# How to benchmark your webinar metrics against industry standards

Last updated on Jun 23, 2026 by Lusine Sargsyan

## Goal

You need a clear way to benchmark your webinar performance using real industry data so you can understand where you stand, what to improve first, and what you can stop worrying about.

## How to benchmark your webinar metrics against industry standards - YouTube

[How to benchmark your webinar metrics against industry standards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_CxddrdpLU)

## In this video

- 00:00 Introduction  
- 00:10 Where the data comes from  
- 01:40 Benchmark attendance rate  
- 02:58 Benchmark average watch time  
- 03:40 Benchmark poll engagement  
- 04:14 Benchmark chat engagement

## Step-by-step guide

### Requirements

- Access to your webinar analytics: registrations, live attendees, average watch time, poll answers, and chat data

### 1. Open the benchmarking tool

- Open your browser.  
- Go to [webinarbenchmark.com](/content/mini-guides/webinarbenchmark.com)

### 2. Find your webinar analytics

- Open your webinar platform (e.g. **Contrast**).  
- Go to analytics for the webinar you want to benchmark.  
- Locate key metrics:  
  - Registrations  
  - Live attendees  
  - Watch time  
  - Poll responses  
  - Chat messages (may require download)

### 3. Benchmark registrations

- Find total registrations (example given: 756).  
- Enter the number into [webinarbenchmark.com](/content/mini-guides/webinarbenchmark.com).  
- Click `see my rank`.

### 4. Calculate and benchmark attendance rate

- Identify:  
  - Total registrants (example: 756)  
  - Live attendees (example: 297)

- Calculate attendance rate:  
  - Divide live attendees by registrants  
  - Multiply by 100  
  - Example calculation: 297 ÷ 756 x 100 = 39%
- Enter attendance rate into the tool.  
- Click `see my rank`.  
- Compare your result to average performance.

### 5. Benchmark engagement metrics

- **Average watch time:**  
  - Go to analytics in your webinar platform.  
  - Find `average watch time` (e.g. 63% in **Contrast**).  
  - Enter it into the benchmarking tool.  
  - Check ranking against average.

- **Poll engagement:**  
  - Find total poll responses (example: 118 responses).  
  - Find live attendees (example: 297).  
  - Calculate: Poll responses ÷ live attendees x 100 (example: 118 ÷ 297 x 100 = 39.7%)  
  - Enter result into the tool (example rounded to 40).  
  - Click `see my rank`.  
  - Compare against average.

- **Chat engagement:**  
  - Download chat data from your webinar platform (CSV file).  
  - Upload the file into **ChatGPT** or **Claude**.  
  - Ask: `How many chat messages are there in this file?`  
  - Example result: 306 messages.  
  - Calculate: Chat messages ÷ live attendees (example: 306 ÷ 297 = 1)  
  - Enter result into benchmarking tool.  
  - Click `see my rank`.  
  - Compare against average.

### Interpret results and prioritize improvements

- Identify your weakest metric first.  
- Improve based on the weakest area.

## Common problems and solutions

**I don't know how to calculate engagement metrics**  
Use these formulas:  
- Attendance rate = live attendees ÷ registrants x 100  
- Poll engagement = total poll responses ÷ live attendees x 100  
- Chat engagement = total chat messages ÷ live attendees

**What is the main benefit of benchmarking webinars?**  
It helps you quickly understand how your webinar performs against real industry data, so you can prioritize improvements and optimize results efficiently.