Webinars vs Livestreams - What's the difference?
What’s the real difference between webinars and livestream events?
Perhaps your company wants to broadcast updates to its customer base, stream to popular platforms like Youtube, or broadcast a hybrid event: mixing an in-person audience with an online audience.
Maybe you’ve been using Zoom and want a better understanding of the other options available.
I’ve produced 50 livestreamed events with 680 hours of audience watch time (1,100 hours counting the event recordings).
Today I’m going to show you 29 differences between webinars and livestreams.
What we’ll cover:
The key differences
Quality
Privacy
Before the live event
During the live event
After the live event
Summary
So let’s dive right in.
The key differences
| Webinar | Livestream | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Online | Online and in-person (Hybrid) |
| Speakers | Online | Online and in-person (Hybrid) |
| Venue | At home | Your chosen venue |
| Multiple cameras | Not usually | Yes |
| Ideal for | Smaller audiences | Larger audiences |
| How to watch | Download software | Embedded video |
| Platform | Zoom, Google Hangouts | Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch |
You might not have heard about ‘hybrid events’.
These are your usual in-person events that expand their audience with an online viewing option.
Think of an iPhone launch - there’s the clapping crowd (audience 1) and those watching on youtube (audience 2).
While webinars are perfect for small online-only events, if you’re running a larger event for potential customers, you’ll find a livestream is better suited.
“Webinars are perfect for small online-only events.”
Quality
| Webinar | Livestream | |
|---|---|---|
| Picture Quality | Highly Compressed (1mbps) | Good Compression (>4mbps) |
| Resolution | Depends on webcams | HD |
| Camera | Webcam | Professional HD DSLRs |
| Audio | In-laptop mic / USB mic | Wireless lav mic / handheld mic |
| Connection | At mercy of each speaker's connection | In control of connection |
| Latency | Near-instant | Seconds |
Webinars usually have lower quality picture and audio as they’re prioritising for low-latency.
The lower the latency is, the sooner Person A hears Person B.
It’s suited for interaction between speakers, but means everything else takes a backseat.
With a livestream most speakers are in the same room, so latency isn’t an issue and crystal-clear audio and HD video can take centre stage.
Quick note: Compression is more important than resolution. If you have a 4K image that’s highly compressed (1mbps), it’s going to look pixelated. If you have an HD image with low compression (>4mbps), it’ll look sharper.
Privacy
| Webinar | Livestream | |
|---|---|---|
| Video link privacy | Private link / password protection | Private link / public link |
| Login required | No, but encouraged | No |
| Name required | Yes | No |
Both you and your audience are concerned about privacy.
For you, your event may be aimed exclusively at your paying customers, so having a password-protected link may be critical.
If your event is for prospective customers, they might not want to share their contact details yet.
In this case, being more approachable and not requiring a name to join could help increase the number of attendees.
Before the live event
| Webinar | Livestream | |
|---|---|---|
| Embed player on your website | Complicated | Easy |
| Reminder | Automatic | Manual, via email and social |
| Asked to download app on PC | Yes | No |
| Asked to download app on mobile | Yes | No |
It should be as simple as possible for your audience to join your event.
Your viewers are joining from different devices, mobile and desktop, each running different web browsers.
Every extra step to joining your event is another you’ll need to explain to the lesser-tech-savvy.
A webinar requires users to download software and setup a login, while a livestream can load instantly in a youtube player on your webpage.
But if all your users are already setup with something like Zoom, they may feel more comfortable using what they know.
“Every extra step to joining your event is another you’ll need to explain to the lesser-tech-savvy.”
During the live event
| Webinar | Livestream | |
|---|---|---|
| Speaker Limitations | Speaker needs to sit close to laptop | Speaker can walk and talk around a stage |
| Live chat | Yes | Yes |
| Record event | Yes | Yes |
| Pause and rewind while live | No | Yes |
| Watch on TV | No | Yes |
As webinars are usually based around webcams, the setup is simpler, but you’re also glued to your seat.
Livestreams use multiple cameras that can be placed around a room or venue, meaning your speakers can pace around a stage, walk into the audience, or join a fireside chat.
The audience can also use a Chromecast or Apple AirPlay to cast the video to their TV, and as platforms like Youtube are processing the video as it’s streaming, the audience can pause and rewind at any point.
After the live event
| Webinar | Livestream | |
|---|---|---|
| Instant replay after event | No | Yes |
| Easy to edit | No | Yes |
| Boosts your social media stats | No | Yes |
| Follow-up email | Yes | Yes if registered interest |
People join late to live events.
Having a replay available as soon as possible is extremely important so they’re not left out.
Livestreams do this automatically, so if you don’t want to lose latecomers, livestream.
In addition, as you’re getting views to your Youtube (or similar) account, the stats help boost the SEO of your channel as Youtube realises that people enjoy your content.
Webinars are great at providing an exclusive event - when it’s over, it’s going to be a while before you can share a recording.
Playing into the exclusivity of the live event could attract more viewers.
“If you don’t want to lose latecomers, livestream.”
Summary
There’s upsides and downsides to both webinars and livestreams.
Hopefully you now have a better idea which is best suited for your needs.
Thinking about setting up a livestream? Here’s the eight things you’ll NEED.
