There used to be a difference in definition between webinars & webcasts…
No More! These days, the 2 terms are almost interchangeable and I wonder why (except in a few exceptional circumstances) anyone even bothers holding the traditional “webinars” in the first place! They are as expensive, have no real advantage over a webcast and all the features are almost exactly the same, as you will note from the comparison below…
|
WEBINAR |
LIVE WEBCAST |
| A “webinar” or “web seminar” was supposed to be a more interactive experience – attempting to reproduce the benefits of attending a live seminar, with audience members able to ask questions & participate in surveys or polls. | A “webcast” refers to auditory or visual information broadcast to a large audience via the Internet. It might be just a simple audio stream, or it might include visual aids, such as presentation slides, recorded video clips, or live software demonstrations. |
| Collaborative interacting over the Internet, web conferencing allows a presenter to show an audience what is on his/her computer screen and collaborate in a number of ways. |
Ditto |
| Attendees are required to enter a code to verify attendance. |
This is an option that may or may not be enforced by the event manager |
| Data: Web conferencing is focused on computer-based data (presentations, documents, software apps, or a desktop), which it can display and easily manipulate. That makes it easier for the businessperson to use, and makes it fit most day-to-day business meetings and events. |
Ditto |
| Some Web conferencing platforms offer Webcam video. | ALL Webcasting platforms have the option of using Live Streaming Web video. |
| Web & phone: Most Web conferences use an audio conference call to let the group hear the presenter. |
No need of phones – just an ordinary browser will do. Webcasts can even be viewed on all mobile devices |
| Phone audio is more reliable and higher quality than Internet audio. |
Not any more it isn’t! In fact its often the other way around. |
| And it allows real-time interaction among participants in the event. |
Ditto |
| But it does add the cost and effort of using the phone as well as a browser. |
No cost for using a web browser! |
| Small to mid-sized groups: The data-sharing and two-way interactivity work well for groups up 500 attendees. |
Webcasts can cater to any number of attendees – from 5 to 50,000! |
| Also, costs scale with the number of users, making very large Web conferences more expensive than similarly sized Webcasts. |
Cheaper than webinars |
| Meetings can be hosted or attended from any PC with an Internet connection. |
Ditto |
| No production or special equipment is required – but a service must be subscribed to. |
No service subscription necessary – the same equipment is used as in webinars |
| Two-way: Web conferences are interactive, with the ability to share presentation rights and control of applications among all group members. |
Application control cannot be shared with audience members but all other interactivity can. |
For a webinar one needs to subscribe to a third-party service while a webcast can be hosted and displayed on your own servers and website with your own branding – a much more professional way of doing things. So the only advantage to a Webinar is its ability to share application control with viewers. All other 2-way interactivity is common to both processes.