How to Join the Affiliate Program

The affiliate program is a way for people interested in partnering with Udemy to help us promote our courses and earn a commission for every sale they bring in. This article explains who can apply to participate in the Udemy Affiliate Program.

Who is eligible to apply?

In order to be eligible to become an affiliate, you must be a website owner, marketer or business owner.

• Review how you can apply to join the affiliate program.

Once an applicant is accepted into the program, they will have the ability to use unique tracking links to advertise and promote our courses as affiliates.

Can I join your Affiliate program if I have an active presence on social media, but don’t have a website?

Yes, you can. However, you need to have an active presence on social media (Facebook Fanpage, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc). In addition, your social media page must fulfill the requirements to become an affiliate. 

• Learn more about the requirements to join the affiliate program.

When submitting your application, you'll have to list all your social media accounts that you will use to promote our courses. Currently, we do not accept any affiliates who solely talk about Udemy and/or who are paid advertising affiliates" paid advertising affiliates.

• Learn how to use social media effectively as a marketing tool.

Why do I need a blog, social media channel or website?

We are currently looking to partner with affiliates who drive promotions via a blog, website or social media. This is the type of affiliate we can support best right now.

Can I participate if I live outside the United States?

Yes, we welcome affiliates outside the U.S.. When you submit your application you will be asked to give your personal or business information based on U.S. business terminology but you can fill in your application using the equivalents of your business or personal ID number in your country.

Every non-U.S. resident who applies through the Rakuten network must provide some additional information when filing their tax information. Instructions on how to do so are available in this Help Center article.

When applying to be part of our affiliate program, keep in mind that we consider every affiliate application that comes through. Every affiliate that is accepted into our program needs to have a website, blog or social media page that is up and running. For now, we don't accept affiliates without a live website or page to run their promotions or who are just getting started.

Each application is thoroughly reviewed before approval. When reviewing your application, we check to make sure the following criteria are met: 

• A list of followers: whether it is an email list, social media following or fanbase, we look to work with a partner that has already built an engaged audience with consistent traffic and followers. Your website traffic needs to be at least 500 unique monthly visitors in the last 3 months. Your social media pages must have at least 500 followers. 
• Consistent traffic: we look at your traffic using similarweb.com and other search engines to understand the traffic on your website. Having a website, or at least a social media page with engagement from the visitors and updated content for users is required. When applying, please make sure you list all websites or online channels you will use to promote our products in the 'Description' section of our application. 
• Site theme: with thousands of courses, chances are we have a Udemy course that can appeal to your audience. When reviewing your affiliate application, we look for a fit between your audience and our courses.
• Site content: sites that have no existing content or communication channels might need to work on this part of their site first before applying. Sites that are brand new or have no consistent traffic yet might be denied approval. 
• Alignment with our brand: as a company, we have a mission and a brand we have worked hard to build. We look at your own brand to make sure there is alignment between our brands, and that Udemy offers will look coherent with what you offer on your site.

During the application process, potential affiliates may be asked to share additional information about any of the listed criteria.

For now, we don't welcome any sites that solely talk about Udemy, as well as paid advertising affiliates. 

• Please keep in mind that your application will be declined if you use any, restricted promotional methods.  More information is also available in our Affiliate Terms & Conditions.

If you believe that you meet the requirements, review how you can apply to any of our affiliate networks.

Is there an exclusivity agreement when joining?

No, there is no contract to sign when joining our program and you are allowed to promote other content on your site.  We do, however, take into consideration the type of content on the applicants’ websites. You will be required to agree to the terms and conditions, of whichever of our third-party networks you decide to joi,  and to Udemy's Affiliate Operating Agreement.

If you are not a U.S. resident you can still register and apply to become an affiliate on our program. When filling out the Rakuten application form, however, you will need to follow the instructions detailed below: 

1. Choose your Country
2. Choose your Legal Entity Type - Individual
3. Please leave blank "Social Security Number"
4. In the Tax Form, please select "Form W-8BEN"
5. In the field "I am liable for U.S. taxes" select "no"
6. Please check the box next to the field "I am exempt from backup withholding"

Payment Threshold is $50.

Signature: Your First and Last Name.

Please note that these instructions are to be followed by non-US residents only.

People wishing to  join the Udemy Affiliate Program will need to submit an application to one of the affiliate networks we partner with. A list of our affiliate network partners is below.

• Please note that before applying, we recommend checking our program’s requirements to see if you are eligible.

Affiliate networks

We have several options of regional MIDs (Merchant IDs) in Rakuten, which you can choose from when applying to join our program. You can submit your application through the following links: 

Please note: Apply to a MID specific to your business focus geo regions. You can only  apply to 1  MID that suits your business operations best.

Asia-Pacific (APAC) MID links

Please use the link below for those publishers who are already part of Rakuten Affiliate:

http://cli.linksynergy.com/cli/publisher/programs/advertiser_detail.php?oid=1074652&mid=47901&offerNid=1&controls=1:1:1:1:1:1

Please use the link below for those publishers who are NOT part of Rakuten Affiliate and need to sign-up

https://signup.linkshare.com/publishers/registration/landing?mid=47901

Brazil MID link

Please use the link below for those publishers who are already part of Rakuten Affiliate:

http://cli.linksynergy.com/cli/publisher/programs/advertiser_detail.php?oid=679157&mid=44061&offerNid=1&controls=1:1:1:1:1:1

Please use the link below for those publishers who are NOT part of Rakuten Affiliate and need to sign-up

https://signup.linkshare.com/publishers/registration/landing?mid=44061

Europe MID links

Please use the link below for those publishers who are already part of Rakuten Affiliate:

http://cli.linksynergy.com/cli/publisher/programs/advertiser_detail.php?oid=1074640&mid=47907&offerNid=1&controls=1:1:1:1:1:1

Please use the link below for those publishers who are NOT part of Rakuten Affiliate and need to sign-up

https://signup.linkshare.com/publishers/registration/landing?mid=47907

Japan MID links

Please use the link below for those publishers who are already part of Rakuten Affiliate:

https://signup.linkshare.com/publishers/registration/landing?ls-locale=jp&host=linkshare

Please use the link below for those publishers who are NOT part of Rakuten Affiliate and need to sign-up

https://www.linkshare.ne.jp/ecsite/individual/47984.html

United Kingdom (UK) MID links

Please use the link below for those publishers who are already part of Rakuten Affiliate:

http://cli.linksynergy.com/cli/publisher/programs/advertiser_detail.php?oid=1074531&mid=47900&offerNid=1&controls=1:1:1:1:1:1

Please use the link below for those publishers who are NOT part of Rakuten Affiliate and need to sign-up

https://signup.linkshare.com/publishers/registration/landing?mid=47900

United States (US) MID links

Please use the link below for those publishers who are already part of Rakuten Affiliate:

http://cli.linksynergy.com/cli/publisher/programs/advertiser_detail.php?oid=624447&mid=39197&offerNid=1&controls=1:1:1:1:1:1

Please use the link below for those publishers who are NOT part of Rakuten Affiliate and need to sign-up

https://signup.linkshare.com/publishers/registration/landing?mid=39197

Your application’s status

Each application is reviewed thoroughly to determine if you are eligible based on the approval criteria outlined in our requirements article mentioned above. However, if you have not heard back from the network within 1 week after submitting your application, please contact Udemy Support, who can look into this for you. Or, you can also wait for the network’s team to follow up with you directly.