India’s Trust in Online Learning Continues to Grow: Annual Insights by Physics Wallah (PW)
Mumbai: 09 January 2023: Physics Wallah (PW), India’s leading test-preparation platform conducted internal data analysis on a sample size of 27 lakh students from the PW App for the period between January 2022 and December 2023, along with 4 crore subscribers across its YouTube channels for the period from January 2023 to December 2023, and shared insights revealing that students’ trust in online learning continues to grow in the post-pandemic era. These insights are an overview of the trends and patterns in India’s online learning landscape over the past year (2022-23).
From 8.5 lakh paid orders in 2022 to 24 lakh orders in 2023, PW witnessed an 182% growth in the number of enrollments in paid courses, indicating a strong willingness among students to invest in online courses even in the post-pandemic era. This was accompanied by a 38% increase in app downloads from 68 lakh downloads in 2022 to 94 lakh downloads in 2023 making it a total of 1.62 crore downloads as of 31st Dec 2023, suggesting that new students are actively seeking digital learning opportunities. With a new range of diverse online learning offerings such as affordable courses, multi-quality streaming, and increased internet access, students’ interest and loyalty towards online learning has seen a rise. PW has reached 98% of India pin codes, empowering students including the ones in remote areas where educational resources are scarce.
Community building is one of the best ways to consistently develop trust and a good student base. Through community development on YouTube by providing free education to students, PW now has 4 crore subscribers and 275 crore views across its 81 YouTube channels, over 1 lakh content pieces uploaded, 20 crore hours of watch time over the year. This helps in developing the paid student base on the PW App as and when the courses are launched as Education is a word-of-mouth business. The PW App has garnered 32.71 crore hours of watch times, 120 crore total views, and 53 lakh unique users in 2023.. This implies that existing students have retained interest in online courses.
The average watch time on the platform has also increased from 50 minutes to 65 minutes per day, implying that increased interactivity helps in higher student engagement. Introduction of interactive features such as the ability to ask doubts during the live class, participate in polls, and engage in live chats, community platforms, etc that have helped enhance engagement on the platform. Interestingly, 33% of students who visit the app, buy paid courses, demonstrating a demand for interactive features, personalised learning, and progress-tracking offerings. Higher interactivity and easy user interface are key in providing a seamless online learning experience to students. In recognition of its offerings, PW also received India’s TOP ed-tech platform in Learning Experience and User App Experience from Inc42’s Edtech Users in India Survey 2023.
Another interesting trend of 2023 was the 200% increase in doubt resolution, from 36 Lakhs to 1.10 Crores, and a 96% increase in questions solved from 92.5 crore questions to 181 crore, indicating that students are becoming more comfortable with asking doubts online and getting them resolved as opposed to traditional classrooms where students hesitate in asking questions during class. This is a testament to the effectiveness of online platforms in fostering an environment conducive to active learning and engagement.
We also saw a 300% growth in student enrollments in Hindi medium batches, indicating a surge in demand for delivering online content in Hindi. The student base for vernacular languages has seen a 5x growth, with Marathi, Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, and Telugu being India’s most in-demand vernacular languages.
PW empowers girls in 605 out of 766 districts in India with online learning, enabling female students who were affected by geographical, financial, and opportunity barriers to continue their education.
Adopting a student-centric approach and prioritising learning outcomes are key to ensuring a good student experience. PW consistently enhances its student Net Promoter Score (NPS) through active communication and regular feedback integration with students. Notably, PW App’s NPS has risen from 50 in 2022 to 54 in 2023, with content NPS climbing from 4 to 4.5, Faculty NPS from 4.2 to 4.6, and Test & DPP (Daily Practice Papers) from 3.9 to 4.4. This improvement shows the growing effectiveness of online teaching which is reflected in the results of students who have cleared competitive exams by preparing through online courses.
Looking at the trends Alakh Pandey, Founder and CEO of Physics Wallah, said- “It is exciting to observe that despite the industry’s concerns regarding the decline of online learning in the post-pandemic world, it continues to thrive. Students are opting for the comfort, self-paced, and personalised experiences that online learning offers. Physics Wallah believes in the hybrid model as the future and personalised learning as the key to transforming how India learns. Our efforts are directed towards ensuring that students from the remotest corners of the country have access to these resources, providing them with a fair chance at success.”
In summary, key things that will drive online learning in the upcoming year are personalised learning for students with an increased focus on students’ online experience and learning outcomes, interactive tools to enhance student retention and engagement during classes, and an increase in online courses in vernacular languages.
