Webinar timing can feel like guesswork, and honestly, most of us just default to whatever’s worked “okay” before. But every so often, it’s worth checking the data to make sure you’re not missing out on sign-ups or attendees.
Jon Schumacher pulled together a bunch of webinar benchmarks (from GoToWebinar, ON24, MegaMeeting, etc.) and surfaced some patterns around when people are most likely to show up to virtual events in 2025.
Here’s a snapshot of the data:
Best days to host a webinar
- Midweek wins: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are consistently the best performing days.
- Tuesday sees the highest attendance and registration.
- Wednesday and Thursday are close behind.
- Avoid Mondays (catch-up mode) and Fridays (checked-out mode).
- Skip weekends for business audiences.
Best times to host a webinar
- North American audiences:
- 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET is the “golden hour,” says Jon Schumacher. It strikes the right balance for U.S. time zones and has high turnout.
- 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET also performs well, especially for mid-morning engagement.
- Global audiences:
- For international reach, Jon recommends offering multiple time slots to support time zone diversity.
- Research cited from GoToWebinar, ON24, and MegaMeeting consistently supports mid-morning and early afternoon as optimal across regions.
Promotion timing tips
- 56% of registrants sign up 8+ days before, according to On24 research.
- Despite this, Jon notes that most attendance rates increase when email promotion peaks in the final 3 days before the event.
- Additionally, about 25% of companies begin promoting 2+ weeks in advance
- Jon’s recommendation: start promotion a week out, but front-load your email cadence in the last 3 days to increase attendance.
All that said, think of these as reference points. Every audience and industry behaves a little differently. For example, in the association space, we’ve seen strong turnout for Friday lunchtime webinars when they’re framed as casual “lunch and learns.” It really comes down to knowing your audience and being willing to test, tweak, and see what works.
