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Be part of the fastest-growing new voice in learning.
Learning designers, L&D leads and the people who buy learning technology come here for independent research and reviews. Every placement is clearly labelled and sits beside work they trust.
Our promise
Advertising and sponsorship provide revenue for The Learning Curve. Our advertising and sponsorship clients never decide what we write, how we score a platform or which products we list.
Our readers choose courses, platforms and technology on the strength of what we publish. That only works if they can trust that our judgements aren't for sale. It's also why a placement here is worth more to a sponsor: it sits beside work people believe.
What we sell
- Clearly labelled ad space
- Newsletter sponsorship
- Labelled sponsored research
- An enhanced directory profile
What we don't
- A score, ranking or recommendation
- A place in the directory, or an evidence level
- An article, or a say in one
- Ads on reviews or comparisons
Who reads The Learning Curve
The people who design, run and buy learning. Most arrive searching for a specific problem, such as how long a course video should be or which LMS fits their organisation, so sponsors meet them while they're deciding.
- Instructional designersBuilding courses and choosing the tools to build them with
- L&D leadersRunning workplace learning, and the budgets behind it
- Educators and academicsTeaching online in universities, colleges and schools
- Course creatorsTurning expertise into courses that sell and teach
- Technology buyersComparing LMS, course and AI platforms before they sign
- People moving into IDTeachers and trainers building a new career
- 2new articles every day, researched and cited
- 51learning technologies profiled in the directory
- 3streams: the library, guides and trends, and the directory
What we publish each month
More than half of what we publish is for decision-makers
Our focus. The research and news that leaders and buyers rely on, beside the directory and reports where they compare products.
The engine. Practical guides bring new readers in from search every day and lead them into the intelligence layer.
Audience figures, rates and packages are in the media kit.
What sponsors can book
Sponsors can buy visibility, clearly labelled. Every format below is booked directly with us.
| Format | What it is | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Billboard | 970 × 250 display ad | Home page between rows; the end of articles |
| Medium rectangle | 300 × 250 display ad | Home page side rail; inside articles on smaller screens |
| Half page | 300 × 600 display ad | Sticky side rail beside articles on wide screens |
| Sponsored card | An image, headline and line of text in the style of an article card, marked "Sponsored" | Home page grid |
| Newsletter sponsorship | One sponsor message per monthly issue | The Learning Curve newsletter |
| Sponsored research | Research a sponsor funds, labelled as sponsored on every page | Intelligence |
| Enhanced directory profile | Extra media and a way for buyers to contact the vendor | The vendor's own directory profile |
When no sponsor has booked a slot, it may show a Google ad or a promotion for our own pages.
Where ads appear, and where they never do
- Medium rectangle inside the article, after the opening section, on phones and tablets
- Half page in a rail that stays in view beside the article on wide screens
- Billboard at the end of the article, and between rows on the home page
- Never on reviews or comparisons. An ad beside a platform score would read as part of the score. The site enforces this; there is no override.
- Never before the short answer at the top of an article, inside a research card or chart, or as a pop-up.
- At most two ads inside an article: one in the body or side rail, one at the end.
- Never on directory profiles, apart from a vendor's own enhanced profile content, which is labelled.
- No ads that play sound, expand or cover content.
The full policy
Advertising and sponsorship policy
This page sets out exactly what money can and can't buy, how we label it, and how we handle our own interests.
What money can never buy
No payment, sponsorship, affiliate commission or business relationship can buy any of these:
- Scores or verdicts. Reviews are scored against our published method from hands-on testing. A sponsor's product is scored like any other, and a score changes only when the product changes or we re-test.
- Rankings or comparisons. No one can pay to be ranked, recommended or placed higher.
- Inclusion in the directory. Listing is free and editorial. Paying never adds a product, and not paying never keeps one out.
- Evidence levels. The evidence level on a directory profile reflects only the evidence we've checked.
- Coverage. No one can buy an article, an interview or a mention, or stop one.
- A preview or veto. Sponsors never see our articles, reviews or profiles before they publish, and can't approve or change them. We do ask vendors to correct factual errors in their profiles, with a source.
How paid and promotional content is labelled
Every paid placement says so, in words, where you see it.
| Label | Means | How it looks |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement | A display ad, booked directly or served by Google | Small grey label above, set apart from articles by dotted rules |
| Sponsored · sponsor name | A sponsored card, newsletter message or sponsored research | Label and sponsor name on the item itself |
| From The Learning Curve | A promotion for our own pages, such as the newsletter or a guide | Our own colours, never styled as an ad |
Paid links carry rel="sponsored", which tells search engines they're paid. Ads never use our marigold or tomato colours, so they can't be mistaken for our own content.
Who we accept
We choose our advertisers, and we'd rather run a house promotion than a placement we can't stand behind. We don't accept:
- A vendor while we're reviewing or evaluating it. It becomes eligible again 30 days after the review publishes.
- Ads that make claims we can't verify, or that we know to be misleading.
- Products that conflict with what we stand for: anything unsafe for learners, essay mills or cheating services, deceptive "get rich" or income schemes, and data brokers.
- Political or issue advertising, cryptocurrency and high-risk financial products, and health or weight-loss products making claims we can't check.
- The usual exclusions: adult content, gambling, weapons, tobacco and vaping, and anything illegal in Australia.
- Ads designed to look like our editorial, or that imitate another company.
Accepting a booking isn't an endorsement. We can decline or pull any placement, and we'll refund the unused part if we do.
Conflicts of interest
Jim Lounsbury runs The Learning Curve and other businesses, and works with people across the learning industry. Where that touches something we publish, we disclose that on the page itself.
- A product Jim works with or has a stake in may be listed in the directory and may advertise, but we don't review it, scored or otherwise. Its directory profile and any ad carry a one-line disclosure naming the relationship.
- Jim's other companies (Cubic Content and Cubic Films) may handle production or invoicing. That's noted where it's relevant, and never changes a verdict.
Affiliate links
Some links to platforms are affiliate links: if you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no cost to you.
- An affiliate link never changes how we score or rank a platform. A platform with no affiliate program is treated exactly the same.
- Any article with an affiliate link shows a disclosure above the first one, linking to our disclosure page.
- We only add an affiliate link to a platform already covered on its own merits, never the other way round.
- Affiliate links carry
rel="sponsored".
Reader data and reporting
We don't sell reader data, and sponsors don't get our reader list.
- No reader lists. We never hand a sponsor our subscribers or readers, and we never sell or rent reader data.
- Lead routing on an enhanced directory profile sends a vendor only what a reader chooses to submit to be contacted, with the reader's consent on the form.
- Sponsor reporting comes from the sponsor's own tracking links and our aggregate figures (impressions, clicks). We don't track individual readers on a sponsor's behalf.
- Our privacy policy covers how we handle reader data, and Google's ad settings for anyone who sees a Google ad.
Corrections, complaints and changes
- Spotted a paid placement that isn't clearly labelled? Tell us and we'll fix it.
- A factual error in an article or profile: email us with a source and we'll correct it, whoever it's about.
- Advertising enquiries and complaints: advertising@thelearningcurve.net.
- We may update this policy as the site grows. The date below shows when it last changed.
Last updated