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If anybody is interested, last year I wrote a detailed report [1] on Coursera's monetization journey. I describe the steps and experiments the company did to go

If anybody is interested, last year I wrote a detailed report [1] on Coursera's monetization journey. I describe the steps and experiments the company did to go from zero to $100+ million in revenues (and potentially over $200 million this year). In my opinion, of all the online education providers Coursera grew the most during the pandemic. They also reacted well by offering free certificates and giving free access to their catalog to college students [2]. My company Class Central [3], a Tripadvisor for online education grew a lot during the pandemic. In the second half of March, we received 5 million visitors, almost a 20x increase. Though no longer the peak, we are still at 2.5X of what we were before. 1. https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-monetization-revenues/ https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-monetization-re... 2. https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-providers-response-to-the-pandemic/ https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-providers-response-... 3. https://www.classcentral.com/ https://www.classcentral.com/

crb002 6y ago
Not a huge fan of ads, but I would accept non-obtrusive ads in lieu of paying the certification fee if they wanted a traditional publisher revenue stream.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  I wonder if you could support a traditional in-person university education with employer and vendor adverts at the start of each lecture!
  - z3t4 6y ago
    Sure, if you had ten thousand students per lecture.
  - kilroy_jones 6y ago
    The idea of watching ads in order to get an education seems like the start of some dystopia nightmare. Seeing kids in school buses emblazoned with McDonalds ads is bad enough. Can you imagine wanting to check your answers to the work you just did and having to watch a commercial to do that. Probably reach a point where they'll require camera access to track your eyes to make sure you're paying attention.
    - an_opabinia 6y ago
      Does Coursera provide an education? I don’t mean to be a blowhard. But if you’re going to argue that it does, that you’d send your kids to CourseraU, you are conflating the aesthetic experience of learning with actual learning. Much like many video games, quite successful ones actually, reenact the aesthetics of work but are in no way shape or form actual work. This may be important for why they are an appealing product but don’t go and argue (as hardly anyone does) that League of Legends is work. That’s why it would also sound absurd to say Coursera is learning. The University of Phoenix people are total shitbags. Charging for some shit certificate is a complete shitbag move. Just because it’s online doesn’t make it special. In that sense, yes, expect that ads will happen. I think you’re onto something.
      - Gunax 6y ago
        I had a really good experience with Coursera... In fact it's where I learned to code. I don't think I understand the comparison to video games. Yes, sometimes games will simulate work, but that's not at all like online education simulating education. It has its issues, but motivated students can and do learn online.
        mywittyname 6y ago
        I like Coursera and I'm quite experienced. Their courses don't enforce the rigor of a college course; practically anyone could pass them without reviewing the content through sheer brute force. So I feel like the certificates themselves are worthless, but the actual content is good enough to learn from if you put forth the effort.
      - woah 6y ago
        Huh...? Coursera provides video courses, readings, and quizzes. Is your assertion that it is impossible to learn from written material or videotaped lectures?
    - Karishma1234 6y ago
      It all depends on alternative. $100 is a lot of money for a kid in India, if the same kid can earn the degree while watching ads I think it does a great service to poor people because the alternative is not learning. Alternative to a problematic suboptimal (according to you) school experience is not a perfect school experience but no-school experience. American public schooling system has become a jobs program for adults.
- BbzzbB 6y ago
  I don't see how that could bring in anywhere close the different prices for certifications.
  - mywittyname 6y ago
    Yeah, the service is roughly $50/mo. There's no way ads could touch that. It might work in the future to monetize the older, "long-tail" content that is less relevant than it used to be. But even then, they'd probably have to cut the content, especially for cloud-related certifications, because A) the feature may have changed, B) I bet those labs get expensive.
mr_toad 6y ago
> $100+ million in revenues (and potentially over $200 million this year). Are they profitable?
- dhawalhs 6y ago
  I think their B2C business is profitable, but online degrees and B2B isn't.
  - jackedandtan 6y ago
    I have a friend who's an employee there. From what I gather both the B2C and B2B models are profitable.
    - dhawalhs 6y ago
      Good to know. Makes sense since B2B is an extension of their B2C catalog. But they seem to be hiring a lot of sales people, so I was not sure if they are profitable or not.
      - jsmith12673 6y ago
        In my experience, large sales team = pushing hard into B2B

crb002 6y ago

Not a huge fan of ads, but I would accept non-obtrusive ads in lieu of paying the certification fee if they wanted a traditional publisher revenue stream.

chrisseaton 6y ago
I wonder if you could support a traditional in-person university education with employer and vendor adverts at the start of each lecture!
- z3t4 6y ago
  Sure, if you had ten thousand students per lecture.
- kilroy_jones 6y ago
  The idea of watching ads in order to get an education seems like the start of some dystopia nightmare. Seeing kids in school buses emblazoned with McDonalds ads is bad enough. Can you imagine wanting to check your answers to the work you just did and having to watch a commercial to do that. Probably reach a point where they'll require camera access to track your eyes to make sure you're paying attention.
  - an_opabinia 6y ago
    Does Coursera provide an education? I don’t mean to be a blowhard. But if you’re going to argue that it does, that you’d send your kids to CourseraU, you are conflating the aesthetic experience of learning with actual learning. Much like many video games, quite successful ones actually, reenact the aesthetics of work but are in no way shape or form actual work. This may be important for why they are an appealing product but don’t go and argue (as hardly anyone does) that League of Legends is work. That’s why it would also sound absurd to say Coursera is learning. The University of Phoenix people are total shitbags. Charging for some shit certificate is a complete shitbag move. Just because it’s online doesn’t make it special. In that sense, yes, expect that ads will happen. I think you’re onto something.
    - Gunax 6y ago
      I had a really good experience with Coursera... In fact it's where I learned to code. I don't think I understand the comparison to video games. Yes, sometimes games will simulate work, but that's not at all like online education simulating education. It has its issues, but motivated students can and do learn online.
      - mywittyname 6y ago
        I like Coursera and I'm quite experienced. Their courses don't enforce the rigor of a college course; practically anyone could pass them without reviewing the content through sheer brute force. So I feel like the certificates themselves are worthless, but the actual content is good enough to learn from if you put forth the effort.
    - woah 6y ago
      Huh...? Coursera provides video courses, readings, and quizzes. Is your assertion that it is impossible to learn from written material or videotaped lectures?
  - Karishma1234 6y ago
    It all depends on alternative. $100 is a lot of money for a kid in India, if the same kid can earn the degree while watching ads I think it does a great service to poor people because the alternative is not learning. Alternative to a problematic suboptimal (according to you) school experience is not a perfect school experience but no-school experience. American public schooling system has become a jobs program for adults.
BbzzbB 6y ago
I don't see how that could bring in anywhere close the different prices for certifications.
- mywittyname 6y ago
  Yeah, the service is roughly $50/mo. There's no way ads could touch that. It might work in the future to monetize the older, "long-tail" content that is less relevant than it used to be. But even then, they'd probably have to cut the content, especially for cloud-related certifications, because A) the feature may have changed, B) I bet those labs get expensive.

mr_toad 6y ago

> $100+ million in revenues (and potentially over $200 million this year). Are they profitable?

dhawalhs 6y ago
I think their B2C business is profitable, but online degrees and B2B isn't.
- jackedandtan 6y ago
  I have a friend who's an employee there. From what I gather both the B2C and B2B models are profitable.
  - dhawalhs 6y ago
    Good to know. Makes sense since B2B is an extension of their B2C catalog. But they seem to be hiring a lot of sales people, so I was not sure if they are profitable or not.
    - jsmith12673 6y ago
      In my experience, large sales team = pushing hard into B2B