You know the feeling. If you’re a B2B marketer, you know the hamster wheel: launch content, chase leads, juggle data, repeat. The sales team is asking for “more leads,” and your boss wants to see “better engagement.” On top of it all, every week there’s a new marketing buzzword you’re supposed to be an expert on.
In the middle of all this chaos, we often fall back on the classics. The two titans of B2B content are locked in a perpetual heavyweight bout for our time and budget: Webinars vs. Whitepapers.
In one corner, you have the glamorous live webinar. It promises real human connection, exclusive access to experts, and that precious sense of community. In the other, you have the quiet, dependable whitepaper. This is the deep, authoritative guide that stands as a testament to your expertise.
For years, I’ve heard countless opinions on which is better. “Webinars in B2B marketing are the future!” “Long-form content is king!” We were tired of guessing and wanted to see the real, unvarnished numbers. So, our team took a deep breath and dove into the data to finally settle the score.
And let me tell you what we found wasn’t just interesting. It has fundamentally changed how we think about our content strategy.
The Data Shock: Whitepapers Beat Webinars
When we put the average engagement rates for these two formats head-to-head, the results were a genuine surprise.
- Webinars: 20.7% avg. engagement
- Whitepapers & Docs: 38% avg. engagement
(Source: Marketboats analysis of 750+ campaigns, 2024)
I had to read that twice. On average, our text-based B2B content formats were nearly doubling the engagement of our live events. I’m talking about the stuff people can download and read on their own time. In a world saturated with Zoom fatigue, it seems the simple freedom to consume content on your own terms is a massive competitive advantage.
But the story gets even wilder when you look at the other formats we grouped with whitepapers. Not all documents are created equal.
- eBook: 66.24% (That’s not a typo.)
- Guide: 35.90%
- Report: 34.63%
The eBook isn’t just winning; it’s a runaway champion. It’s lapping the field. This got me thinking about what’s really going on here. My theory is that it’s all about psychology and perceived value. “Whitepaper” = homework. “eBook” = gift. The label changes the perceived value. It’s a solution you can own, a promise of comprehensive knowledge, neatly packaged with a bow. It feels less like a marketing asset and more like a gift.
The Real Role of Webinars in a Modern Strategy
Now, seeing this data, you might be tempted to scrap your entire webinar program. Don’t. While the overall engagement number is lower, webinars serve a unique and powerful purpose that a PDF simply can’t replicate.
Webinars create urgency and scarcity. There’s a specific date and time, which makes it an event. This motivates people to register now, not later. More importantly, webinars humanize your brand. Your audience gets to see the faces, hear the voices, and feel the passion of the real people behind your logo. They can ask questions and get answers in real-time. That kind of direct interaction builds a level of trust and connection that is incredibly difficult to achieve otherwise.
So, the data isn’t telling us that webinars are bad. It’s telling us they are a specialized tool for a specific job.
It’s Not About Format, It’s About Audience
This is where it all clicked into place. The most effective content strategy isn’t about choosing a format; it’s about choosing an audience. When we sliced the data by job level, two completely different stories emerged.
Webinars are for the strategic thinkers, also known as the leaders.
Who’s showing up and paying attention during webinars? The people steering the ship.
- VP: 21.79%
- Director: 21.27%
Picture a Director’s calendar. It’s a wall of back-to-back meetings. They are drowning in operational details and desperately need to zoom out to see the bigger picture. They don’t have an afternoon to leisurely read a 40-page report. But they will absolutely block out 45 minutes for a webinar that promises sharp, strategic insights from a trusted source. For them, a webinar is a lighthouse in a storm of data, a clear signal telling them where to focus.
eBooks are for the tactical geniuses, the people we call the doers.
Conversely, who is devouring our in-depth guides? The people in the trenches who have to make it all happen.
- Individual Contributor: 22.39%
- Sr. Manager & Manager: 17.91%
These are your internal champions. When a VP says, “We need to look into this,” these are the people who get the assignment. They need the how. They need the frameworks, the checklists, the step-by-step instructions. Your comprehensive eBook isn’t just a guide for them; it’s their ammunition. It’s the document they use to build their business case, persuade their colleagues, and become the smartest person in the room on that topic.
When Company Size Flips the Script
Just when we thought we had it all figured out, we added one last filter: the size of the company. This layer added even more clarity to the picture.
Webinars are an SMB’s best friend.
The data here was just plain bonkers. For companies in the 51-200 employee range, the webinar engagement rate was an incredible 75%. Why? Think about the environment at a small or medium-sized business. They’re agile, hungry, and often operating without massive budgets for training and development. For them, a high-quality, free webinar isn’t just marketing, it’s a critical educational resource. It’s a direct line to expertise they couldn’t otherwise afford.
eBooks are the secret weapon for the Mid-Market.
When we looked at who was downloading our text assets, the sweet spot shifted to companies in the 250-999 employee range, with a massive 54% engagement rate. These are companies in scaling mode. They’ve moved past the “let’s just try stuff” phase and are desperately trying to build repeatable, efficient systems. A mistake at this stage can be costly. They don’t just need ideas; they need proven blueprints. Your detailed eBook provides exactly that, a safe, documented path for growth.
Your New One-Two Punch for B2B Content
So, let’s put this all together. The goal is not to declare a winner in the webinars vs. whitepapers fight. The goal is to become a smarter marketer who uses the right tool for the right job. Here’s my new, data-backed playbook.
1. Build the “One-Two Punch” Content Journey
Think journey, not assets. Pair a high-level webinar with a step-by-step eBook. Leaders get the big picture, doers get the playbook.
- Webinar: Host a high-level, strategic webinar. Title it something like, “The 3 Industry Shifts VPs Can’t Ignore in 2025.” Target it at Directors and VPs in SMBs. The goal is to capture their attention and introduce the big idea.
- eBook: The primary call-to-action in your webinar isn’t “Book a Demo.” Instead, offer a “Download our complete step-by-step eBook to implement these strategies.” Now you’ve engaged the leader with the live event, and you’re about to equip their team with the tactical guide they need. You’re serving the entire buying committee.
2. Become a Master of Repurposing
This is how you get off the content hamster wheel. Squeeze every drop of value from your big content pieces.
- That one webinar can become five short video clips for LinkedIn, a detailed blog post summarizing the key takeaways, a series of quote graphics for Twitter, and audio-only clips for a podcast.
- That one eBook can become a 10-part email nurture sequence, a series of “how-to” blog posts for each chapter, a checklist you can offer as a new lead magnet, and an infographic visualizing the core framework.
3. Get Hyper-Specific with Your Ads
Use this data to spend your marketing budget with precision.
- Webinar Campaign: On LinkedIn, target users with “Director” and “VP” in their title at companies with 50-250 employees. In your ad copy, talk about “strategy,” “vision,” and “future trends.”
- eBook Campaign: Run a separate campaign targeting “Managers” and “Specialists” at companies with 250-1,000 employees. In this ad copy, use words like “guide,” “checklist,” “step-by-step,” and “how-to.”
4. For a Moment, Forget Marketing. Just Be Helpful
At the end of the day, that 66% engagement rate for eBooks tells us a simple, powerful truth: people are starved for genuinely useful content. They can smell a sales pitch disguised as a guide from a mile away.
The ultimate strategy is to be relentlessly, outrageously helpful. Create the resource you wish you had when you were facing that problem. Pour your best knowledge into it, and polish it till it shines. Whether it’s a webinar or an eBook, if you build something with the pure intention of helping someone solve a real problem, they won’t just engage with it; they’ll thank you for it. That gratitude is what eventually leads them to buy.
The fight is over. The winner isn’t a format. The winner is the marketer who listens, understands, and serves their audience with empathy and precision.
Of course, putting this playbook into action can feel overwhelming. Building those integrated journeys, targeting specific audiences, and tracking what truly resonates takes significant effort. It requires the right insights and the right tools to execute flawlessly.
That’s precisely why we built Marketboats. Our platform is designed to take the guesswork out of great marketing. We help you bring your entire content strategy under one roof, see which assets are engaging which personas, and automate the kind of personalized journeys that turn prospects into fans. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start executing a smarter, data-driven content strategy, we’d love to show you how.
Ready to see which content truly engages your audience? Book a demo with Marketboats and turn insights into action.