{"id":13881,"date":"2021-02-10T14:43:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/udermy-heading-towards-the-perfect-storm\/"},"modified":"2021-02-10T14:43:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:43:52","slug":"udemy-heading-towards-the-perfect-storm","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/udemy-heading-towards-the-perfect-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Udemy: Heading Towards the Perfect Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Emerged over a decade ago, online learning platforms have made high quality video lectures from the world&#8217;s best professors and experts more accessible than ever. Since then, online learning platforms were the subject of plenty of hype. New York Times even predicted that 2012 would be \u201cthe year of massive open online course\u201d. Today, we all know that online learning did not live up to that expectation and several online learning platforms have slowly fizzled and died. However, COVID-19 pandemic is giving online learning platforms another fighting chance to emerge as \u201cwinners\u201d of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leading the pack is the world\u2019s largest online learning platform, Udemy.<\/p>\n<p>Udemy was founded in 2010 with the goal of making quality education more accessible and improve lives through learning. Over the years, it has attracted over $170M in funding and over 57,000 expert instructors teaching over 150,000 online courses. Despite its tremendous growth, Udemy remains unprofitable in late 2019. It was clear that Udemy was facing several barriers including low course completion rate and growth in the number of rivals. However, with COVID-19 pandemic looming ahead, Udemy may have found itself heading towards \u201cthe perfect storm\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As millions of people are turning to online learning to pick up new skills as they look for ways to be productive while sheltering in place, Udemy is poised to capitalize on this opportunity. Udemy has set itself up for success through 3 main ways: (1) Course variety (2) Course creation through everyday experts (3) Global network<\/p>\n<p><strong>Course variety:<\/strong> Compared to its rivals, Udemy course catalog contains both technical and non-technical courses. The majority of online learning platforms in the market focuses only on offering technical courses such as web development, data science, and financial analysis. On the contrary, Udemy also provide non-technical courses centered on lifestyle and health support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these lifestyle courses became more important than ever as people are trying to maintain their physical and mental wellbeing. As a result, Udemy has seen tremendous growth in these courses with enrollment in Pilates increased by 402% and Meditation increased by 111%. In addition, Udemy also offers hundreds of courses directly related to COVID-19 that surely captured the attention of anxious customers at the pandemic\u2019s outset.<a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-13900\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide1-1-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Course creation through everyday experts:<\/strong> Unlike other major online learning platforms, the majority of courses at Udemy are not created by professional instructors but are created by everyday experts. With additional free time during shelter in place, these everyday experts are working to supplement or replace their lost income. As a result, Udemy has seen a 55% growth in the number of courses created. Categories with the highest surge in new courses include Office Productivity (159% increase), Health and Fitness (84%), IT &amp; Software (77%), and Personal Development (61%).<a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-13902\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide3-1-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Global network:<\/strong> Over the years, Udemy has expanded internationally to over 190 countries with courses available in more than 50 languages. Outside of the U.S., the company has also set up offices in Denver, Brazil, India, Ireland, and Turkey. Through this global network, Udemy is then best positioned to capture the various trends across the globe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Udemy has seen an increased enrollment across geographies with 130% growth in the U.S., 200% in India, 320% in Italy, and 280% in Spain. It is also important to note that people from different countries are also gravitating toward different courses. For example, Americans are gravitating toward creative skills like Adobe Illustrator (326% increase) while Indians are learning Communication Skills (606%) and Spanish are taking Piano (466%).<a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-13901\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Slide2-1-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a result, Udemy soared during the COVID-19 pandemic where the number of enrollments grew by 425% or 25 million new enrollments in Q3 of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The COVID-19 pandemic marks a pivotal moment for online learning. With it comes a lasting change in the ways we learn. With greater numbers of people being exposed to online learning for the first time, the possibility is now limitless. It is therefore without a doubt that Udemy will continue to grow beyond the pandemic as it capitalize on the explosion of online learning around the world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>End notes:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow COVID-19 saved online learning platforms like Udemy and Udacity,\u201d <em>BusinessInsider, <\/em>August 13, 2020<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnline Education Steps Up: What the World is Learning (from Home),\u201d <em>UdermyResearch, <\/em>2020<\/p>\n<p>New Udemy Report Shows Surge in Global Online Education in Response to COVID-19, <em>Business Wire, <\/em>April 30, 2020<\/p>\n<p>Online educators Udemy and Coursera are red-hot right now. But that may not be the case all summer,<em> TheBusinessofBusiness, <\/em>June 9, 2020<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUdemy Thinks It\u2019s Cracked the Future of Online Education,\u201d <em>Time, <\/em>February 12, 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With COVID-19 pandemic looming ahead, Udemy, the world&#039;s largest online learning platform, may have found itself heading towards \u201cthe perfect storm\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18521,"featured_media":13891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-13881","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/digital-winners-during-the-pandemic\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Udemy: Heading Towards the Perfect Storm - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/udemy-heading-towards-the-perfect-storm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Udemy: Heading Towards the Perfect Storm - 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