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Many people use the terms “webinar” and “webcast” interchangeably to describe any web broadcasting technology instead of using the appropriate term. While you may think of webinars and webcasts as the same thing, they’re distinct tools with different features and functions. Each one can be useful for bringing distributed teams together and enabling collaboration to create better business solutions and optimize workflows.
Webinars are designed to make communication between multiple parties possible. In a webinar, the speaker may lead a presentation for most of the time, but participants are encouraged to ask questions and give feedback as the webinar continues. By contrast, a webcast is designed to distribute content from a single source to thousands of people. This makes a webcast ideal for a company announcement, annual shareholder meeting, e-learning training that must be transmitted to people in many locations at once.
How are Webinars and Webcasts Similar?
Whether you choose a webinar or webcast, there are platform features and integrations that you can expect to see as part of the technology offered by any webinar or webcast platform. Some of the features you can expect to see in a webinar or webcast platform include:
- Ability to stream video during the webinar or webcast
- Reporting analytics to help you assess the success of each meeting or webcast
- Built-in interactive features, like polling and chat capabilities
- Around-the-clock technical support, including while the webinar or webcast is running
Should You Choose Webinar or Webcast?
Once you have a clear idea of what your business objectives are, it’s easy to determine whether a webinar or webcast is the right solution for your needs. As you learn more about the different offerings on the market, you’re likely to find that there are key differences between webinar and webcast platforms that make one better than the other for your team.
Choose a webinar instead of a webcast if:
- You’re expecting a smaller crowd
- You want to encourage audience participation
- You need to share audio and content
A webcast is better than a webinar for your needs if:
- You want to stream live to a larger crowd
- You won’t be taking live questions or comments during the webcast
- You require support or event services to make the webcast successful
GlobalMeet has tools to help make your webinar or webcast perfect. GlobalMeet Webinar makes webinar setup and deployment simple, while GlobalMeet Webcast is perfect for large enterprises to make webcasts to investors or employees.
