Which Platform is Best for Webinars? Zoom vs nunify vs GoToWebinar

Marketers and individuals from different industries are now opting for webinars to reach out to their target audience. If you plan to stand out among your competitors and showcase your brand’s USP, it is essential to choose the perfect webinar software to cater to your virtual event requirements.

As virtual and hybrid events become the norm, it is essential to pick the right platform that suits your needs and fulfills the objectives of your webinar and virtual event.

More than 50% marketers have been using virtual events & webinars and incorporating them into their marketing strategy. Among them, more than 80% of marketers have stated that there have been positive outcomes for the webinars that were organized.

Why conduct webinars?

• The perfect option to connect with one’s target audience
• Can connect thousands of people in a single session
• Convenient to attend as well as convenient to organize
• Multipurpose use – brand awareness, product launch, tutorials, team meetings, panel discussions, etc
• Cost-effective event solution

Here’s a list of some top webinar platforms along with the pros and cons of using them

Zoom

Zoom is one of the most used webinar software tools across industries. Many companies resort to this platform for their webinar needs. This platform provides paid as well as unpaid features for the organizers.

Pros

1. The premium version allows up to 10,000 attendees in a single session
2. By integrating with YouTube and Facebook, Zoom also has the option of live streaming to multiple networks
3. There are options like live chat and polls on the platform
4. Zoom is considered to be a reliable platform

Cons

1. Basic interface and interaction is causes a phenomenon called ‘Zoom Fatigue’ and leads to lower webinar success metrics
2. With the free version, there is a cap on the length of the session that can be conducted
3. The paid plans for Zoom are confusing and extremely costly. With a number of add-ons available, the marketers usually get muddled up with the number of options available

GoToWebinar

It is one of the oldest webinar platforms in existence, and is usually used by enterprises 

Pros

1. If you have an enterprise account, you can allow 5000 people to attend a webinar
2. The option of custom branding is available
3. Videos and images can be shared during a webinar
4. Allows for HQ streaming, and can be accessed on mobile as well as laptop/desktop
5. Gamification through polls is available on the platform

Cons

1. The interface of the platform is not user-friendly and has not been updated
2. The basic plan only allows 100 attendees in a session
3. The plans offered by GoToWebinar are costly as well as confusing
4. GoToWebinar does not offer a browser viewing option and needs to be downloaded on the device for viewing a webinar

nunify

nunify is a next-generation webinar & virtual events platform and has been developed to cater to all the pain points of the marketers.

1. Provides options for custom branding to the organizers on the platform
2. Provides the event sponsors virtual booths, and options for leveraging advertisements
3. Offers a detailed post-event analysis of the webinar with information such as engagement rate, viewing patterns, etc
4. Allows for unlimited hosts to join the webinar, and also allows for direct audience participation through the ‘Raise Hand’ feature
5. Offers a host of marketing and engagement features like email registrations, chatrooms, reactions, push notifications, and polls.
6. Allows live-streaming of the session via RTMP technology to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitch
7. Offers high-quality video streaming during the webinar

There are certain parameters that can be studied well before picking up a right platform for your webinar needs. Those factors are as follows:

The number of attendees and hosts

Ensure that a good number of participants can be included in the webinar at one time so that it solves the purpose of organizing a virtual event on a large scale.

Device friendly

People attend webinars from phones, tabs, and laptops. Ensure that the platform you choose has options to access the webinar from all the platforms.

Audio and video quality

The audio and video quality have to be great for the webinar and also the platform should have options to support viewers on low bandwidth connections. This will ensure that the webinar is conducted in a smooth way without any lags.

Additional features

Engagement features like polls, interactive chat rooms, question-answer tab, raise hand feature, and reaction emojis improve the engagement level of the attendees and these should be considered to choose the right platform for your webinar.

On the whole, your webinar platform should solve your webinar needs. From custom branding to registrations, from dedicated places for all stakeholders to post-webinar analysis, ensure that all your objectives are fulfilled with a single service!