Subscriptions Program

The Udemy Business Content Opportunities tool gives established instructors insight into the content most likely to be curated into the Udemy Business collection. This article outlines how eligible instructors can access the Udemy Business content opportunities page and how the tool works.  

More information, including answers to frequently asked questions about Udemy Business content opportunities, is available in our Teaching Center.

What is the Udemy Business content opportunities page?

The Udemy Business content opportunities page identifies subjects that our Content Strategy team has determined are in demand by professional learners and their employers. Accordingly, content that is submitted for the subjects listed in the tool’s pages will receive an expedited review by our team and is more likely to be added to the Udemy Business collection. 

Note: Inclusion in the collection is not guaranteed. Learn more about the Udemy Business content subscription program.

Which instructors can access the page? 

The tool is available to instructors who have already published content with a strong learner response. Currently, to view the tool, instructors must have at least one course that meets the following criteria: an average rating of 4.2 stars, with at least 25 ratings for English content or 10 ratings for non-English content.

How can eligible instructors access the content opportunities page?

There are two ways to access the Udemy Business content opportunities tool. Eligible instructors will find the tool on the Insights page (between Performance and Tools) and it will also appear in the course builder. 

Instructors not yet eligible to see the Udemy Business content opportunities tool can continue to access Marketplace insights from the Tools page.

Searching for content opportunities

Eligible instructors can use the search bar and filters on the page to search for content opportunities. For some opportunities, you can also learn more about the opportunity such as the intended learners and key content to include, by moving your cursor to the applicable information icon (ⓘ).

How to submit your content to be considered 

After finding an opportunity you’re interested in, start creating a course through the course builder. You will be prompted to confirm if your course is targeting one of the opportunities listed in the tool. Use the search bar or filters to find the relevant opportunity and click to link your new course to the opportunity.

The language, course level, and category of your course will be automatically changed to match the opportunity you have chosen. Courses with information that does not match the opportunity linked will be blocked from submission.
If you didn’t select an opportunity when creating your course you can link one at any point before submission.

The applicable draft course will then feature a label noting it’s being created in response to the opportunity.

If your course language, level or category does not match the information of the opportunity linked to your course you won’t be able to submit your course. You can either update your course information or unlink the opportunity.

After your course has been submitted for review and approved, you will be notified if the course has been added to the Udemy Business collection. 

Please note

• Only newly created courses that match the current opportunity can be submitted for consideration.
• Content published on these subjects is more likely (but not guaranteed) to be curated into the Udemy Business collection. Learn more about maximizing your chances of inclusion.

Still have questions?

Review answers to frequently asked questions about Udemy Business content opportunities.

This article outlines how revenue from subscription-based learning solutions like Udemy Business and Subscription Plans are calculated and paid to applicable instructors.

• Learn more about Udemy Business and how to get your name in front of employees at leading companies.
• Review answers to frequently asked questions instructors have about the Personal Plan subscription.
• Review answers to frequently asked questions learners have about the Starter Plan subscription.

Table of contents

• Udemy Business revenue calculation
• Udemy Business payment schedule
• ​​Personal Plan and Starter Plan revenue calculation for learner engagement
• Starter Plan ad revenue calculation
• Udemy Subscription payment schedule
• Personal Plan revenue reporting
• Starter Plan ad revenue reporting
• Subscription bonuses
• If a course is not included in the Personal Plan collection, how do instructors earn revenue when their course is offered for free as part of a Personal Plan promotion?

Udemy Business revenue calculation

On Udemy Business, instructors are compensated based on learner engagement. This differs from the Udemy marketplace model, where instructors are compensated based on course purchases.

Each month, Udemy allocates 15% of monthly subscription revenue from Udemy Business customers as the instructor revenue pool. 

Each instructor's share of this amount is equal to their share of the total minutes consumed across all Udemy Business courses. For example, if 3% of all consumption in Udemy Business courses for a given month occurred in your courses, you'd receive 3% of the Udemy Business instructor revenue pool for that month. 

Consumption is calculated as minutes spent watching videos or actively using on-site interactive learning tools like practice tests, quizzes, coding exercises or Udemy AI Assistant. It includes re-watched minutes and minutes consumed using the mobile-only offline viewing feature.

While the total instructor revenue pool has consistently grown over time, fluctuations in your courses' relative share of consumption will also factor into the revenue you earn from Udemy Business each month.

Labs and assessments in Udemy Business Pro are paid outside of the Udemy Business revenue pool.

Udemy Business payment schedule

Generally speaking, Udemy Business revenue is added after 7 business days of the following month under the Udemy Business tab on your revenue report. For example, your Udemy Business revenue for the month of January would appear in your January revenue report, after 7 business days have elapsed in February.

For courses with multiple instructors, revenue will be divided amongst co-instructors according to the revenue share active at the time of calculation/reporting. Each instructor's earnings will appear in their individual revenue report.

​​Personal Plan and Starter Plan revenue calculation for learner engagement

Instructors are also compensated for participation in Personal Plan and Starter Plan based on learner engagement, via the same calculation as Udemy Business described above. Revenue from learner engagement for Personal Plan and Starter Plan will appear under the Personal Plan tab of your revenue report.

Please note: The terms of participation for Subscription Plans are the same as they are for Udemy Business: instructors must opt into the Udemy Business program, they must have courses curated into the collection for their relevance and quality, and they must host included content exclusively on Udemy. 

• Learn more about the terms of participation.

Starter Plan ad revenue calculation

Instructors with qualifying courses will receive a share of the ad revenue generated from Starter Plan. Each month, an ad revenue pool will be calculated based on Starter Plan ad revenue, minus Udemy and third-party fees. 25% of the amount attributable to eligible ad surfaces on qualifying courses will be allocated to instructors. Your individual share will be proportional to the minutes consumed of your qualifying courses relative to the total minutes consumed across all qualifying courses that month.

To determine whether a course qualifies, we'll consider factors such as inclusion in Starter Plan and course consumption. Learn more.

Udemy Subscription payment schedule

Subscription Plan revenue will be posted a few days before it’s paid out, approximately 30 days after the close of the month, in which the relevant consumption took place. For example, September earnings from Subscription Plans will appear in the September statement around the first week of November and will be paid out shortly after.

Annual subscription payments are included as part of monthly instructor revenue calculations. A prorated portion of each subscriber's annual total is added to the instructor revenue pool each month.

Personal Plan revenue reporting

Revenue from Personal Plan will be attributed to the Personal Plan channel in your instructor revenue report.

Starter Plan ad revenue reporting

Ad revenue from Starter Plan will appear in your instructor revenue report, in a category that is separate from the channel mentioned above.

Subscription bonuses

Instructors are eligible to receive bonuses from new enrollments in Udemy’s Personal Plan and Starter Plan subscriptions. Learn more in the sections below. 

Bonus amounts are reflected in your Revenue Report as Subscription Bonuses, under the Other category.

Please note: 

• The following bonuses are only applicable to Personal Plan and Starter Plan subscriptions. They do not apply to subscriptions to Udemy Business. 
• Bonuses will be calculated and paid according to Udemy's standard payment schedules as provided in the Subscription Bonus Policy. 

Enrollments through instructor coupons and referral links: If an instructor’s coupon or referral link leads to a new consumer Personal Plan or Starter Plan subscription sign-up and payment rather than a course purchase, that instructor is eligible to receive a bonus. 

In the current iteration of the program, the bonus is calculated as 50% of the net revenue from the payment for the new subscriber’s first month in the subscription. If the subscriber paid for a full year upfront, the bonus is calculated as 100% of the net revenue from the new subscriber's prorated first month in the subscription. As with course purchases, bonuses from subscriptions that are refunded before payout will be deducted from the expected payout amount.

Enrollments through course landing page visits: If an instructor’s course landing page is the last landing page visited by a learner within 24 hours prior to the learner purchasing a subscription, the instructor is eligible for a one-time bonus.  

Instructors can earn a bonus, as determined by Udemy in its sole discretion,  if all of  the following conditions occur:

• A learner purchases a qualifying Udemy consumer subscription;
• Your course landing page was the last paid course landing page visited by the learner within 24 hours before purchasing the subscription; and
• The learner was not already enrolled in the course at the time of the abovementioned visit. 

Based on the above eligibility criteria, the bonus is calculated as 16% of the net initial subscription fee of a qualifying monthly Udemy consumer subscription, and 3.2% of the net initial subscription fee of a qualifying annual Udemy consumer subscription. For further information on net subscription fees, please visit our  Instructor Terms.

Enrollments through the labs upgrade offer: If a learner is not subscribed to Personal Plan, after they click “Start Practice” in a lab included in a course, they may be prompted to enroll in the subscription to gain access. When a learner successfully purchases Personal Plan after clicking “Start Practice” and completing the checkout process, the instructor of that course is eligible to receive a bonus.

Based on the above eligibility criteria, the bonus is calculated as 16% of the net initial subscription fee of a qualifying monthly Udemy consumer subscription, and 3.2% of the net initial subscription fee of a qualifying annual Udemy consumer subscription. For further information on net subscription fees, please visit our  Instructor Terms.

If a course is not included in the Personal Plan collection, how do instructors earn revenue when their course is offered for free as part of a Personal Plan promotion? 

Courses opted into the Udemy Deals Program may be offered to learners at no charge as part of a promotional offer when they purchase a Personal Plan subscription. When this occurs, your revenue share will be calculated based on the Gross Amount permitted by the Promotions Policy. 

• For more information, please refer to Udemy’s Promotions Policy.

The Instructor Partner Program is an official program for Udemy Business instructors to partner more closely with Udemy and other motivated instructors. The program provides participating instructors with access to expanded technical support, events, and more.  

Instructor Partners are expected to dedicate at least 1-2 hours per month to actively participating in the program events and feedback loops, in addition to routine course maintenance. 

How can instructors qualify for the program?

To qualify for the Instructor Partner Program, instructors must meet the following minimum requirements:

• High course rating: Maintain an average instructor rating of 4.4+ or higher (to be reviewed every 6 months)
• Udemy Business Impact: Have at least three courses that are currently included in the Udemy Business collection.
• Policy compliance: Are in compliance with our legal terms and trust and safety policies.

How to apply for the Instructor Partner Program

Program capacity is extremely limited. Invitations to apply for and join the Instructor Partner Program are sent annually to qualified instructors who meet specific requirements.

Learn more about the Udemy Business content subscription program, and how instructors can make their courses eligible for inclusion.