Selling your yoga videos online, in three steps

Selling your yoga videos online takes three things: hosting your classes on a platform you own rather than on a social network, organizing your online studio — monthly subscription, single purchase or class packs — and collecting payments without an intermediary standing between you and your students.

What you are setting out to build has a name in the field: an online yoga studio. Technically it is a video-on-demand platform — a site where your students find your sessions and pay to reach them. Here is how to put one together.

Are online yoga classes worth it?

An online studio complements your in-person classes, it does not replace them. It extends your teaching to the places a room and a timetable cannot reach.

What your students gain

1. A second stream of income

Your students can subscribe to one or more of your online plans, which brings in revenue on top of the classes you already teach in person.

It is also easier for them: payment happens in one click, without the awkwardness of settling up at the end of a session.

2. Unlimited access, whenever they want

Online classes are available when your students decide, not when the studio is open. Replays are possible, and that is exactly what an online studio is for. The French national union of yoga teachers found that since the first lockdown, 39% of practitioners have taken classes remotely¹.

Some of your students work all day, others are looking after children. Publishing your videos online lets them follow your classes at their own pace.

Building your online yoga studio

What your online studio needs

Think of your studio as your own channel: you publish, share and sell your sessions there, under your own name, without depending on a platform that decides for you.

1. Host your videos in a media library

Before publishing, you have to host. An online media library frees up storage on your computer and keeps everything in one place, with no imposed volume limit.

It also brings tools for organising:

• index and annotate your sessions;
• build playlists — a beginner programme, a vinyasa series, a pranayama cycle;
• sort your videos by theme, level or length;
• find a session through search;
• add a call to action at the end of a video.

2. A studio that is yours, and closed to everyone else

On Videas, your studio carries your identity and stays shut to anyone without access.

Branding:

• change the theme and colours (headings, text, buttons);
• move your logo and adjust how it appears;
• match the site to your visual identity.

Access: entry goes through user accounts, each with its own credentials. You can even open different sessions to different groups — one cycle reserved for the students of your physical studio, another open to all.

3. Sale, rental or subscription

You set the payment model that fits your practice:

• Sale — a one-off price on a session, with unlimited access and download. Say €5.
• Rental — access limited to a window you choose. Say €3 for 48 hours.
• Subscription — monthly or yearly access to a selection of sessions, the model closest to how a studio actually works. Say €10 a month.

4. Payment that is secure and simple

Your students pay by card, Bancontact, Google Pay or Apple Pay. Exchanges are encrypted over SSL, and their personal data stays protected.

Payment runs through Stripe, a service built for professionals: your students settle in one click, as they would on any online shop.

5. Dashboards to follow your students

Following your students’ progress and how your sessions perform matters. Analytics dashboards show what each subscriber does — which videos they watched, how long they spent in the studio — and how your site performs overall: views, impressions, watch time.

Your students manage their own subscription from their personal space. Subscriptions renew automatically each month, and a student who cancels loses access to the sessions.

In short

An online yoga studio grows your practice: your students reach your classes whenever they want, and pay without friction. On your side, you keep control of your image and you can see precisely what works.

Footnotes

1. “Grande enquête sur la pratique en France”, Syndicat national des professeurs de yoga. snpy.fr ↩