MasterClass Statistics

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!

Key MasterClass stats

• MasterClass was launched 12 May, 2015 by David Rogier and Aaron Rasmussen 
• In May 2021, MasterClass raised a Series F funding round (led by Fidelity) of $225 million
• This round of funding is said to have more than tripled the start-up’s valuation (in one year) to $2.75 bn
• Within the first four months of launch, MasterClass sold courses to more than 30,000 customers
• The longest MasterClass is Chris Hadfield with 29 videos and a run time of 7 hours and 47 minutes
• The most watched MasterClass lesson is Chris Voss, former FBI negotiator, sharing his thoughts on tactical empathy 
• 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
• There were weeks during the pandemic where demand for MaserClasses spiked by over 1,000% 
• 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)

Class statistics

5. MasterClass started with just 3 instructors, including Dustin Hoffman and Serena Williams (PRNewswire)
6. Within the first four months of launch, MasterClass sold courses to more than 30,000 people (Hollywood Reporter)
7. There are now 100+ MasterClasses across 9 categories (April 2021) 
8. Each class features about 20 video lessons, with an average of 10 minutes per lesson (LinkedIn)
9. Most MasterClasses are between 3-4 hours hours long
10. The longest MasterClass is Chris Hadfield with 29 videos and a run time of 7 hours and 47 minutes
11. 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
12. The shortest MasterClass is Tony Hawk teaches skateboarding, with 16 video lessons and a run time of 1 hour and 41 minutes
13. The most watched MasterClass lesson ever is Chris Voss, former FBI negotiator, sharing his thoughts on tactical empathy (TechCrunch)
14. 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
15. There were weeks during the pandemic where demand for MaserClasses spiked by over 1,000% (CBS News)
16. A quarter of MasterClass students say that taking MasterClass courses has changed their lives (TechCrunch)
17. Rogier claims he now turns away nine out of 10 people who want to offer courses (Forbes)
18. In 2021, MasterClass hopes to add 50 new celebrity courses to its lineup (CBS News)
19. 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

Financials 

20. MasterClass was started with $1.9m in funding led by Harrison Metals (Crunchbase)
21. MasterClass’ total funding to May 2021 was $475m  (Privateequitywire) 
22. There have been 7 rounds of funding – seed to Series F (Privateequitywire)
23. In May 2021, MasterClass raised a Series F funding round (led by Fidelity) of $225 million (Privateequitywire)
24. This round of funding is said to have more than tripled the start-up’s valuation to $2.75 bn (CNBC)
25. During the pandemic, MasterClass doubled its sales (TechCrunch)
26. 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)
27. MasterClass charges a $180 annual subscription fee for users to access its library of content (TechCrunch)
28. The subscription model was responsible for 80% of the company’s revenue in 2018, and is now responsible for 100% of its revenue (TechCrunch)

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)

Website traffic

29. MasterClass averages 9.88M visits to its website per month (Similarweb)
30. The trend in early 2021 was that traffic was increasing by 7% per month (Similarweb)
31. The US (47%), UK (6%) and Canada (6%) are driving the most traffic to the site (Similarweb)
32. 60.8% of MasterClass’ traffic is from search (Similarweb)
33. MasterClass has over 823K YouTube subscribers

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