Paris here. Yesterday, we published a story about MasterClass’ post-pandemic woes. MasterClass, like many startups, spent wildly when times were good, then got caught flatfooted when its pandemic-era gains didn’t continue. Its evolution says something about the position many creator economy darlings now find themselves in.
For a while, it had seemed like MasterClass could be the poster child for a new crop of media companies. The startup, which launched in 2015, turned heads with the parade of VIPs it recruited to lead its classes, from Hillary Clinton to Yo-Yo Ma to Ninja. It paid them extravagantly—thanks to the hundreds of millions of dollars it raised from investors—and filmed them explaining their crafts in sumptuous, tightly-scripted productions that had more in common with streaming services than with snoozy edutainment courses.
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