IDC's 2026 assessment identifies AI, CRM integration depth, and outcome-based engagement metrics as the key differentiators among virtual events providers
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IDC
July 28, 2026
Worldwide
Webinars & Events
The IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Virtual Events Applications 2026 Vendor Assessment evaluates providers of virtual and hybrid event platforms — covering registration, audience engagement, live and on-demand video streaming, and analytics — in a market where AI capability, CRM integration quality, and richer engagement formats have become the primary points of differentiation between vendors. The research is intended to help marketing and events leaders select a platform aligned to their organization's demand-generation, community, and retention goals.
IDC plots vendors on a two-axis graphic assessing Capabilities and Strategies, and classifies them as Leaders, Major Players, Contenders, or Participants. A Leader designation reflects strong current execution paired with a well-aligned three-to-five-year roadmap. The 2026 study, authored by IDC research vice president Wayne Kurtzman, evaluated 12 vendors.
Zoom Events is an all-in-one virtual and hybrid event platform built to cover the full event lifecycle in a single system, rather than requiring marketing teams to stitch together multiple vendors. Branded event hubs handle registration and ticketing; Production Studio and Backstage support broadcast-quality live sessions; networking lounges give attendees structured ways to connect; and post-event workflows extend the value of every event into on-demand libraries and follow-up programs. For teams running high-volume webinar programs alongside flagship events, Zoom Webinars Plus and Zoom Events extend that same platform across the full spectrum of formats — from weekly demand-gen webinars to annual customer summits — with AI-assisted tools helping teams produce content faster while keeping human review part of the workflow.
Marketing events leaders today face a clear mandate: produce experiences that engage audiences, capture first-party data, and prove pipeline contribution, or risk losing budget to channels that can. We believe being placed in the Leaders category reflects both the depth of Zoom's current platform and the direction of its product strategy — and for marketing teams evaluating virtual events vendors, that's a useful signal in a market where claims are easy to make and hard to verify.
Read more in our blog post.
Get the full report here.
IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures supplier product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of supplier strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Supplier market share is represented by the size of the icons.