Microsoft Teams will increase the Town Hall's single events participation limit to 50,000 simultaneous attendees

This is big news for companies looking to expand their webinars beyond the confines of their own infrastructure: Microsoft Teams’ Town Hall single events will soon support a maximum of 50,000 simultaneous attendees.

That is a big number, considering the previous (and current) attendee cap of the Teams’ Town Hall single events is only 20,000. We’re saying only, ironically, of course. Microsoft will add to that number a swooping 30,000 more attendees. Companies can host virtual live concerts if they want to.

According to the latest entry in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, customers who want access to this staggering number must have a Teams Premium license, and some interactive features will be turned off for events with more than 20,000 attendees.

However, the quality and stability of events will stay high even with the increased audience, and organizations can get help hosting these large events from the Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program.

Here’s what the entry says:

Organizers of town hall instances can now reach wider audiences in a single event with an expansion to a maximum of 50,000 simultaneous attendees. This increase serves as a significant jump from the previous attendee cap of 20,000 for organizers with a Teams Premium license. The quality and stability of town halls up to this new limit will remain constant, providing high-quality and reliable content to participants. For events with more than 20,000 concurrent attendees, some interactivity features are disabled for all attendees. Organizations can get support for audiences up to 50,000 concurrent attendees by reaching out to the Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program (LEAP) for assistance (Microsoft 365 Live Event Assistance Program – Microsoft Adoption). This feature is available for town hall organizers that have an active Teams Premium license.

The new attendee cap will impact the Desktop, Web, and Mac versions of the Town Hall platform, and it will be released in December 2024.

Coupled with the newest capability that will let users pause and move back and forth in Town Hall webinars and events, this new attendee cap could be the perfect feature for holding not only conferences but also special events with Microsoft Teams.