On December 19, YouTube made the announcement that, starting in 2019, it would permit certified creators in India to offer both free and paid courses to users. With this move, YouTube will compete directly with domestic educational technology firms like Byju’s, Unacademy, and PhysicsWallah, all of which got their start on the Google-owned platform.
Although there has been instructional content on YouTube for some time, this will enable artists to provide viewers a more thorough, organised learning experience. In exchange, creators will get a brand-new revenue stream in addition to subscriptions, channel memberships, and advertising.
Via the YouTube app, creators will now be able to share extra content with viewers in the form of documents, photos, and PDFs.
The platform will share earnings using the “same kind of principles,” according to YouTube’s India Director Ishan John Chatterjee, with the creator receiving the majority of the money. However, the precise percentage has not yet been made public.
55 percent of YouTube’s ad revenue is typically distributed to producers, with the other 45 percent going to its partner programme.
The programme will launch in beta phase in the next months with producers including LearnoHub, Speak English With Aishwarya, and Telusko offering a range of academic and professional courses in several Indian languages.
“For YouTube, education has always been of the utmost importance. We already serve as the largest platform for learning and skill-building materials globally “During a media roundtable with reporters, Chatterjee added.
“There are currently 60 million videos in India focusing on learning and skill-building content,” he continued.
YouTube will initially concentrate on three main areas during the beta stage: digital skills (such as coding languages), professional and entrepreneurial skills (how to establish a business, how to perform well in an interview), and individual passions (Photography). In response to comments from both authors and spectators, it plans to gradually extend these sections.
LearnoHub inventor Roshni Mukherjee said, “I always wanted to build a free learning platform and make great education accessible and inexpensive for everyone. I was able to produce high-quality educational content and make it available to millions of people thanks to the YouTube platform. I can’t wait to add Courses to my library of educational materials and provide my community with even more immersive stuff.
The timing of this launch, however, coincides with a slowdown in demand for Indian edtech companies as a result of students returning to traditional offline learning methods as schools, colleges, and physical tutoring facilities are all reopening.
Many edtech businesses were compelled to implement drastic cost-cutting measures like mass layoffs, the closure of non-core verticals, the freezing of expansion plans, and other measures due to the declining demand for online learning and a lack of funding.
Since the beginning of 2022, edtech businesses—including some of the best-funded startups, such Byju’s, Unacademy, and Vedantu—have let go of close to 10,000 staff.
