60+ Must Know Event Industry Statistics in (2024)

The $1 trillion global event industry market has undergone some rapid changes over the past few years. And while the industry is still coping with the mechanics of virtual events, the future has its own set of challenges for the organizers and planners. Well, nothing that deters the spirit of your enthusiasm.

Well, the coming year is going to be exciting, and to help you make the most of it we have prepared this extensive list of the latest statistics highlighting the recent data and some future analysis.

From event technology to changing event formats, the growing popularity of hybrid events, challenges, budget, and ROI- these event industry statistics offer a broad perspective into each of these segments to help you make informed decisions.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive right in.

• Top Event Planning Statistics (Editor’s picks)
• Event Marketing Industry Statistics
• Hybrid and Virtual Events Statistics
• Event Success Statistics
• Audience Engagement Statistics
• Corporate Event Planning Statistics

Event Marketing Industry Statistics

More than 85% of the companies spent anywhere between $100,000- $5 million on their events in 2023. Marketing was definitely the topmost priority for these corporate events to realize higher returns on their investment.

Let’s check these marketing event statistics for 2023 to gain clarity on different aspects like event marketing budgets, marketing trends, consumer patterns, and marketing plan and execution.

• Amongst the different areas where the B2B conference budget is spent, marketing stands at the top followed by catering and venue. More than 25% of the event budget is spent on marketing and event promotion. (source)
• Nearly 89% of event planners leverage the power of social media to promote their events followed by email marketing, website marketing, and others. (source)
• B2B companies spend 29% of their marketing budget on events. On the contrary, B2C companies spend only 19% of their budget on marketing activities. (source)
• The number 1 challenge for event organizers is to integrate events into their overall marketing plan. (source)
• According to 80.4% of event organizers, in-person events are the most impactful marketing channel for any organization. (source)
• 82.8% of event organizers firmly believe that in-person corporate events and conferences offer the best networking opportunities. (source)
• Amongst the different forms of events, live events and experiences like music festivals are immensely popular. A whopping 84% of attendees prefer music concerts or even music as a part of their events. (source)
• Interestingly, only 15% of attendees in corporate events care about a keynote speaker. It is important to make a marketing budget consideration in this aspect ensuring it’s not exceedingly high. (source)
• 74%marketers claim virtual events to be the most important part of their virtual strategy. (source)
• 39% of marketers consider in-person events to be more effective for internal training and development. (source)
• Certain event industry statistics indicate that the average cost of a virtual attendee is between $500-$1,000. However, the same for larger sessions spans between $1,000-$1,500. (source)
•  The focus is shifting from sponsored events to host events. Nearly 57% of organizations are willing to spend more on hosted events year after year. (source)
• Nearly 80% of event planners either host or participate in a conference making it the most popular event type for B2B companies. This popularity is followed by trade shows, webinars, and partner events. (source)
• CMOs of leading firms are expected to allocate 21-50% of their marketing budget to experiential marketing by the next 3-5 years. (source)
• Almost 50% of marketers work with a marketing agency to market their events while more than two-thirds of them use an event management and planning agency.  (source)

Virtual and Hybrid Events Statistics

The on-site events have revived back to its normal state after the COVID. While 80.4% of event organizers consider in-person events the most impactful marketing channel for organizations, most believe that the hybrid is the future of events.

Let’s uncover statistics relating to virtual and hybrid events.

• A virtual event, compared to an in-person event, can reach 50% more attendees. (source)
• According to 61% of event marketers, keeping the attendees engaged is one of the biggest challenges while hosting a virtual event. (source)
• Nearly 80% of event organizers agree that virtual events are more cost-effective than in-person events. (source)
• 52.5% of event marketers believe that a separate skill set is essential to plan and host an effective virtual event. (source)
•  More than 80% of the virtual events are free for attendees. (source)
• Of all the events happening around, 70% of them are hybrid. (source)
• More than 67.8% of attendees voted for in-person and hybrid events as their favorite event formats. (source)
• While 57% of in-person event attendees find it easy to socialize during a hybrid event, 63% of virtual attendees fail to do that. (source)
•  Nearly 50.7% of the executives firmly believe that in-person events will continue to have a virtual component in them even as the events industry recovers from COVID-19 impacts. (source)
• Another prominent event industry statistic gathered by interviewing the event professionals suggests that hosting a hybrid event is comparatively more difficult than hosting a dedicated in-person or virtual event. 38% of executives offer this firm opinion. (source)
• 51.5% of event planners find it annoyingly difficult to replicate the live engagement of an on-site event while sourcing a virtual event. (source)
• Only 51% of event planners are satisfied with their virtual event setup. However, a startling 94% of event organizers experience some form of technical, managerial, or personalization problems with their current setup. (source)
• According to Statista, the average number of attendees for a virtual meeting was 1,356 in 2020. (source)

Event Success Statistics

Nearly 80% of event professionals measure the event success based on event attendance, attendee engagement, and attendee experience. However, that’s not it. There are a lot of things that directly or indirectly help in determining the success of the event.

Let’s check the statistics surrounding these key parameters, ROI, and other influencing factors.

• Though 71.2% of event organizers struggle to prove in-person conference ROI to key stakeholders, nearly 72.7% of those say that their leadership team is supportive of their in-person event strategies. (source)
• The success of an event largely relies on the choice of venue. According to 64.6% of attendees, a venue can make or break the event experience. (source)
• 72.5% of the event organizers believe that their event platform contributes significantly to building the success of their events, especially online and hybrid events. (source)
• Nearly 41.9% of event organizers reported significant growth in revenue with an increase in B2B in-person conferences in 2023. (source)
• Nearly 25.8% of event planners noticed a significant improvement in attendee satisfaction in their latest B2B in-person conference. (source)
• 37% of marketers in the event industry market agree that it is easier to track down the event’s ROI with the help of modern technology. (source)
• 62% of event marketers strongly believe that an event application would successfully drive audience engagement in a virtual event. (source)
•  The average event ROI is between 36-45% when an event management company uses technology to track KPI. (source)
• The revenue is up by 30% for event sponsorship and hosted events. (source)

Audience Engagement Statistics

What truly engages the audience in virtual, hybrid, and in-person events? Well, a fulfilling event experience is built taking into consideration multiple aspects such as meeting time, event technology, event type, event services, content, and much more.

These statistics unravel some of these intriguing aspects and much more by throwing some clear light on audience engagement.

• 67.5% of event attendees consider that having a mobile event app is extremely crucial for the events they are attending. (source)
• 62.9% of attendees strongly believe that modern technologies like wearable event technology could significantly improve their satisfaction and engagement at in-person B2B events. (source)
• 67.6% of attendees believe that having free time beyond networking, sessions, and parties is essential for them to have an ultimate event experience. (source)
• According to certain event statistics, entertainment attracts nearly 25% of event attendees. As an event planner, you need to make sure that the event has certain interesting elements to capture attendees’ interest. (source)
• 91% of consumers feel more connected to brands after experiencing or attending an event with them. (source)
•  Globally, 63% of Gen Z and 61% of Gen Y are ready to spend more on events and experiences, especially music concerts. (source)
• According to expert event professionals, the average time for a virtual roundtable discussion should not last more than 60-90 minutes. (source)
• Larger virtual events are causing Zoom fatigue and burnout. 84% of attendees have personally felt this. (source)
• While the attendance rate for live events usually spins around 65%, the same for virtual events is between 40-42%. (source)
• Event professionals are enhancing the attendee’s experience by leveraging efficient event management software and technologies. Here are a few technologies event planners turn to for building successful events:
  • Mobile apps: 61%
  • Onsite check-in tools: 47%
  • QR codes: 47%
  • AI: 42%
  • VR: 41%
  • Wearable technology: 30%
    (source)

•  40% of event professionals are now offering an option to attend events virtually. This is a significant step for people who care deeply about sustainability. (source)
•  More than 70% of app features in the event sector are focused on enhancing or tracing attendee engagement. (source)

Corporate Event Planning Statistics

The 64.5 Billion dollars US B2B trade show market is a thriving marketplace. These statistics throw some light on event planning, budgeting,  emerging trends, and much more to help one gain a better perspective. Let’s check these out:

• Considering B2B events, 86.4% of event organizers plan to organize the same or more events in 2024 as compared to 2023. (source)
• Nearly 45% of event planners organize several small events throughout the year to supplement their large B2B events. (source)
• The largest B2B conference for 31.8% of event planners is between 101-500. Only 5.4% of the organizers organize the events for 5000-9999 people.  (source)
•  Around 34% of the organizations had a budget between $100,000-$500,000 for their B2B events in 2023. The same survey reveals that 32.2% of organizations spent a whopping $ 500,000-$1 million on their B2B events while 17.8% of the organizations spent anywhere between $1M-$2M during the same time. (source)
• 43.2% of event planners use Facebook, Slack communities, and WhatsApp to source recommendations for their event venue. Only, 10.9% would rely on the recommendation from friends and colleagues. (source)
• 58% of attendees give utmost importance to sustainability and DE&I while deciding whether to attend an in-person event or not. (source)
• 35% of marketers consider events as the topmost effective strategy for generating B2B demand. (source)
• While 41.5% of event professionals are willing to pay up to $5,000 for a virtual event tech, only 19% of professionals would pay more than $15,000. (source)
• More than 93% of attendees expect a virtual event to be over within an hour. Of this, 55% expect the event to be no longer than 30 minutes. (source)
•  According to a report by American Express, nearly 52.1% of event organizers reported that their event attendance for B2B conferences increased in 2023. (source)
• The cost per attendee for hosting a small and simple in-person B2B meeting is $496 per day. (source)
• In 2024, internal team meetings(23.72), product launches(16.32), and trade conferences (15.85) are going to be the most popular meeting types. (source)

The Bottom Line

To summarize, the event industry made a remarkable shift from in-person events to virtual events while navigating through the COVID-19 challenges. Now, when the industry is regaining its glory, in-person events have made a solid comeback.

2024 shows promising growth opportunities for event organizers and planners after a glorious year of 2023. While the challenges exist, there are event technologies and datasets to help you navigate through them.

The future of events is likely to be dominated by hybrid events, event technologies, experiential event formats, and some big-budget B2B events. We hope these statistics throw some insightful light on helping you plan, organize, and execute the events efficiently.