Dear instructors,
As Udemy and Coursera come together, we know many instructors have questions about what the combination means for their content and opportunities, and for the experience for instructors going forward.
We’ll continue sharing updates as plans evolve, and we’d also love to hear directly from you: what questions are top of mind for you right now?
Drop your questions in the comments below and we’ll do our best to address common themes in future updates and events.
In the meantime, you can also explore these resources:
Hi Ryan,
It was discussed in the meeting that enterprise sale has been combined for Udemy and Coursera. How is that going to impact UB revenue of Udemy instructors? Can we expect UB revenue to increase, decrease or remain flat. Also, how does the financial incentive and UB opportunities pan out in future?
It was a nice meeting, and I appreciate the transparency. From my perspective, the most interesting topic is income. It would be great to see a positive turnaround instead of a continued decline, and perhaps less aggressive promotion of the personal plan.
When students try to purchase a course, it can actually be difficult to notice that the course is available for sale and it feels like the person plan is being forced upon students. In addition, some paying students are becoming frustrated with ads. I see endless complaints about this on reddit. Maybe ads are beneficial overall, and I understand there is a starter plan and other subscription options. For example, if a student purchased a course but is not part of the personal plan, would they still see ads? If I understand correctly ads are still experimental?
The most important question, however, is whether instructor income will increase. I believe this is a shared interest between Udemy and instructors and I'm sure Udemy is doing everything they can to help instructors make more money. Creating and maintaining courses requires a lot of work, and at some point it may no longer be economically viable to continue producing new courses if earnings keep declining.
Honestly… given the very clear signals we're already getting (i.e. "it can actually be difficult to notice that the course is available for sale and it feels like the person plan is being forced upon students and I see endless complaints about ADS on reddit") plus the massive UFB cut that they said won't be changing… I think the compensation fairness ship has sailed. At some point (i.e. March 2026) it may no longer be economically viable to continue producing new courses [if earnings keep declining]. Definitely frustrating.
I think the answers to the most important questions are yet to be decided (or in the early stages of decision making) … How will the new curated experience be for Individual and Corporate learners … will they search for a topic or go through categories ? Will the Coursera Courses be displayed right next to the Udemy ones, will they be in different categories, or will one be the main search result and the other an "also" offering ("If you want quick practical tips …"). Or will it be an AI interface that responds to the student's questions with just the top 2-3 Courses in a category or curated learning paths etc. All that will make a huge difference to the discoverability of our Courses, and our revenue ! Also, while Coursera perceives Udemy Courses to mostly (or only) be "Quickly Developed" and "Practical Workplace Insights" … I think they might be missing the real expertise and experience that many of us bring to the table.
@SivakamiS2017 - straight to the point! Thanks for framing this so beautifully.
I can say one thing from my side is that Creating a course takes so much time and effort to product the course. It may take many months to produce a course. If the instructors are not paid for their effort and time, they are less motivated and less likely to produce new courses. It will also effect the New Instructors who want to create new courses. Whatever the Best instructors now are once new instructors. I hope Coursera will take care of instructors along with their business.
P.S. If the Professor vs Assistant perspective is in place, we'll all have a problem. It's not just about ego, but the curration process, positioning, and monetary incentives.
It is good to hear that there is strong technical leadership at CXO level now, hope the site downtime can be reduced.
The main question for me is what incentive is there for me to produce more courses. Previoulsly I would see an increase in revenue and that was the incentive to keep producing but at the moment, the way income is declining month on month I may put in all that effort just to see a bit less of a decline. It's not really a viable use of our time.
Also, it sounds like there may be some changes coming in both course creation tools and teaching methods. Some of my courses are 9 hours long. I am wary of producing a course at the moment if there may be better tools coming which would make my course outdated in the coming months.
Both of the above mean I won't be creating any more courses any time soon which is a shame. I remember the days when it was my 100% focus.
I am stupid. I accept that. But, my question is are we (Udemy instructors) better off by this deal? That is the question I want to ask. I want to sound smart and intelligent, so I would rather decorate the question with some smart words. But this is what I want to ask.
Overall, a humane response to uncertainty instead of … I guess everyone knows that part. 🙃
But I think Udemy is using you tube advertisements only..you tube advts are being displayed within the courses
I attended the Front Row meeting on the 27th and came away reassured that everything is apparently wonderful, everyone is destined to prosper, and the future will be magnificent—provided, of course, that one does not ask any vulgar questions about how any of it is actually going to work.
We were treated to the usual institutional incense: broad assurances, generous optimism, and a great deal of confidence floating several feet above the ground, safely removed from the inconvenience of particulars. The deal is, we are told, excellent. The benefits will be substantial. The opportunities are abundant. As for how the platforms will be combined, what changes are coming, who will be affected, and when any of this will happen—well, such pedestrian details appear to have been left for some later theological council.
I entered the meeting uncertain and left with my uncertainty handsomely upholstered. I now know, with impressive clarity, that no one is prepared to say anything clear.
For the time being, I will continue as I have been, which seems to be the only actionable policy presently available. How long that state of affairs will last is anyone’s guess, though apparently we are meant to regard the absence of answers as a form of strategic vision.
Is this sarcasm ?
@RyanJaress -Hi Ryan, thank you for this post. So I am curious about any future strategies of this merger that would offer instructors any incentive to direct traffic to their Udemy courses - from off the platform.
As someone who has been with Udemy for 12 years- and been lucky enough to have bestselling courses - every time someone now comes from my website, I speak at a summit, my youtube channel, my insta etc letting my audience know about my courses- they click on my links and get pushed towards the personal plan (pay only $13 for personal plan and get this course free or spend $23 dollars for the individual course. )
If someone sees my course on the site organically- and click on it- they get a 'get this course for $13 signing up for the personal plan or $43 individually.
So I now find myself in the amusing and bewildering and financially challenging situation of discouraging my audience from going to Udemy- which seems absurd. Any effort to promote my courses is just driving traffic towards the personal plan- that my course is viewed as 'free' (And yes, I know we get a small commission if they choose to sign up) but being an affiliate of the personal plan isn't really why I became a Udemy instructor-
Is this the new norm? Will it change when the merger goes ahead?
For years I have watched people jump on these forums - and ask 'how can we get more students?' How can we make more money?' - like there was one line in a forum that could answer this.
And I was always one of those who advocated that part of entrepreneurship was learning to adapt- and do better. Learn from udemy instructors who teach this- take a course- give bonuses that add value- create new content that your audience is hungry for- do your best to answer questions in as short a time as possible and serve your students the best you can. Pay for professional transcriptions to help non-english speaking audiences. But most of all- work with Udemy- don't treat them like they should be doing part of your job too- which is driving traffic to the platform.
This advice is pretty much now obsolete- instructors don't feel any excitement about creating new courses- doing podcast interviews and youtube videos and letting my email list off udemy know what I am doing on udemy feels like a huge waste of time and of very little benefit to income.
So if there are any incentives on the cards that would be great to know about!
Love Sal
I believe the leadership gave us some great 🔥 motivational 🔥 speeches 🔥
The new Coursera + Udemy combination seems to have a great future, in particular if the leadership manages to implement the new CEOs main intention described in the meeting.
Just love all the positive energy!
Regards
The idea is that sales will just keep falling more and more.
And fewer people will enter this world of teaching, right?
Yes, but does positive energy equate to income?
I too felt the same about the meeting. I left it with the impression that everything is still being discussed before any changes are made. Then I open Udemy to see that my course is listed at full price, but a huge incentive to subscribe at 10% of the cost that my course is listed for. I cannot help but think that my revenue is going to hit this new greasy spot on the downward slide. Someone tell me where this is really heading.
@RonErez People love positive energy, positive energy is infatuating, intoxicating, and people dream about it. Positive energy spreads like wildfire. It makes people outperform and makes it easier to make people come over and join the club.
You know what the laws of power say "avoid the unhappy and unlucky" and associate with the "happy and fortunate".
@MrHJ yes, I suppose positive energy is nice. I should try it sometime.
When will you start sharing data on course consumption of users on personal plan on a daily basis, like UFB users?
I wanted to understand whether there is any way to access deeper learner engagement metrics, such as:
Posted here but no response.
Traffic and conversion metrics have limited value since instructors have little control over marketing. The metrics above are more meaningful and actionable.
When a learner clicks on a Udemy Course Coupon Link provided by instructor, then by default, the subscribe option is selected. This is bit confusing, is anyone else also experiencing the same?
I am also looking forward to seeing what the data reveals about the Coursera & Udemy merger. What impact does it have on instructors, learners, course quality, pricing, and the future of online learning?
It will be interesting to see what trends and insights emerge.
Yes, it is confusing. I’ve already heard students complain that they accidentally signed up for the subscription when they thought they were actually buying an individual course
It's not a bug, it's a feature….
Hi Puneet,
At the moment, there isn't a way to view those learner engagement metrics. That said, we'll be sure to pass your feedback along to the team responsible for this area.
As for your other post, it looks like it unfortunately slipped through the cracks. Sorry about that, and thanks for following up!
A feature which is not intuitive and distract the learner is actually a bug..
