Webinars vs. Livestreaming: What’s the Difference?

I recently started a series of reviews with the goal of answering one question: "what's the best webinar software available?"

As I soon found out, this was the wrong question. There are many tools that bill themselves as "webinar software", but they're made for different purposes and a single term isn't adequate to cover them all.

In this post, you'll discover the 4 different categories of online events, which one is suitable for what purpose and which software will serve you best.

The 4 Types of Online Events

There are 4 categories that can help us make sense of different tools and different uses: webinars, live streams, online meetings and automated webinars (also known as evergreen webinars).

Here's a brief summary of these types (more details in the video), followed by a quiz you can use to determine which software suits your purposes best.

Webinars

• Private events that require attendees to register or purchase access.
• Main focus is on education and selling.
• Held for large audiences, ideally. The larger the audience, the better.
• Lecture style event: there's one presenter and many attendees. The attendees are relatively passive.
• Webinars have a scarcity factor. They take place a limited number of times, there may be limited access to a replay or no replay at all.

Live Streaming

• Public event, accessible by anyone on platforms like YouTube, Facebook or Twitch.
• The main purpose of a live stream is usually to build and engage an audience.
• The main focus of the content is usually on entertainment, since livestreams happen on platforms people use for distraction and fun, primarily. To grow an audience with livestreams, you need to "out-entertain" your competitors.
• No scarcity: the event is public, access is free, replays are automatic and available indefinitely.

Online Meeting

• Private events for which attendees need to register or make a purchase.
• The main focus is interaction, engagement and coaching.
• Attendees are more active than in other online events. Many attendees will be asking questions and perhaps even joining with webcam and audio, like in a group call.
• Suitable only for small groups.

Evergreen Webinar

• Many of the same factors as the webinar type above.
• This is an event that seems like a live event, but is actually pre-recorded.
• Evergreen webinars have a pure marketing purpose. They are made to be integrated in a marketing funnel and almost always include a sales pitch.
• Usually a high scarcity factor.

Different Purposes, Different Software

From all the tools I've tested, there is none that is equally suited for all of these 4 different types of online events. There is no best overall tool that covers all use cases.

That's why it's important to know what you want to accomplish with live events and then choose the most ideally suited tool for the job.

To make things easier for you, I've put together this quiz:

Which is the most important type of online event for your business? Did this video and content help you make a decision? Let me know by leaving a comment below.