Skillshare Help Center

Understanding Partnership Revenue

As part of our commitment to helping teachers grow their audience and income, Skillshare has begun partnering with select platforms and services to license content beyond our core platform. This article breaks down how these partnerships work, what they mean for your earnings, and how you can manage your participation.

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At Skillshare, we're committed to providing teachers with more opportunities to grow their audience, expand their reach, and generate revenue — both on and beyond our platform.

As part of that commitment, we’ve begun piloting new licensing and distribution programs with select partners. These initiatives open up additional pathways for teachers to earn through partnership revenue.

Partnership Revenue Overview

Partnership revenue refers to payments Skillshare teachers may receive when their content is licensed as part of a third-party content deal. So far, we’ve focused on partnerships in two areas:

  • Content Licensing for Streaming Platforms: In some cases, we’ve partnered with content services to feature Skillshare classes outside of our core platform, such as on streaming apps or curated learning channels.
  • AI Partnerships: We’ve also begun exploring partnerships in the AI space, where class content may be used in ways that support model training or developing AI tools. Any AI partnerships we’re pursuing are aligned with our AI principles and Terms of Service; we’re specifically excluding any usage that could compete with your name, image, or likeness.

We’ve worked with a small number of content and AI partners to date, such as Adobe, American Airlines, Anuvu, LG Channels, Michaels, Samsung, and Spotify. 

For confidentiality reasons, we can’t always disclose every partner or licensing term publicly. But if your content is involved, you’ll receive an email with the relevant details.

Why We're Exploring These Partnerships

We want to support our teachers in reaching a wider audience and building more sustainable creative careers. These partnerships allow us to:

  • Expand your potential audience beyond Skillshare
  • Pilot new monetization streams for your existing content
  • Reinforce Skillshare’s role as a platform that champions creator-first growth

As these partnerships evolve, we’ll continue to prioritize transparency. You always have the option to opt-out if you do not want to be included (see How to Manage Your Participation for more info). 

How We Calculate Partnership Earnings

Earnings from partnership revenue will vary depending any or all of the following: 

  • The terms of the specific licensing deal
  • How much of your content is included
  • Watch time or usage data from members with an active subscription

If your content is included in a deal, we’ll email you with details — including payment timing, how royalties are calculated, and what to expect next. If you qualify for a payment, you’ll see it appear under Adjustments on your Teacher Stats dashboard, and it will be included in your next payment from Tipalti.

How to Manage Your Participation

Per our Terms of Service, any content you upload to Skillshare may be included in a partnership deal. If you did not explicitly opt-out, we may include your content in an agreement and you’ll get an email from us with the details. 

To opt-out future partnerships: 

  • Content Licensing for Streaming Platforms: If you want to opt-out of having your content included in future deals you can contact us directly at teach@skillshare.com.
  • AI Partnerships: You can choose not to participate in future AI-related licensing deals by submitting our AI Partnerships Opt-Out Form.

Got questions? We’re here to help. Reach out to us at teach@skillshare.com with any questions about partnership revenue or licensing opportunities.



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