Building for the future: upcoming changes to instructor business terms
Hi all,
As we look to continue to grow the Udemy platform in 2021 and beyond, we're making updates to the Instructor Terms and Promotions Policy. This includes an expansion of the terms of the Udemy for Business subscription program in April, and a simplified marketplace revenue share model in May.
It's important to note that we don't expect any of these changes to have a pronounced impact on instructors' business in the short term. In the long term, they'll enable Udemy to keep growing the potential audience for your content, and growing the potential of your businesses with it.
We encourage you to read the full update in the Teaching Center, or to peruse the upcoming Terms or Promotions Policy.
If you have questions about these updates or the strategy behind them, please feel free to ask them below.
Comments
-
37% good. my lucky number
1 -
so blended 37% does that mean my organic sales go down to keeping 37% and my affiliate sales go up to 37%? and is it just affiliate or is it also ads, and how is it better. for us to be "blended" out of curiosity
2 -
Instructors who are not using affiliate and ads, for them its 37% instead of 50%. By that 13% is not small amount.
"We designed this change to be as seamless as possible for instructors. The new share is derived from the actual historical average share for all paid and organic sales."
Does it mean instructors are forced to opt in for affiliates and ads ?
5 -
So instructors who had opted out of ad and affiliate program, would be at loss now because earlier they were getting 50% of every sale except promo?
Does that mean that we all will get 37% for all organic sales? so that's a loss of 26% of net earning for me.
Does it also mean that we will get 37% in UFB ?
1 -
@AshishR
seems like its for marketplace only.0 -
"On May 3, the Marketing Boost Program will be retired, and we’ll open up the opportunity for direct paid advertising to all courses on Udemy."
Does this mean that Udemy is going to start offering paid ads from instructors to promote their courses on the platform?
3 -
Hi @SeanFowler063
, @Alfa-eLearning
, @AshishR
,The 37% will be the new universal rate for transactional sales, regardless of previous program participation. The Udemy for Business rate will not be affected.
For instructors who were previously opted out of the Marketing Boost program, this does mean that the minimum effective rate will be lower. However, it also means that your courses will become eligible for paid promotion.
The "blended" rate helps Udemy continue the marketing investments that have grown the platform for many years. We want to continue to grow with instructors, which means continue to invest heavily in marketing. This isn't possible if paid marketing efforts are attributed as "Organic" sales, whether that's because of tracking challenges caused by cookie deprecation or new non-digital campaigns like TV or print advertising.
The blended rate should also make your revenue a little more predictable -- during big sales like Black Friday, when many instructors usually see their rate go down as ad and affiliate sales spike, you should see a more consistent benefit.
2 -
Already the sale price was pretty low and on the top of that heavy taxes were introduced. Now our portion reduced.
Ultimately for a sale from India at 360 Rs i.e. 4.96 USD in marketplace will get 1.5 USD post 18% Tax and if this sale comes from Apple or Android then Instructor will get 1.053 USD.
It is not very good. Udemy was always getting 50% in any case, now will get 63%.
17 -
@KatieBent
I understand that all Udemy courses will get eligible for paid promotion. But instructors who opted out of affiliate and ads had some reason right ? That's why they opted out from promotions made by affiliate and Udemy ads.0 -
@davisjones
-- No, apologies if that language was unclear.Under the current terms, courses opted out of the Marketing Boost program are not directly promoted by Udemy ads or affiliates. Under the new terms, all course will be eligible to be promoted via these channels. Like today, a course will be more likely to be promoted by Udemy ads, affiliates, or partners if it's on a high-demand topic and has strong social proof.
1 -
@Abbie
@KatieBent
Just to clarify, ads will go to 37%, as will affiliate, correct?1 -
@KatieBent
One more point, if a student clicks on your Ad and then purchases my course using my coupon, will that be 97% or 37%?Since I had opted out of Ad, I was benefitted in my own promotion sales even if a student had previously clicked on Ad link within the cookie duration.
Cookie based system is gone?
0 -
Before you freak out, do the math. I just ran my sales data from last month. Using the new calculations, and based on last month's data, I would actually see a "slight" increase in revenue.
6 -
@Anonymous
- Correct. All sales not driven by instructor promotions will go to 37%.@AshishR
- In the case you presented, you would still receive credit. You'd actually receive credit today too -- if a student uses an instructor coupon, or if a student has clicked on an instructor referral link within the last 24 hours, you will receive credit for driving that sale. That won't change with this update.3 -
@Abbie
@KatieBent
Are all courses going to be included in the personal subscription? Or are we gonna tilt the field?0 -
Last month, I got 2000 dollars organic, so it will reduce to 1480$. Loss of 520 dollars.
I am not sure if I will be benefitted with Udemy Ad or affiliate because not all courses are selected for marketing.
It will be no-loss to me if my courses get picked up for marketing boost in new system.
I have opted out of Ad and Affiliate, currently.
2 -
@Anonymous
- The pilot extends the current Udemy for Business English collection to individual learners, so only content currently in that collection will be included. As we test and learn more, it's possible we'll change what content is offered (and communicate accordingly).1 -
To sum it all up:
- 97% if students buy course with your coupon/referral code.
- 37% if students don't buy the course through your code.
The above increase Udemy's revenue and thus more money for marketing (by definition cumulative instructor revenue will go down). Correct me if I am wrong @KatieBent
.5 -
@KatieBent
Ok, so current UfB courses WILL BE INCLUDED in the personal subscription? or WILL BE ELIGIBLE? I've learned to be very specific in my questions here.
From the announcement:
"So, if you’re opted into Udemy for Business when the pilot launches in April, your content will automatically be considered for inclusion."0 -
@AshishR
- I hear you that it's hard to predict the impact if you haven't historically participated in the Marketing Boost program. While this is a small minority of current instructors, we know any change to the revenue share model can be nerve-wracking.If it helps at all, every month many thousands of courses are promoted via Udemy ads and affiliates. If your course is already getting a strong response from Organic students, that's an encouraging sign that it might resonate with new students from paid channels as well. Also, continued investments in growing the platform do mean more "organic" students who will continue to discover your courses through the current routes. The goal truly is mutual, sustained growth.
2 -
13% less. That made my day!
2 -
@KatieBent
Rich people like me are always in "minority" lol. I hope new system brings more sales.Also, new Udemy Subscription plan will cover all existing UFB courses for pilot? and %ge will 25%? and it will be shown as separate section like UFB?
0 -
On 6th May 2020, I opted out from Udemy ads and affiliates and it has increased total revenue and revenue per student. Earlier I was opted in from 2014.
Now on 3rd May 2021, I will automatically opted in for Udemy ads and affiliates.
Not all instructors' courses will get promoted that much so lets see how this 13% gap can be filled to have minimal impact on total revenue.
1 -
@AndreiNeagoie
- Your summary of the new channel-based shares is correct. However, this piece isn't quite accurate: "The above increase Udemy's revenue and thus more money for marketing (by definition cumulative instructor revenue will go down)."On the whole, we expect this change to result in the same division of revenue between Udemy and instructors in 2021 as the current system would. While this looks a little different for every individual instructor, for instructors as a whole (and for the strong majority of individual instructors) the change should be neutral.
@Anonymous
- Ah, I understand your question now, thanks. The plan is for current English Udemy for Business courses to be included in the pilot. If an instructor is opted in, but their content is not currently included, it will be considered for inclusion in both versions of the collection by the usual Udemy for Business criteria. Does that make sense?1 -
@KatieBent
will subscription courses need to be exclusive like UFB ?0 -
@Alfa-eLearning
- Yes, the pilot is a part of the Udemy for Business program, which requires exclusivity upon inclusion. However, the pilot consists of courses in the English Udemy for Business collection, which are already subject to the exclusivity terms of that program.0 -
Say if instructor is earning $1000 from organic sales and NOT opted in Udemy ads and affiliates. So total sales is $2000 (Udemy share + instructor share). Now with new revenue share model for the instructor to earn same i.e $1000, it will require total sales of $2700. Then only it will be 2700 * 0.37 = $999.
So this extra $700 is 35% of $2000 sales.
@KatieBent
its interesting to see if we can have boost of 35% in total sales to earn the same revenue.0 -
@KatieBent
to clarify regarding the Subscription collection. Will the UfB English course collection be different from the Subscription collection?0 -
Very exciting news regarding the Subscription-based business model. What do users stand to gain from it?
1 -
I am sure that how each instructor will be affected will be slightly different. Some will lose a little and some will gain a little. However... I've been here a long time and seen a lot of changes so just a reflection on this latest change. It is primarily about growing the business.
In the past, every time Udemy makes a change in pricing or payment to us, people freak out. It seems to be a pretty automatic reaction. But... when you look back twelve or 24 months later and you can see that it enabled them to grow the business and our net revenue has gone up.
The biggest freakout for me was when they dropped the UFB revenue share from 50 to 25%. That was in December 2017. They did this on the theory that this would enable them to invest in UFB growth. They did, big time! And my UFB revenue has gone up more than 400% as a result.
My understanding is that this new change will enable them to spend more on TV ads and other promotions that will increase net traffic and revenue. They have been right in the past, let's hope they are right again. At some point, as in all partnerships, you have to trust that your business partner is acting in your interest as well as their own.
18
