Zoom has announced a significant expansion of its webinar platform, now capable of supporting up to a million simultaneous participants. This enhancement marks a pivotal moment in the platform’s evolution, reflecting Zoom’s response to growing demand from various sectors.
Responding to Growing Demand
The decision to increase the participant capacity stems from the platform’s popularity among political groups, particularly in the context of fundraising events for Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign. These events, some attracting hundreds of thousands of participants, highlighted the need for a more robust solution. In response, Zoom has rolled out different tariff plans tailored for large-scale events, offering customers the flexibility to host webinars with participant limits of 10, 50, 100, 250, 500,000, or even 1 million. These packages are designed for single-use events and include comprehensive support from Zoom’s Event Services team.
Envisioning the Future of Virtual Events
Zoom’s Chief Product Officer, Smita Hashim, emphasized the transformative potential of these large-scale webinars. “Event organizers now have the flexibility and power to deliver truly interactive events on an unprecedented scale, as well as the ability to purchase large, one-off webinars,” Hashim stated. This capability paves the way for virtual events to become a common feature across corporate, entertainment, and public sectors. For instance, celebrities could leverage these expanded capacities for virtual fan meetings and other large-scale gatherings.
However, organizing such massive events comes with a significant financial commitment. A one-time webinar for a million participants carries a price tag of $100,000, while a smaller event for 10,000 participants costs $9,000—approximately one dollar per participant.
This policy update follows a notable event in July when Win with Black Women hosted a Zoom meeting with over 40,000 attendees, raising $1.5 million for Harris’s campaign. Subsequent events saw even larger audiences, with 190,000 participants for White Dudes for Harris and 164,000 for White Women for Harris.
We’ll keep you updated as Zoom continues to innovate and adapt to the needs of large-scale event organizers.