Types of education and consumer subscription models currently available

The many ways that educators and consumers can obtain web-based content varies greatly depending on the market and the type of content. The choices can be bewildering, especially because the landscape continues to change. Netflix, for example, for years followed the HBO subscription model where for a fixed monthly fee the user gained unlimited access to all of the content available on the site. This would include old as well as new content. One suscription usually allowed for more than one user on multiple devices.

Although the monthly fee has gone up over time, this model seemed like the only option. Now, however, Netflix is considering an alternative model that would allow users free access with advertising.

Amazon Prime provides several options, including rent/buy in addition to free with and without advertising.

None of this appears to be settled, particularly when you consider the dozen or so other options available, especially in the education market.

Below is a description of the many ways that publishers are providing access to their proprietary and licensed content.

Annual Fixed Price: An annual fixed-price model can be used for any segment in the education market but is typically for large populations of users, especially multi-building districts, states, or even countries. The fixed price is based on an imputed price per user but is not specified. This model applies best to large product implementations and would provide unlimited user access during the term.

Per Building: A price-per-building model would apply to products that are relevant for all teachers and students in a building, like reference databases or e-book platforms.

Per Student: FTEs, or full-time equivalents, refers to student enrollment at the start of the school year. Whether the student population grows or shrinks over the course of the school year, the price stays the same for the subscription term. In this model, the number of FTEs would exclude teachers even though teachers would have full access to the product.

Per Classroom: This model applies to subject and grade specific online programs, e.g., grade 7 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math); teachers also gain access.

Per Teacher: A per-teacher price would apply to an online resource that a teacher might use to present materials to the class, like a lesson-plan database. The teacher FTE model covers the number of teachers at the start of the school year and would apply to online professional development or training for all participating teachers or staff.

Price times # of Buildings: This model provides for discounts based on the total number of buildings in a district. Discount amounts increase with the number of buildings. This formula is used for large online implementations like core curriculum or e-book platforms.

Population Served: With this formula, only a fraction of the total population that a public library serves is used to calculate the final price, the assumption being that not everyone in a geographic location uses the library. For example, let us say an estimated 5% out of a population of 1,000,000 uses the library, and the product price per user is $1.00; the library would pay $50,000 to provide everyone with a library card free access for a year.

Per Use or Metered: A price-per-use model gives library patrons access to a large database of content, but the library pays only for what is used. This model is often applied to media websites, like movies, and usually limits users to a certain number of uses per month or a certain amount of time on the site. The PPU model can include all or part of a book/movie. Day or hourly rates are becoming increasingly popular in public libraries.

Tiered Fixed Pricing: A tier model segments a market by population, like school districts or towns. Tiered pricing for an online package of, say, 20 different courses could look something like this:

• Tier 1: for populations served < 100K (~$2,500)
• Tier 2: for populations served >100K and <500K (~$3,500)
• Tier 3: for populations served >500K and <1M (~$5,500)
• Tier 4: for populations served > 1M (~$6,500)

Tiers can always be adjusted depending on the populations being served.

Annual or Monthly Fixed Price: This is a typical consumer model used commonly for a variety of online products, like newspapers, magazines, and streaming services.

Free with Advertising: An ad-based, or sponsored model, allows free access for all users. The sponsor pays for the ad space in one of several ways: a fixed price, CPM (cost per thousand impressions), CPC (cost per clicks), or CPA (cost per acquisition). Each one has its pros and cons.

Rate/Time: This refers to a fee-based online course, webinar, or experience that starts at a given time and lasts for a period anywhere from one week to a few months.

Rent: Some online products—e-books, language courses, for example—can be downloaded (rented) from aggregators or directly from the publisher for short periods of time, a common model for cooking or do-it-yourself sites, for example.