Ad-Supported eLearning
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Some interesting statistics recently released regarding ad-supported content…
“Ad-supported online video viewership has grown 17 percent year-over-year, according to a new survey by marketing research firm FreeWheel….According to the study, online videos that are 20 minutes or longer carry an average of seven ads.”
“The Interactive Advertising Bureau released new figures Monday showing that advertising supported Internet companies contributed $530 billion to the economy in 2011 and are, in some way, responsible for 5.2 million U.S. jobs.”
While those articles discuss general ‘internet companies’ and ‘video’, we see nothing hitting the headlines about ad-supported eLearning. Is that because it doesn’t exist? Or perhaps it’s just not a viable model… Has no one tried? With the plethora of media-accessible devices available, and the staggering income companies such as Google and Facebook are making via advertising…well, is it not a model worth trying?
Or perhaps it has been, and launched, and died so quickly nary a whisper had a chance to get past the entrepreneurial lips.
OR perhaps the idea has been subsumed by the MOOC concept, where courses are just being put online for free, no strings attached. How can you compete with that?
Well, for one, aren’t the MOOC courses generally pretty specialized and…heady? Or maybe not, considering the rapid growth of the MOOC universe (see Coursera, edX, and Udacity, not to mention the pioneer in that space, Khan Academy), there is surely a lot of variety out there.
As 2013 opens with promise, we’re continuing to explore the promise of eLearning; from engaging custom content development to partnerships and consulting. Interested in developing some courses with a hybrid advertising/licensing model? Drop us a line and let’s discuss! If you’ve had success with such a model, we’d love to hear from you – leave a comment if you care to share.