25+ Event Marketing Statistics, Budgets & ROI Data (2026)

Walk through any 2026 trade show floor or company kickoff and the same scene plays out. Lanyards everywhere, coffee lines snaking around a sponsor booth, an app pinging in every pocket, and somewhere near the back of the keynote room a marketer trying to decide whether the whole exercise actually paid for itself. Three years after the pandemic flattened the calendar, in-person events are not just back, they are doing more strategic work than ever. Brand launches are timed to them, pipeline is built around them, and AI is starting to do the unglamorous parts of running them. The format question that dominated 2021 (in-person, virtual, or hybrid?) has largely been answered. Live events run the show, hybrid found a narrower lane, and virtual is mostly a year-round webinar program.

The dollars behind that operating model are large and growing. Amex Global Business Travel's 2026 forecast puts industry optimism at a five-year high. Bizzabo's 2026 State of Events Benchmark Report finds organizers leaning into fewer but bigger in-person moments. Cvent's 2026 Global Planner Sourcing Report (1,650 planners) shows costs and AI rising in lockstep. CEIR's 2026 exhibitor research, EventTrack 2026, Freeman's 2025 trends work, and PCMA's 32nd Convene Meetings Market Survey round out the picture. Below are 23 statistics we could verify against the primary publishers for 2026, organized into five themes that matter to any brand running a launch around a real-world moment.

Market Size, Optimism, and Budgets

1. 85% of event professionals are optimistic about 2026, a five-year high.

Amex GBT's 2026 Global Meetings & Events Forecast, fielded by YouGov with 601 meeting professionals across eight countries between July 14 and 21, 2025, found 85% of respondents optimistic about the sector for 2026. That is an 11-point improvement on the prior year's reading and the most positive sentiment the forecast has captured in five years. (Amex GBT)

2. 78% of organizers say in-person events are their most impactful marketing channel.

Bizzabo's 2026 State of Events Benchmark Report finds that 78% of organizers rank in-person conferences, summits, and conventions as the single most impactful marketing channel in their mix, ahead of every other paid and owned channel they measure. The takeaway is that live events are not just back, they are doing more strategic work than they did pre-pandemic. (Bizzabo)

3. 40% of organizers expect their events budget to grow in 2026.

The same Bizzabo benchmark shows budget intent splitting evenly: 40% of organizers expect their events budget to grow in 2026, 40% expect it to stay flat, and 20% expect a decrease. The story is no longer hockey-stick growth, it is intentional, defended investment. (Bizzabo)

4. 70% of planners predict more in-person events in 2026, down from 90% the prior year.

Cvent's 2026 Global Planner Sourcing Report, based on responses from 1,650 planners across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East & Africa, finds 70% expect to run more in-person events in 2026. That is a notable cooldown from the roughly 90% reading in the prior year's report, suggesting the post-pandemic snap-back has settled into steadier growth. (Cvent)

5. 40% of organizers plan to host more events in 2026; another 40% plan to hold volume steady.

Bizzabo's benchmark report finds 40% of organizers plan to host more events in 2026, with another 40% holding their event count flat. Only 20% are scaling back. Combined with the budget split, the data points to a consolidation moment rather than expansion at any cost. (Bizzabo)

B2B Event ROI and Spend

6. 86% of B2B marketers and 84% of consumer marketers plan to raise event spending in 2026.

Event Marketer's EventTrack 2026 study, the longest-running benchmark on experiential marketing, reports that 86% of B2B marketers and 84% of consumer marketers plan to increase event and experiential spending in 2026. For B2B, that is the highest re-up signal the study has recorded in several years. (Event Marketer EventTrack 2026)

7. 78% of B2B marketers allocate budget to experiential marketing.

EventTrack 2026 finds 78% of B2B marketers now allocate budget to experiential efforts, with events and in-person engagement ranking as the second-highest investment priority on the B2B marketing mix list for the year. (Event Marketer EventTrack 2026)

8. 47% of B2B marketers plan more trade shows in 2026.

The same EventTrack 2026 research reports that 47% of B2B marketers plan to do more trade shows in 2026, a clear vote of confidence in the channel that took the hardest hit from 2020 to 2022. (Event Marketer EventTrack 2026)

9. Only 40% of organizers report difficulty proving event ROI in 2026, down from 70% in 2025.

One of the most striking shifts in Bizzabo's 2026 State of Events Benchmark Report is the collapse in ROI-attribution pain. Just 40% of organizers say they struggle to prove event ROI this year, compared with 70% in 2025. Better tooling, mature integrations into CRM, and tighter follow-up workflows are doing most of the work. (Bizzabo)

10. Companies that follow up within 24 hours see 3x higher pipeline value.

Bizzabo's benchmark report also finds that organizations that follow up on event leads within 24 hours generate 3x higher pipeline value than those that wait a week or more. The marketing money is made or lost in the inbox after the badge comes off. (Bizzabo)

Hybrid, Virtual, and Attendance Mix

11. Just under half of planners expect in-person attendance to rise in 2026.

PCMA's 32nd Annual Convene Meetings Market Survey, fielded in September 2025 with 80 qualified event professionals, finds almost half of respondents anticipate in-person attendance to increase in 2026, down from the three-in-five who predicted higher attendance heading into 2025. The share expecting a drop rose from 3% last year to 13% this year, the first real sign of caution since the recovery began. (PCMA Convene)

12. 54% of attendees plan to attend more in-person events than they did last year.

Bizzabo's benchmark survey of attendees finds 54% saying they plan to attend more in-person events in 2026 than they did the year prior, the strongest demand signal in the report. The hybrid format that dominated 2021 discourse has not displaced live attendance, it has supplemented it. (Bizzabo)

13. 73% of attendees expect in-person conferences to use modern event technology.

Bizzabo's 2026 benchmark finds 73% of attendees now expect conferences to use modern event technology end to end, from registration to mobile apps to on-site personalization. The bar for what counts as a well-run live event has been reset by the virtual era. (Bizzabo)

14. 55% of attendees say the mobile event app can make or break their experience.

The same Bizzabo benchmark reports that 55% of attendees say the mobile event app can make or break their on-site experience. Apps are no longer a nice-to-have layer on top of a conference, they are the connective tissue of the attendee journey. (Bizzabo)

Attendee Behavior and Sponsorship

15. Networking is the top motivator for 58% of attendees, up from 39% in 2021.

Freeman's Trends Report finds that 58% of attendees now cite networking as their primary reason for attending an event, up from just 39% in 2021. The pendulum has swung from content-led attendance to people-led attendance, which has direct implications for how brands design sponsorships and how organizers structure floor plans. (Freeman)

16. 51% of attendees say successful networking is the reason they return.

Freeman's research also finds that 51% of attendees explicitly cite successful networking as the reason they return to an event year after year. Combined with the fact that only 30% of first-time attendees come back at all, retention strategy in 2026 is networking strategy. (Freeman)

17. US exhibitors spent just over $30 billion in direct expenses in 2024.

CEIR's exhibitor spending research estimates that US exhibitors spent just over $30 billion in direct expenses in 2024, covering booth construction, on-site staffing, travel, sponsorships, and supplier costs. That figure is the foundation of the broader B2B trade-show economy heading into 2026. (CEIR)

18. Sponsorships now take nearly 14% of B2B exhibitors' marketing budgets.

CEIR's 2026 marketing-spend decision research finds that exhibitors who have purchased sponsorships in the past two years spend an average of nearly 14% of their B2B exhibiting marketing budget on sponsorships, with budgets otherwise flat. Sponsorships are the line item exhibitors are most willing to defend even when the rest of the trade-show budget is being scrutinized. (CEIR)

19. 1 in 3 exhibitors plan to grow event budgets in 2026, a 10-point year-over-year rise.

CEIR data also reports that one in three exhibitors anticipates increasing their event budgets in 2026, a 10-point rise year over year. The growth is concentrated among exhibitors who have re-tooled around in-person sponsorship and targeted digital activation. (CEIR)

Event Tech, Costs, and AI

20. More than 70% of meeting professionals expect total costs to rise in 2026.

Amex GBT's 2026 forecast finds more than 70% of respondents expect total meeting costs will be up in 2026, with 38% expecting a slight rise in cost per attendee and 27% expecting a moderate increase. Wage inflation and food and beverage pricing are doing more of the work now that hotel rate growth has moderated. (Amex GBT)

21. Cost is the top planning challenge for 38% of planners.

The same Amex GBT forecast finds cost is the single biggest planning challenge for 38% of respondents, followed by macroeconomic uncertainty (32%), keeping up with evolving attendee needs (31%), and budget cuts (30%). The cost story is no longer a 2023 hangover, it is now structural. (Amex GBT)

22. 72% of planners expect event costs to rise in 2026.

Cvent's 2026 Global Planner Sourcing Report puts the cost-pressure read even higher: 72% of planners expect event costs to rise this year, and 35% say staying within budget is their single biggest concern. (Cvent)

23. 48% of planners are sourcing non-hotel venues to control costs and stand out.

Cvent's sourcing data also finds 48% of planners now source non-hotel, unique venues, a trend driven equally by cost containment and the search for a more memorable attendee experience. The shift away from default hotel ballrooms is one of the clearest behavior changes in the 2026 data. (Cvent)

24. Three-quarters of planners now use AI somewhere in the sourcing process.

Cvent reports three-quarters of planners now use AI in their sourcing process, with the top use cases being finding and selecting venues (43%), analyzing attendee data for the best fit (41%), and comparing bids (40%). The first wave of event-AI tools is solving for procurement, not creative. (Cvent)

25. 95% of event leaders expect their organization's AI use in events to grow.

Bizzabo's 2026 benchmark finds that 95% of respondents expect their organization's use of AI in events to increase, with adoption focused on practical workflows like analytics, attendee communications, and agenda design. AI in events is moving from experiment to expectation. (Bizzabo)

26. 35% of planners are now seeking supplementary funding such as sponsorships.

Amex GBT's 2026 forecast finds more than a third of planners (35%) are pairing traditional cost-cutting levers with newer tactics like sponsorships, secondary-city venues, and less in-demand event days to stretch their spend. Sponsorship dollars are increasingly underwriting the experiences the host brand can no longer fully fund alone. (Amex GBT)

Frequently Asked Questions

Event marketing in 2026 is back to being the most strategic channel many B2B brands run, with optimism at a five-year high, budgets defended, and AI quietly automating the unglamorous parts. The pieces that decide whether a launch event actually pays off, however, still come down to the moment of conversion: a QR code on a stage banner, a code printed on the back of a lanyard, an exclusive promo dropped at the keynote close. At 99coupons.ai, that is exactly the loop we live in: verified event-driven codes and launch-day deals, surfaced cleanly, so the energy in the room actually shows up at the cart.