YouTube’s New Paid Learning Courses Will Compete With Byju’s And Unacademy.

Although there has been an instructional video on YouTube for some time, this will enable artists to provide viewers with a more thorough, organised learning experience.

On December 19, YouTube stated it will start allowing certified creators in India to provide both free and paid courses to users the next year. With this move, YouTube will compete directly with domestic educational technology firms like Byju’s, Unacademy, and PhysicsWallah, all of whom got their start on the Google-owned platform.

Although there has been an instructional video on YouTube for some time, this will enable artists to provide viewers with a more thorough, organised learning experience. In exchange, producers will get an additional revenue stream in addition to subscriptions, channel memberships, and advertising.

Creators will now be able to supply viewers with extra content such as papers, photos, and PDFs via the YouTube app.

Ishan John Chatterjee, YouTube’s India Director, stated that the platform will split money using the “same type of standards” as it has with other producers, with the creator receiving the majority of the revenue. Although the precise proportion has not yet been made public.

Traditionally, YouTube has given artists 55% of its ad income while keeping the other 47% as part of its partner programme.

The programme will launch in the beta phase over the next several months, with developers like LearnoHub, Speak English With Aishwarya, and Telusko offering a range of academic and professional courses in many Indian languages.

The beta phase of YouTube will first concentrate on three key areas: digital skills (such as coding languages), professional and entrepreneurial abilities (such as how to start a business and conduct a successful interview), and individual hobbies (Photography). These areas will be progressively expanded when the organisation receives feedback from both producers and viewers.

LearnoHub inventor Roshni Mukherjee stated, “I always wanted to establish a free learning platform and make great education accessible and inexpensive for everyone. I was able to produce high-quality instructional videos and make them available to millions of people thanks to the YouTube platform. I’m delighted to extend my portfolio of learning content with Courses and deliver even more engaging information to my audience.”

However, this launch comes at a time when demand for Indian edtech enterprises is declining as schools, universities, and physical tuition centres reopen, sending students back to conventional offline learning modes.

Numerous edtech companies were forced to implement drastic cost-cutting measures, including mass layoffs, the closure of non-core verticals, and the cancellation of expansion plans, among others, as a result of 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 as Byju’s, Unacademy, and Vedantu—have let go of close to 10,000 staff.