MasterClass Statistics (2023)

Launched in 2015, MasterClass has quickly become a tour de force in the e-learning world.

In this article, we’ve compiled a carefully curated list of the top MasterClass statistics and facts from recent and credible sources.

You’ll find MasterClass statistics on:

• The company itself
• Funding and valuation
• MasterClass courses

Let’s get started!

10 Key MasterClass stats

1. MasterClass was launched 12 May, 2015 by David Rogier and Aaron Rasmussen 
2. Within the first four months of launch, MasterClass sold courses to more than 30,000 customers
3. MasterClass’ total funding to date is $461.4m  with 6 lead investors and 44 investors (Crunchbase) 
4. MasterClass’ last round of funding in May 2021, a Series F round (led by Fidelity), raised $225 million
5. This round of funding is said to have more than tripled the start-up’s valuation (in one year) to $2.75 bn
6. The longest MasterClass is Chris Hadfield with 29 videos and a run time of 7 hours and 47 minutes
7. The most watched MasterClass lesson is Chris Voss, former FBI negotiator, sharing his thoughts on tactical empathy 
8. The most popular classes in the pandemic were Chris Voss on the Art of Negotiation and Vogue’s Anna Wintour teaching a creativity and leadership course
9. There were weeks during the pandemic where demand for MaserClasses spiked by over 1,000% 
10. A quarter of MasterClass students say that taking MasterClass courses has changed their lives 

Wondering how MasterClass compares against its competitors? See statistics on: Udemy, Coursera, edX, Cohort Based Learning and Skillshare.

Company

1. MasterClass was launched in 2015 by David Rogier and Aaron Rasmussen and is headquartered in San Francisco. 
2. David Rogier is CEO
3. It has over 500 employees (LinkedIn)
4. It has increased its workforce by more than 100% since 2019 (Privateequitywire)
5. MasterClass won 2 Webby awards in 2020, which according to the New York Times is the Internet’s highest honour (WebbyAwards)

MasterClass Financials 

1. MasterClass was started with $1.9m in funding led by Harrison Metals (Crunchbase)
2. MasterClass’ total funding to date is $461.4m  with 6 lead investors and 44 investors (Crunchbase) 
3. There have been 10 rounds of funding – seed to Series F (Privateequitywire)
4. In May 2021, MasterClass raised a Series F funding round (led by Fidelity) of $225 million (Privateequitywire)
5. This round of funding is said to have more than tripled the start-up’s valuation to $2.75 bn (CNBC) 
6. In 2022 MasterClass’ Revenue was $94+ Million (Crunchbase)
7. During the pandemic, MasterClass doubled its sales (TechCrunch)
8. It is rumoured that MasterClass celebrity instructors are paid around $100,000 up front and receive 30% of the revenue the classes generate (Hollywood Reporter)
9. MasterClass charges a $180 annual subscription fee for users to access its library of content (TechCrunch)
10. The subscription model was responsible for 80% of the company’s revenue in 2018, and in 2023 responsible for 100% of its revenue (TechCrunch)

MasterClass Users

1. As of 2023, there are over 2 million MasterClass active subscribers
2. The current monthly active users of MasterClass.com is around 11,400,000
3. The number of MasterClass daily active users is 380,000
4.  48.72% of MasterClass subscribers are men while 51.28% are women
5. Most visitors (29.88%) are aged of 25-34, followed by the 18-24 age group, with 27.45%.
6. The target audience for MasterClass is well educated, upper-middle-class young people who are committed to lifelong learning
7. In May 2022, MasterClass partnered with Delta Airlines to offer its educational content alongside its existing in-flight streaming options for passengers.
8. MasterClass has more than 1 million Android app downloads and 127,000+ million iOS app downloads.
9. A quarter of MasterClass students say that taking MasterClass courses has changed their lives (TechCrunch)

MasterClass Class statistics

1. There are now 180+ MasterClasses across 11 categories (April 2023) 
2. MasterClass started with just 3 instructors, including Dustin Hoffman and Serena Williams (PRNewswire)
3. Within the first four months of launch, MasterClass sold courses to more than 30,000 people (Hollywood Reporter)
4. Each class features about 20 video lessons, with an average of 10 minutes per lesson (LinkedIn)
5. Most MasterClasses are between 3-4 hours hours long
6. The longest MasterClass is Chris Hadfield with 29 videos and a run time of 7 hours and 47 minutes
7. Daniel Negreanu Teaches Poker with 38 video lessons and a run time of 7 hours and 40 minutes comes in second, followed by Gary Kasparov teaches chess with 29 videos at 7 hours and 20 minutes
8. The shortest MasterClass is Joan Benoit Samuelson teaches The Runner's Mindset with 11 video lessons and a run time of 1 hour and 31 minutes
9. The most watched MasterClass lesson ever is Chris Voss, former FBI negotiator, sharing his thoughts on tactical empathy with over 22 million views (TechCrunch)
10. The most popular classes in the pandemic were Chris Voss on the Art of Negotiation and Vogue’s Anna Wintour teaching a creativity and leadership course
11. There were weeks during the pandemic where demand for MaserClasses spiked by over 1,000% (CBS News)
12. Rogier claims he now turns away nine out of 10 people who want to offer courses (Forbes)
13. In 2022, MasterClass introduced ‘Sessions’ which are practical project-led courses that you take with a cohort of peers who support your learning.
14. To increase engagement MasterClass has produced stand alone “Quick Lists” that curate best bits from a range of instructors around a common theme. They usually have around 5 videos around 3 minutes long that clock in at around 15 minutes

Website traffic

1. In 2023 MasterClass was receiving 18m+ visits to its website per month (Semrush)
2. The US (40%), India (12%) and the UK (6%) are driving the most traffic to the site (Similarweb)
3. 60.8% of MasterClass’ traffic is from search (Similarweb)
4. The trend in early 2021 was that traffic was increasing by 7% per month (Similarweb)
5. MasterClass has over 1.07m YouTube subscribers
6. Social media drove traffic to MasterClass as follows Facebook 30.64%, Twitter 6.86% and Instagram 5.58%

MasterClass class metrics

1. The current most popular MasterClass courses by views in the US (Grand Canyon University, 2022)

Rank	Course	Views
1	Chris Voss Teaches the Art of Negotiation	22,008,386
2	Neil deGrasse Tyson Teaches Scientific Thinking and Communication	16,208,218
3	Dr. Jane Goodall Teaches Conservation	8,687,115
4	Chris Hadfield Teaches Space Exploration	7,542,004
5	Jon Kabat-Zinn Teaches Mindfulness and Meditation	4,968,351
6	Brandon McMillan Teaches Dog Training	4,806,864
7	Matthew Walker Teaches the Science of Better Sleep	4,441,282
8	Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing	2,971,094
9	Stephen Curry Teaches Shooting, Ball-Handling, and Scoring	2,704,645
10	Carlos Santana Teaches the Art and Soul of Guitar	2,569,501

MasterClass search volume

The most popular MasterClass courses by monthly Google search volume in the US

Instructor	Search volume
Gordon Ramsay	7420
deadmau5	3410
Neil Gaiman	3140
Garry Kasparov	2250
Daniel Negreanu	2200
Neil deGrasse Tyson	2020
Timbaland	1770
Hans Zimmer	1700
Aaron Sorkin	1550
Chris Voss	1260

(Search data obtained from Ahrefs, April 2021)

Check out our Latest eLearning statistics, MasterClass review, Best MasterClass, MasterClass Sessions and MasterClass cost and Gift ideas.

MasterClass statistics – Frequently asked questions

Sources

• https://www.linkedin.com/company/master-class
• https://winners.webbyawards.com/search?searchTerm=Masterclass
• https://www.prnewswire.com/news/masterclass/
• https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/what-masterclass-online-courses-pay-lure-hollywood-stars-as-teachers-993159
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/masterclass-in-a-class-of-its-own/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2020/05/20/masterclass-just-raised-100-million-to-produce-more-celebrity-edutainment/?sh=237ddec34288
• https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/masterclass/company_financials
• https://www.similarweb.com/website/masterclass.com/
• https://www.axios.com/masterclass-new-funding-25-billion-valuation-f75521cd-3a85-4215-b4fa-c2ae48da9765.html
• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/13/masterclass-more-than-triples-valuation-in-one-year.html
• https://www.privateequitywire.co.uk/2021/05/14/300253/masterclass-raises-usd225m-series-f-funding-round