Pleasanton, Calif.—Online event attendance is on the rise, according to the “Digital Event Benchmark Report” from the Virtual Edge Institute (VEI). The report, commissioned by trade show services provider Freeman, was based on more than 200 responses to a survey distributed to physical and online event producers via email. Two-thirds of survey respondents (67.7%) reported their online attendance is up, while 17.7% said attendance was flat. As for the amount of time attendees typically spend at online events, one to two hours was the most common response (35.5%), followed by a tie between three to five hours and less than one hour (both at 21.0%). Three-quarters (75.9%) of survey respondents always or sometimes tried to monetize their online events through sponsorships. The three most successful packages were overall event sponsorships (70.0%), advertising (66.7%) and sponsorships tied to in-person events (55.4%). Online booths were reported as the least successful (34.7%).