Zoom enables webinars with 1 million participants - in the USA
The Zoom video conferencing service enables mass webinars with 1 million participants and 1,000 speakers. But initially only in one country.
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The Zoom video conferencing service enables webinars with up to one million participants at the same time. The mass events must be booked individually in advance, in packages with a maximum of 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, 500,000 or one million participants. There are no public price lists beyond 10,000 users, and above this limit the offer is only available in the United States of America for the time being.
The standard length of such mass events is a maximum of three hours, but longer sessions of up to 30 hours are possible in cooperation with the Zooms consulting department (and corresponding remuneration). Up to 1,000 people can participate interactively in virtual panel discussions or give presentations , according to the press release. Zoom promises "zero latency" and a subsequent report with statistical data on the participants and their attendance, which should help in preparing for the next such event.
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The company has several use cases in mind for the giant video conferences, such as managers of international corporations who want to address all employees at the same time, opening speeches at major trade fairs and conferences, the presentation of new products by major brands, speeches by mayors or heads of state to the population, virtual fan meetings of celebrities and, last but not least, political campaigns of all kinds. According to US media reports, fundraising events for the election campaign of US Vice President Kamala Harris prompted Zoom to turn mass meetings into a publicly offered service.
Zoom was founded in 2011 and has been listed on the stock exchange since mid-April 2019. It went from an issue price of USD 36 to a closing price of USD 62 on the first day of trading. Zoom experienced a boom during the restrictions on public gatherings caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which was also reflected in the share price: In October 2020, Zoom shares briefly traded at almost 589 dollars apiece. On Monday, the stock rose three percent to 59.82 dollars. Growth has slowed, but the company is profitable and continues to grow.
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