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YouTube Channel Acquisition

We had just launched Karnataka PSC back in 2019 and we lacked a solid distribution at the time. We had our performance marketing, branding, and influencers aligned but we needed a long-term distribution channel for regular promotions. We knew this category had the potential to do consistent business, so having our own channel became a natural notion.

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It was Nov 4th, 2019 afternoon and we were called in for a quick huddle by our leader. We were advised to find the best up & coming YouTube channels across all state exams and close an acquisition deal with them asap. That's it. That was the only priority for the coming days in parallel with the BAU for all the States. The race was on.

I was working in Karnataka category at the time and was right in my second month in Unacademy. Across 13 States, the first YouTube acquisition that happened was Karnataka's. I had closed the deal on that very day, sent out paperwork the next day, got it signed, ownership was transfer and we had our first video on the channel within 2 days. :) It felt amazing.

I later went on to acquire channels for Maharashtra and Gujarat as well. All these channels are now big, successful and a core part of our distribution funnel till today.

Project Blitzkrieg: Unicorn Educators

With internet penetration in India jumping from 29.4% to 43% (thanks to Jio), a significant audience was transitioning to digital platforms. This surge presented an ideal opportunity for expanding online test prep, but educators faced challenges in adapting to digital teaching. Most top-tier educators held strong offline presences and were hesitant to shift to online modes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Title: Project Blitzkrieg: Unicorn Educators
 

​1. Project Overview
 

  • Background: With internet penetration in India jumping from 29.4% to 43% (thanks to Jio), a significant audience was transitioning to digital platforms. This surge presented an ideal opportunity for expanding online test prep, but educators faced challenges in adapting to digital teaching. Most top-tier educators held strong offline presences and were hesitant to shift to online modes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Objective: Onboard 20 top educators (“Unicorn Educators”) for MPSC test prep, covering all subjects within a week to kickstart topline growth.

  • Timeline: May 2020


2. Role and Responsibilities
 

  • Position: Project Lead, responsible for strategizing, overseeing lead generation, conducting outreach, and coordinating onboarding.

  • Core Responsibilities: Developed lead funnel, managed outreach strategies, filtered and finalized educators, and created a comprehensive training module to transition educators from offline to online teaching.


3. Key Challenges
 

  1. Qualified lead generation in a tight window: While the online space was populated with educator contacts and credentials, identifying the educators who could effectively deliver in the online setting was crucial in order to provide best user experience.

  2. Establishing Credibility and Trust with Established Educators: Many experienced educators were hesitant to shift online due to a lack of familiarity with digital tools and a strong preference for offline methods.
    Significance: Convincing top educators to join was crucial to securing a strong lineup and establishing our competitive position in the market.

 

4. Solutions Implemented

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To overcome these challenges, we adopted a targeted approach to lead generation, filtering, and persuasion, culminating in an effective onboarding and training process.

 

Step 1: Lead Generation

 

  • Source Identification: Used YouTube and Facebook to generate leads by targeting keywords relevant to MPSC (e.g., MPSC syllabus, Rajyaseva, PSI/STI/ASO).

  • Targeted Outreach: Leveraged social media to connect with educators and asked existing educators for referrals, generating a total of 800 leads.

 

Step 2: Filtering and Closing

 

  • Filtering Criteria: Screened leads based on experience, distribution reach, and teaching effectiveness. Ideal candidates had over 6 years of experience, exam success, great presentation and oration skills and strong community influence.

  • Closing Strategy: Developed a compelling pitch to address educator concerns:

  1. Marketing & Branding Support: Highlighted Unacademy as a platform that could expand their reach across Maharashtra without additional costs.

  2. Flexibility in Content Creation: Offered educators autonomy over content, hours, and timelines, addressing the unique flexibility of our platform.

  3. Competitive Compensation: Recognized the effort required for online teaching and compensated educators to reflect this commitment.

  4. Passive Income Potential: Emphasized the benefits of diversifying income sources through online teaching.
    Result: This strategic pitch successfully appealed to educators, and we achieved the goal by onboarding 20 top ranked educators, well before competitors entered the market.

 

Step 3: Training Module

 

  • Comprehensive Onboarding: Collaborated with the ERM, VO, and Tech teams to develop a multi-step training module covering platform setup, live class training, and quality checks. Each educator was provided with the necessary tools and support to go live seamlessly.
    Result: This rigorous training prepared educators for online teaching, ensuring they could deliver high-quality classes.


5. Technologies/Tools Used
 

  •  Data Visualization & Presentation Tools: Used for managing and presenting lead generation data and outreach performance.

  •  Internal ERM and VO Tools: Enabled seamless onboarding, training, and support.
     

6. Key Achievements

 

Quantitative Outcomes:

  • Achieved a total of 20 educator onboardings within one week covering all subjects/offerings.

  • ARR improved by 328% within a year
     

Qualitative Outcomes:

  • Our platform received positive feedback from educators and students alike, who valued it as a comprehensive resource for MPSC preparation, which strengthened brand perception.


7. Skills Demonstrated​
 

  • Market Research

  • SOP development

  • Lead Generation & Filtering

  • Negotiation

  • Onboarding
     

8. Lessons Learned

 

  • Importance of Addressing Specific Concerns: Tailoring pitches to educators’ unique needs builds trust and buy-in.

  • Value of a Comprehensive Onboarding Process: Structured onboarding ensures content quality and educator satisfaction.

  • Adaptability to Market Needs: Quickly responding to changing market demands (e.g., COVID-19 restrictions) can create a competitive edge.

Unacademy MPSC YouTube Channel

Back in 2019, when I joined Unacademy, StatePSCs had just launched in the test prep business. I was required to handle the West States namely, Maharashtra & Gujarat. While our content and educator team was getting ready, we had to build a solid distribution. I targeted YouTube where in I acquired a small MPSC exam channel of 30K subscribers (if you can spend, don't start from 0). I then went on to scale the channel to 330K+ subscribers in 2 years' time.

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Project Title: Scale Unacademy MPSC YouTube channel to 2M monthly views mark

​1. Project Overview
 

  • Background: As we onboarded educators, built courses and online distribution platforms, one thing was clear; we need eyeballs, a lot of them. Our top funnel relied heavily on YouTube and it's growth was directly linked to our top line growth

  • Objective: Grow channel monthly views from 500K to 2M mark

  • Timeline: 6 months
     

2. Role and Responsibilities
 

  • Position: Category Manager responsible for strategizing, competitive analysis, market trend analysis, and CFT executions.

  • Core Responsibilities: Developing competitive analysis benchmarking, analysing 100+ top performing YT video in MPSC segment over past 5 years, strategized around high quality topics and playlists, plan the delivery

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3. Key Challenges

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  1. Topic selection: While we had good academic and non-academic (strategy) content on our channel serving its purpose to teach students for free and bring them on the app, we were doing what everyone else was doing.

  2. Significance: Views saturation built up leading to stagnation in lead generation. This had to be addressed quickly

 

4. Solutions Implemented

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To overcome this challenge, we researched a lot. Analysed hundreds of videos and market trend around digital content consumption. We understood 2 major things.

1- Attention span was reducing among digital content consumers.
2- There was a quality gap on MPSC YouTube space

Since our working scope was limited (we had to only provide academically relevant videos), we would have to work on the 'Quality' of content creation & delivery' and 'introducing shorter duration, highly catchy videos'.
 

  • Topper's Interview HD series: Market had this gap where everyone was recording low quality content around toppers. We took this to the next level
    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMVYBKQAFVQ
     

  • Master Series: I needed a way to find out to increase the watchtime of the channel. Due to longer format of the videos, the dropout rate was high. How about quick videos with catchy thumbnails? Something like "Complete Geography in 20 minutes" - As a student, you can't skip this.
    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ7YFyIil-w
     

  • Round Table Discussion: Almost none of the competitors catered to a round table format of strategy delivery for learners where one could get to see various perspectives and experiences coming from a single source.
    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYapJ4EkaOA


5. Technologies/Tools Used
 

  •  Data Visualization & Presentation Tools: Used for managing and presenting strategies

  •  VidIQ, SocialBlade: Competitive analysis and market research
     

6. Key Achievements

 

Quantitative Outcomes:

  • We crossed 2.1M views monthly mark within a year

  • Subscriber count rose by 200% in a year
     

Qualitative Outcomes:

  • Our YouTube platform received positive response from from educators and students alike, who valued our new approach and quality content delivery


7. Skills Demonstrated​
 

  • YouTube Analytics

  • Competitive Benchmarking

  • Strategy & Market Research

  • Cross Functional Collaboration

  • Content Creation
     

8. Lessons Learned

 

  • In order to do well on YouTube, Quality of content (including the delivery) & experimenting quickly can play a vital role


This project was super fun!

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