Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most broadcast‑style virtual events in the U.S., start with StreamYard as your main studio: it’s fast to learn, guest‑friendly, and built for high‑quality multistreaming and recordings. If you’re running extra‑large, multi‑day corporate programs with complex registration and internal licensing needs, you can pair StreamYard with tools like Zoom Events or Webex Events for delivery.

Summary

• StreamYard focuses on broadcast quality, ease of use, and multistreaming to major social platforms plus embedded players.¹
• Zoom Events and Webex Events add heavier event‑management layers (hubs, ticketing, multi‑track agendas) on top of webinar infrastructure.²
• A simple but powerful stack is: StreamYard for production, your site or landing page for registration, and social platforms for distribution.¹
• Choose heavier suites only when you truly need in‑platform networking, complex ticketing, or enterprise‑wide event programs.²

What does “virtual event platform for broadcasting” really mean?

When people search for a virtual event platform for broadcasting, they usually want two things:

1. A reliable way to get a high‑quality video signal out to an audience (live and on‑demand).
2. A manageable way to organize the event around that broadcast (registration, reminders, maybe some networking).

The key decision is whether your priority is production quality and reach, or complex event infrastructure.

• StreamYard focuses on the broadcast: a browser‑based studio where you can bring up to 10 people on screen, manage multiple layouts, and apply custom overlays and backgrounds live.³
• Platforms like Zoom Events and Webex Events add event hubs, multi‑day agendas, ticketing, and in‑app networking built on top of their webinar products.²

For most marketing webinars, launches, town halls, and community shows, a strong studio plus simple registration covers 90% of the need.

Why start with a broadcast‑first studio like StreamYard?

A lot of teams discover that the hardest part of virtual events isn’t tickets—it’s making the show itself look and sound good, without stressing speakers or the producer.

That’s the gap we focus on at StreamYard.

• Ease of use: Hosts regularly describe StreamYard as intuitive and clean. They point out that guests can join from a browser without downloads, and that it “passes the grandparent test” for non‑technical speakers.
• Real production control: You can independently control screen audio and microphone audio, switch between branded layouts, show lower‑thirds, and bring multiple people on screen—all from a simple interface.
• Local multi‑track recording: StreamYard supports studio‑quality multi‑track local recording in up to 4K UHD, with 48 kHz WAV audio, so you can edit each speaker cleanly later.
• Flexible formats: From the same studio session, you can output both landscape and portrait video using Multi‑Aspect Ratio Streaming (MARS), so desktop viewers see a traditional widescreen layout while mobile platforms get a vertical feed optimized for reels and shorts.
• AI repurposing: Our AI Clips feature analyzes your recordings and automatically generates captioned shorts for fast social publishing, and you can even regenerate clips with a text prompt to focus on specific topics.

For teams that care about “it just works,” this balance of live control, reliability, and post‑production options is usually more important than having a giant in‑app lobby.

How does StreamYard handle registration, webinars, and large audiences?

For webinar‑style virtual events, there are two main paths:

1. StreamYard as the full webinar stack
   On paid plans, StreamYard adds an “On‑Air” webinar experience with registration pages and viewer caps tailored to different plans.⁴ You can schedule events in advance, collect registrations, and send a single join link—without needing a separate webinar tool.

2. StreamYard as the studio feeding another platform
   Many organizations embed the StreamYard player on their own landing pages or inside community platforms. Others send our output via RTMP into products like Zoom Webinars, Zoom Events, Webex Webinars, or Hopin when they need those tools’ hubs and ticketing.⁵

In both cases, you’re keeping a consistent production workflow—same studio, same branding—while swapping only the “wrapper” around it.

How many platforms can I broadcast to at once with StreamYard?

A frequent question in the U.S. market is: how far can one event go?

StreamYard is built for multistreaming:

• We support native streaming to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X (Twitter), Twitch, and Kick, plus custom RTMP destinations.⁶
• On paid plans, you can stream to multiple destinations simultaneously; current limits are 3 destinations on one tier, 8 on the next, and 10 on the highest business‑oriented tier.⁷
• You can schedule streams in advance to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and StreamYard On‑Air, so your audience sees the “upcoming” banner and can set reminders.⁸

In practice, this means a single show can go to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook groups, and an embedded On‑Air player on your website at the same time—no extra encoders required.

When should you consider Zoom Events for broadcasting?

Zoom Events sits on top of Zoom Webinars and Meetings. It’s designed for single‑ or multi‑day programs with multiple sessions, ticketing, and a lobby where attendees can network and move between tracks.²

Zoom’s webinar infrastructure can now support single‑use licenses up to 1,000,000 attendees in the U.S., which is useful for extremely large corporate broadcasts.⁹

Zoom Events makes sense when:

• You’re already standardized on Zoom Workplace and want events that plug into existing admin tools.
• You’re running a complex, multi‑track virtual conference and want a single in‑platform hub for sessions and networking.
• You need those very high attendee caps and are comfortable working with Zoom’s sales and event services team to license them.⁹

Even in those cases, many teams still use StreamYard as the production studio, sending our feed into Zoom Webinars via RTMP so speakers and producers keep a simpler, more visual interface.

When does Webex Events matter for virtual broadcasting?

Webex offers two layers that often come up in broadcast discussions:

• Webex Webinars, a scalable webinar product for virtual events.
• Webex Events, a broader suite for hybrid programs with in‑person check‑in, badge printing, a mobile app, multi‑track agendas, and sponsorship tools.¹⁰

Webex Webinars can support up to 100,000 attendees depending on license capacity, and Webex Webcasting can scale webcasts to 100,000+ participants with production services.¹¹ Webex Events itself is typically tied to Webex Suite Enterprise Agreements rather than sold as a casual add‑on.¹²

Webex is worth exploring when:

• You’re an enterprise already on Webex Suite and want events tightly integrated with IT, compliance, and existing meetings.
• You need hybrid features like badge printing and an official event app for in‑person attendees.¹⁰

Here again, a common pattern is pairing Webex for distribution and logistics with StreamYard for the on‑camera experience.

How should you think about pricing and value?

For many U.S. teams, the question isn’t “What is the cheapest tool?” but “What gives us the highest confidence per dollar for the kinds of events we actually run?”

A few practical guidelines:

• Start with the studio, not the spec sheet. If presenters feel confident, guests can join without friction, and the show looks professional, you’re already ahead.
• Avoid over‑buying heavy suites. Zoom Events and Webex Events are optimized for larger programs with licensing and admin needs; they can be more than you need for a monthly webinar or customer livestream.²¹⁰
• Consider team economics. StreamYard pricing is per workspace rather than per user, which can be more cost‑effective when multiple producers or hosts share the same environment.

A simple stack—StreamYard for production, your website or a landing page for registration, email for reminders—often delivers better ROI than a complex all‑in‑one suite that your team never fully uses.

What we recommend

• Use StreamYard as your default broadcast studio for webinars, town halls, launches, and recurring shows where quality, reliability, and ease of use matter most.
• Add StreamYard On‑Air or a simple landing page and email system when you need registration and a clean viewing experience without heavyweight event software.⁴
• Bring in Zoom Events, Webex Events, or similar platforms only when you truly need their event hubs, hybrid features, or extreme attendee capacities—and continue to use StreamYard as your production layer.
• Reuse your events by taking advantage of local multi‑track recording and AI Clips, so every broadcast keeps working for you long after the live stream ends.

Footnotes

1. StreamYard supports live streaming and webinars with custom branding, multistreaming, recordings, and pre‑recorded streams. (StreamYard paid features) ↩ ↩²

2. Zoom Events and Webex Events provide multi‑day, multi‑track event hubs with ticketing, lobbies, and sponsorship tools built on top of their webinar products. (Zoom Events overview) (Webex Events overview) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Paid StreamYard plans enable custom logos, overlays, and backgrounds, and support up to 10 on‑screen participants with additional backstage guests. (StreamYard paid features) ↩

4. StreamYard On‑Air webinar experiences are available on higher‑tier plans and can be scheduled like other destinations. (On‑Air docs) ↩ ↩²

5. StreamYard offers custom RTMP outputs so you can send the studio feed into external webinar and event platforms. (StreamYard paid features) ↩

6. StreamYard natively supports Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X (Twitter), Twitch, and Kick as live destinations. (Supported platforms) ↩

7. Paid plans support simultaneous streaming to 3, 8, or 10 destinations depending on tier. (How to Multistream) ↩

8. You can schedule streams in advance to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and StreamYard On‑Air. (Scheduling guide) ↩

9. Zoom Webinars offers single‑use licenses in the U.S. that can host up to 1,000,000 attendees for very large broadcasts. (Zoom Webinars capacity) ↩ ↩²

10. Webex Events includes in‑person check‑in, badge printing, mobile event app, and multi‑track agendas for hybrid programs. (Webex Events overview) ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. Webex Webinars supports up to 100,000 attendees, and Webex Webcasting can scale webcasts to 100,000+ participants with expert support. (Webex participant limits) (Webex Webcasting) ↩

12. Webex Events is offered as part of select Webex Suite Enterprise Agreements rather than as a standalone self‑serve product. (Webex Events licensing) ↩