Udemy's Metrics: Key Insights

Core Operating Metrics

- Total Enrollments: Over 1 billion across 77M learners (~13 courses/learner).

- Monthly Average Buyers (MAB):

- 2019: 0.962M | 2020: 1.439M | 2021-23 stabilized ~1.3–1.4M/month.

- Course Completion: Low (~30% content completed); 70% never start.

- Conversion Rate: ~4% visitor-to-buyer monthly.

- Lifetime Value (LTV): Estimated $50–$100 per casual user; subscriptions increase LTV significantly.

- Udemy Business (Enterprise): 16,000+ customers (~$25,000 per client annually); $517M ARR by 2024.

Customer Economics

- Avg. Revenue per Buyer: ~$19/month (2023).

- CAC: High due to extensive paid marketing, offset by organic growth and instructor referrals.

- LTV/CAC: Improving due to increased subscription/enterprise focus.

Historical Trends

- Revenue Growth: $276M (2019) → $787M (2024); CAGR ~30%.

- Shift to Enterprise: Enterprise segment grew significantly (55–60% of total revenue by 2024).

- Global Expansion: 61% revenue outside North America; strong growth in Europe, India, Brazil, Japan.

- Pricing Adjustments: Shift from constant discounts to periodic sales and introduction of Personal Plan subscriptions.

- Catalog Expansion: Courses increased from 130k (2017) to 250k (2024).

Competitive Benchmarking

- Udemy vs Coursera:

- Udemy: Marketplace, practical skills, no accreditation; ~250k courses.

- Coursera: Academic credentials, structured, ~6k courses.

- Udemy vs Skillshare:

- Udemy: Broad topics, transactional/subscription; larger scale, diverse content.

- Skillshare: Subscription only, creative fields, smaller catalog (~30k courses).

- Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning:

- Udemy: Marketplace, flexible purchasing, larger course selection.

- LinkedIn Learning: Subscription-based, professional/curated content, smaller catalog (~18k courses), integration with LinkedIn profiles.

Business Model & Revenue Breakdown

- Consumer Marketplace (B2C): One-time course sales, emerging Personal Plan subscription (~$20/month).

- Udemy Business (B2B): Recurring, enterprise subscriptions, significant ARR growth ($517M by 2024), high net retention (98–103%).

- Revenue Sharing:

- Organic sales: Udemy 63% / Instructor 37%.

- Instructor-driven sales: Udemy 3% / Instructor 97%.

- Subscriptions (Udemy Business): Instructor share reducing (25% → 15% by 2026).

Marketing & Acquisition Strategies

- Organic: Strong SEO (250k course pages), instructor-driven referrals, and content marketing.

- Paid Acquisition: Heavy digital ad spend, affiliates, partnerships.

- Promotional Strategy: Frequent deep discounts (80–90%), driving high volume.

- Enterprise Growth: Targeted B2B marketing (webinars, whitepapers, LinkedIn ads).

Instructor Ecosystem:

- Instructor Earnings: Highly skewed; few instructors make significant income.

- Engagement Metrics: Completion rates low (~30% avg); top instructors can achieve 50–60%.

- Incentives: Revenue share structure encourages self-marketing; analytics tools provided to optimize performance.

- Recent Trends: Reduced instructor revenue share, particularly for subscriptions, increasing platform profitability.

Udemy’s business continues shifting toward enterprise and subscription models to enhance profitability and customer retention.