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Webcasting 101: What you need to know about webcasts

If you’ve seen the term “webcasting” before, you could understandably wonder what it means – especially given the prevalence of similar jargon like “podcasting” and “webinar”. However, Techopedia provides a simple and to-the-point definition of “webcasting”…

The site calls it “a general term in IT that refers to broadcasting or presenting over the Internet”. It’s a method of audiovisual presentation that has become more and more viable for businesses as IP speeds have improved and digital video and audio technologies have increased in efficiency.

How would you actually use webcasting?

A “webcast” – to use the term for the online presentation itself – can be delivered in various ways. While some webcasts are prerecorded and prearranged in a series before being made available “on demand” for end users, other webcasts are held in real time.

Webcasts can come in many different formats, too. Some are built around lectures, while others are more event-based; Apple’s iPhone product launches, for example, could be classed as webcasts. However, one element that tends to stay present across various webcasts is a lack of interaction with the audience.

This is mainly what, in a practical sense, distinguishes a webcast from a webinar. While the terms “webcast” and “webinar” are often mistakenly deemed synonymous, webcasts are a one-way flow of information, whereas webinars invite more collaboration between attendees.

Webcasting: a great way to spread the word widely

Another big difference between webcasts and webinars is that the former are much better at reaching out to large, mainstream audiences. As webinars include a strong interactive component, attendee numbers per webinar are usually capped at a few hundred maximum.

In contrast, webcasts typically each reach up to thousands of people, according to TechFunnel. The audience doesn’t have to be based entirely online, either – as you could also create some capacity for an audience that will watch from the same physical venue where the event itself takes place.

Once you have wrapped up a webcast, you could also easily share it online, such as on a live video portal like YouTube. Hence, the content could continue to amass you new leads without you even having to do anything extra – and the ROI (return on investment) from a webcast can improve significantly over time.

The marketing expert Neil Patel enthuses that webcasting “can be leveraged for a broad scope of use cases, like lead generation, customer support, internal company communications, and so much more.”

What webcasting software should you use?

Patel warns, however, that “having a successful webcast is reliant on finding the right webcasting service”. One live webcast platform he recommends is ON24 Webcast Elite, which can be used for both live and on-demand webcasts and would let you easily fill them with data to spur audience engagement.

All in all, webcasts are highly repeatable and shareable – and, when preparing them, you won’t need to worry about scheduling them for a time that would theoretically be “just right” for your intended viewers, as they would easily be able to consume the content in their own time.