Splash doubles down on virtual and hybrid events

Events management platform Splash has announced the launch of Splash Studio, a new product to support the design and execution of streaming events. The offering includes native live-streaming and on-demand capabilities and engagement tools such as Q&A, chat, and polling. As with Splash’s in-person management solution, Splash Studio integrates with CRM and marketing automation systems, and there are add-on-options which allow for customization.

Why we care. It’s hard to believe that Splash has been around for almost 10 years. It was the brainchild of Ben Hindman who came from a live events planning background. It’s proffer as it grew was not just a suite of event management tools but the capability to aggregate digital data from in-person events and push it into other systems like marketing automation for lead nurturing purposes and to show clearer event marketing ROI.

Along with the rest of the in-person event eco-system, Splash began a pivot to virtual in Spring of 2020. What this new release indicates is that Splash doesn’t expect to pivot fully back to live any time soon. Splash Studio almost looks like an offering from a virtual-first event and lead gen vendor like ON24. Where Splash and ON24 were once polarized on the benefits of in-person versus digital, we now see a convergence.

Read next: Events of the future will be hybrid and ‘always on’

“As much as we want in-person events to return permanently — and they will — virtual and hybrid events are here to stay,” said Eric Holmen, Splash CEO in a release. Respondents to MarTech’s Event Participation Index gave the likelihood they would attend an in-person business event in the first half of 2022 a 5 out of 10.

About The Author

Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space. He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020. Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.