day.
| Note: Unlike live webinars, on-demand webinars have pre-recorded content and don’t allow real-time interaction. However, it offers great flexibility to audiences, allowing them to watch the session at their convenience. These webinars are open and accessible to global audiences 24/7, making them a constant source of engagement and lead generation. |
Why are Mondays, Fridays, and Weekends not the Best Days to Host a Webinar?
Monday is often the day when individuals return to work after a relaxing weekend and plan their work schedule for the week. Internal team meetings are also usually held on Mondays to plan out the project tasks for the week. Monday is a tight day of the week, so your target audience may not attend your event, even if they are genuinely interested.
Fridays are the day employees have deadlines to meet, so they are less likely to learn any professional skills by attending a webinar. With the weekend on its way, individuals are more focused on completing their work for the day. Furthermore, employees’ attention spans drop and mental fatigue rises as the week ends on Friday afternoon, due to the weekly workload. So even if you hold a webinar on Friday, the risk of “no-show” attendees increases significantly.
Since employees prioritize their private lives on the weekends, hosting webinars on those days is not ideal. Household responsibilities are important to them. Therefore, they are less likely to be in front of their laptops. Plus, they are likely to have a trip with family members, so most individuals stay away from professional life on Saturday and Sunday.
When Should I Start Promoting My Webinar to Boost Registration?
You should start promoting your webinar three to four weeks before your event date to maximize event registrations. According to studies, 50% of marketers start webinar promotion more than 4 weeks in advance. Because the early promotion window help builds brand awareness, interest in the webinar, and also allows more time for people to sign up.
Key Statistics on Webinar Attendence
1. Wednesday has the highest live attendance rate at 48%
While people are most likely to attend webinars on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Wednesday tends to have the highest attendance because by the middle of the week, i.e., Wednesday, professionals typically settle into their routines and clear out any backlogs they had earlier, making them more available for live sessions.
2. The webinar at 2 pm has the highest average attendance rate at 55%
Employees often start their work early in the morning, completing their urgent tasks before midday. As a result, attendees are more likely to settle in at their desks and be mentally available to engage with new content. Therefore, this slot works well for audiences across multiple time zones.
Around 2:00 PM, people are lethargic after their lunch break, resulting in a minor drop in creative energy, making them more likely to “consume” information—such as watching a presentation—rather than performing high-intensity work.
3. January is the month with the highest average live attendance rate (50%)
Webinar attendance peaks in January because people set new goals in the new year and are highly motivated to learn and invest in professional career growth. After the Christmas holidays, which take place from December 25 to December 31, individuals set New Year’s goals with a fresh perspective, which leads to individuals looking for new professional development opportunities, resulting in increased attendance for events.
4. 90-minute webinars have 29% higher live attendance rates than 30-minute webinars
Attendees tend to view longer sessions as more in-depth, masterclass-level sessions, which is why 90-minute webinars have higher attendance rates than 30-minute webinars. Additionally, 90-minute sessions provide a larger window for Q&A sessions along with the main content, which allows attendees for deeper engagement.
Factors Affecting Webinar Frequency & Scheduling
The following are important factors to take into account when determining your webinar frequency:
Webinar Goals & Objectives
Your webinar frequency should align with the business goals and objectives you aim to achieve.
If your goal is to provide education or announce recent updates, more frequent webinars, such as weekly or monthly, might be suitable. For more in-depth sessions, quarterly or seasonal webinars may be more appropriate.
Target Audience
Consider the preferences and availability of your audience. Busy professionals may prefer less frequent, more impactful sessions, while a learning-focused audience might appreciate regular, shorter ones.
Time Duration
The duration of each webinar can influence how often you should host them. Shorter webinars of 30 minutes duration can be held more frequently without overwhelming participants. Meanwhile, longer, more detailed sessions may require more time between events to keep the audience engaged.
Language
The language in which you present your webinars can affect scheduling, especially for international audiences. If you are aiming to host webinars in multiple languages, you might have to create a different and more flexible schedule to accommodate multi-linguistic groups and their time zones.
Time Zone
Time zones are a critical consideration when planning webinar frequencies for a global audience. To maximize attendance, it is ideal to schedule webinars at times that are convenient for the majority of your audience. This might mean you will have to host the same webinar at different times or on different days to cater to various regions.
Weekends & Holidays
The timing of weekends and holidays can significantly impact webinar attendance and engagement. Be mindful of international holidays, if you have a global audience and avoid scheduling webinars on weekends or public holidays when your potential attendees may be less available or not available at all.
Conclusion
From skill development to lead generation and brand awareness, webinar frequency strategies are planned to serve a variety of objectives. These strategies are crucial in determining the pace of the events, the overall schedule, and marketing initiatives.
While weekly, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal webinars each offer unique benefits, the ideal approach often involves a mix of frequencies.
It is also important to note that there are other factors that can significantly impact the webinar frequency, like whether the webinars are paid or free, the type of content, and if they are live, on-demand or automated.
That being said, having flexibility in your schedule makes a lot of difference and provides stability to your schedule regardless of the challenges. This helps you adjust your strategies, customize webinar frequencies, effectively host successful webinars, and ultimately, achieve your business goals.
FAQs
Monthly webinars are typically the most effective for generating high-quality leads. This allows sufficient time for audiences to engage with the content, ensuring they are not overwhelmed.
It also enables organizers to meticulously plan and promote the webinars, attracting the right audience and maximizing the potential for high-quality lead generation.
Yes, audience demographics, such as age, location, and professional status, significantly impact the best timing for webinars.
To gather valuable competitor analysis insights, you can attend industry webinars and analyze their topics, content, case studies, social media initiatives, and audience engagement strategies.
Yes, pre-recorded webinars can be hosted as live sessions using webinar platforms like Airmeet. These webinar tools allow you to facilitate live interaction and enhance engagement through features like chats, polls, and Q&A while playing pre-recorded content.
On-demand webinars don’t require repeated hosting like live webinars. You can create and upload new on-demand webinars as frequently as needed – daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or at any interval that suits your goals and resources.
Selecting the right time maximizes attendance, ensures better participation, reduces drop-offs, and help you accommodate the availability of your target audience.
Yes, usually shorter-duration webinars see higher participation & retention rates. While long sessions may lead to drop-offs and lower engagement rates.
Airmeet offers intuitive scheduling, agenda management, calendar integration, timezone management, and automated reminders
You can start with free webinars to increase your brand reach and attract more people to your webinar. Then you can host paid webinars to get prospects into your sales pipeline and generate higher ROI for your brand.
It is generally not a good idea to host a webinar on public holidays or speacial occasion as employees may plan to go out with their family or friends, so it can greatly affect event attendance.
