Any self-respecting edtech entrepreneur in India will tell you that videos, test papers, online quizzes, etc. are just filler material. They pale in comparison to the buzzy now-ness of a live class, or instant doubt-solving. After all, there are a million places on the internet where you can find any type of edtech content you desire.

The second thing they will tell you is to “just look at completion rates of MOOCs!!” Truly, the 5-15% completion rate of massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become edtech’s cross to bear. Here’s a screen grab from 2015, from a study done on the completion rates of college-level MOOCs. (I picked Coursera as an example.)

Completion rates would arguably differ across age groups, but this type of data should’ve been a death-knell for passive content—its absorption is totally dependent on the user. But let’s focus on 2015 for a second, the year that this study came out. Something else happened in the same year. Something that would change the face of Indian edtech forever.

Byju’s launched its very first Learning App—the foundation for its edtech empire. So, even as MOOCs were being written off for their lack of interactivity and low completion rates, Byju’s was making a counterintuitive jump. It was staking its future on static, pre-recorded content delivered through SD cards and tablets, and diverting attention from its own offline coaching business.

Now, you could argue that Byju’s had already built up its brand, and selling content under that same name would be a snap. But then again, MOOCs were being offered by ivy-league US colleges.

Byju’s built its K-12 business fast, and introduced the aggressive sales pitch to Indian edtech. But at the core of it, Byju’s was selling pre-recorded, non-interactive, unsexy content. There was no helpline, no live tutor, not even a chatbot to guide students. Several Byju’s tablets just turned into dark bricks, once students stopped using them after the first few months.

This is where the post-content age began to rear its head.

Byju’s was killing it at sales, but there was no indication that the product actually made any sense, or gave any learning outcomes for the K-12 segment. But test-prep, largely for aspiring engineers and doctors, was a different beast; more urgent, more frenetic—students were on a completely different timeline. Companies like Vedantu and Unacademy thought replicating the classroom online would make more sense. Imagine if you have a popular tutor teaching you a live class on polynomials, why would you spend time searching for this content on YouTube or Khan Academy? Or even search a Byju’s tablet for content?

Everyone became a fan of the fad and launched their own live class product. Pre-recorded content, tests, and quizzes became the side-show. The pandemic only made these businesses double-down on the live class, and companies like Teachmint were launched to get the average teacher into a live class online. (I have to make an exception here for the vast majority of students who can’t access live classes. Pre-recorded content was used extensively to help them keep up during the pandemic. But the argument that static content can be boring and disengaging can be applied across income groups).

The pandemic should have been the final nail in content’s coffin. All edtechs should have shifted to live classes and that should’ve been that. That’s not what happened though. Because the fate of content in India’s edtech universe is tied to one player. And that player just happens to have 6.5 million paying subscribers for its content.

Byju’s is the content-keeper

When Byju’s financials for 2019-20 finally hit the market, there was a collective gasp of surprise. Almost 70% of its ~Rs 2,000 crore (US$ 270 million) revenue still came from the sales of, you guessed it, pre-recorded content (via SD cards and tablets). The next biggest category earner, at ~20%, are reference books.

What?

I couldn’t really wrap my head around this. I called Sahil Sheth, founder of the K-8 after-school tuition company Lido. Sheth’s old company Infinite Student was acquired by Byju’s in 2015. His new company, Lido, has launched a new video content library with free access, and even pumped in US$5 million to create quality content. The move is counterintuitive because Lido’s main business, till now, has been an interactive live class with a teacher-to-student ratio of 1:7.

But Sheth has good reasons for this addition: to break Byju’s monopoly over what he calls “branded content”. “You trust Byju’s as a brand, you’re willing to spend Rs 30,000-40,000 (US$400-535) on this type of content. It’s better than parsing through free stuff online because you don’t really trust the quality,” he says.

But what about next-gen live classes with instant doubt-solving and constant tutor engagement? Sheth has only one answer for me: look at the numbers. Byju’s monthly Rs 500 crore (~US$66 million) revenue vs that of its closest competitors—Unacademy’s Rs 100 crore (~US$13 million) and Vedantu’s Rs 50 crore (~US$6.6 million)—is a clear indication for entrepreneurs like Sheth that content isn’t a commodity yet. These figures are a slight update from the companies’ last filed financials, and based on information sourced by The Ken.

With more “branded” content out there though, Sheth believes the monopoly, and the high prices, will dissipate. Revenue streams will shift more aggressively into live classes + adaptive learning.

Byju’s isn’t a dumb spectator to all this. Their exorbitant spending on acquisitions is a clear indicator, where it seeks to make the WhiteHat Jr live class model the new centerpiece of its expansion strategy. So yes, Byju’s might have a horizon in mind for its content-first strategy. Till then though, its size, its revenue, and its sheer hold on the edtech market will make sure that content, as a strategy, stays relevant.