Live coaching prices a reserved block of calendar time and pays for real-time observation and back-and-forth; async VOD review prices a bounded recorded deliverable and pays for your judgment on one specific clip. Live sessions are limited by how many hours you can hold open; VOD reviews are limited by how fast you can watch and write. Compare the two on effective hourly rate — price divided by every minute the offer actually consumes — rather than on headline price. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.
Sourcing note: every wage, projection, and platform figure on this page is cited inline to the government agency, peer-reviewed journal, professional body, or platform documentation that published it — principally the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the International Coaching Federation, the journal Health Policy, Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, Discord Support, Twitch Help, and Stripe. No Brillay earnings, user counts, or internal metrics appear anywhere on this page.
Live coaching and VOD review both sell the same thing: your judgment about mechanics, game sense, decision-making, and what a player should do next. The difference is how much of your time each format quietly eats. A live session asks you to protect a slot and be there in real time. A VOD review asks the client to send a game, questions, and context so you can send back one finished response on your own schedule. Most pricing problems start when the offer sounds simple but the unpaid coordination is not counted.
What actually differs between live coaching and async VOD review?
Live coaching and async VOD review are not two names for the same product. Live coaching sells reserved time on your calendar. Async VOD review sells one finished response to a recorded game or clip. You may bring the same expertise to both, but the scope, timing, and client expectations are different.
Keep live coaching on the tools that already handle live work: Discord voice, the game client, screen share, your stream setup, or a calendar tool. Brillay is not the place to run calls, schedule sessions, or host appointments. Brillay says there are “no live video calls or appointments to schedule” on the platform (Brillay — How It Works).
A VOD review is usually cleaner as a fixed order. The client sends the clip file if it fits, or a stable hosted link if it does not, then you deliver the notes, timestamp list, marked-up file, links, or other output you promised. File size is often the hidden problem. Discord’s upload limits vary by plan and can change, so check its current file-size guidance before asking a client to send gameplay footage there (Discord Support, File Attachments FAQ). A paid review works better when the order page tells the client exactly what to send before money is involved.
How do the two pricing structures actually compare?
Live coaching and async VOD review price different risks. A live coaching price has to cover prep, messages about timing, the session itself, and any notes you send afterward. A VOD review price has to cover watching, annotating, and writing up one scoped clip. Neither format is automatically more serious, more premium, or more profitable.
| Factor | Live coaching | Async VOD review |
|---|---|---|
| What’s priced | A reserved block of time | A bounded deliverable |
| Scheduling required | Yes — both sides must be free at once | No — client submits, coach delivers within the stated time |
| Overrun risk | Session can run long with no extra charge | Scope is fixed; extra requests can be declined |
| Batching possible | No — slots are one at a time | Yes — several reviews can be done in one sitting |
| Client can revisit it later | Only if the coach records or writes notes | Yes — the deliverable is a file or written note |
| Delivery timing | The scheduled appointment itself | The delivery time you put on the order |
The headline price is only the start. Your real comparison is price minus fees, divided by every minute the offer actually takes. Live capacity is limited by the hours you can keep open when clients are also free. Async capacity is limited by watch-and-write time and the delivery time you promised. Batching helps, but it still has a ceiling.
The 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study reports that coach practitioners coach an average of 11.6 hours per week while carrying an average of 12.4 active clients (International Coaching Federation, 2025 Global Coaching Study). That is not a rule for your own schedule, but it explains why reserved hours are scarce. A format you can batch behaves differently from a format that needs you present one slot at a time.
How do you calculate the effective hourly rate for each format?
Effective hourly rate means the offer price divided by the full time cost — prep, coordination, delivery, and any after-session notes — then multiplied by 60. A live session and a VOD review can look far apart on price and still land closer together once you count the unpaid minutes.
Effective hourly rate = (price − relevant platform fee − payment-processing fee) ÷ (prep + coordination + delivery + after-session minutes) × 60
The four sample scenarios below use invented prices and invented minute counts. They are not market rates, recommendations, or Brillay earnings data. They only show how the formula changes when the hidden time changes, and the numbers shown are gross, before fees.
| Sample scenario (illustrative only) | Price | Prep | Coordination | Delivery | After-session notes | Total minutes | Effective hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60-minute live session, new client | $60 | 10 | 20 | 60 | 10 | 100 | $36.00 |
| 60-minute live session, repeat client | $60 | 5 | 5 | 60 | 5 | 75 | $48.00 |
| VOD review of one 20-minute clip, done alone | $25 | 0 | 5 | 35 | 5 | 45 | $33.33 |
| VOD review, three batched in one sitting, per review | $25 | 0 | 3 | 30 | 3 | 36 | $41.67 |
The lesson is not that one sample price is correct. It is that a live session priced at more than double a VOD review can still pay less per hour once timing messages, waiting, and notes are counted. Batching is the lever for async review: in the example, three reviews in one sitting raise the hourly result without changing the client’s price.
Take fees out before you judge the format. For a $25 async VOD review sold through Custom Work, Brillay’s 8% fee is $2.00, while tips and goals carry 5% (Brillay — Pricing); subtract Stripe’s applicable processing cost before calculating what the review pays per hour. Stripe lists 2.9% + $0.30 as its standard rate for domestic online card payments in the United States (Stripe, Pricing). Run your own math before deciding that either format is underpriced.
What do published coaching rate benchmarks actually look like?
Game-coaching marketplaces do not publish audited rate cards, so neutral public wage data is the closest outside reference point. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the International Coaching Federation both publish figures for coaching sold as scheduled time, which can help sanity-check live-session pricing.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $47,320 for coaches and scouts as of May 2025, across national employment of 248,950 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Coaches and Scouts). The same BLS handbook reports that the lowest-paid 10 percent of coaches and scouts earned less than $28,790 and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $98,860 in May 2025 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook) — roughly a 3.4x spread between the bottom and top deciles of the same occupation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of coaches and scouts to grow 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 36,400 openings projected each year on average over that decade (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). For scale, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $50,980 for all workers in May 2025, which puts the $47,320 median for coaches and scouts about $3,660 below the all-occupation median.
On the professional-coaching side, the 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study reports that the global number of coach practitioners rose 15% since 2023 to a record 122,974 (International Coaching Federation). The same study estimates that the coaching profession generated $5.34 billion (USD) over the past year, almost double the revenue total from 2023 (International Coaching Federation).
The closest published benchmark for a live coaching format is the ICF session fee: the 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study reports that active coach practitioners charge an average fee of $234 (USD) for a one-hour coaching session and earn an average of $49,283 (USD) a year from coaching (2025 ICF Global Coaching Study Executive Summary). For a coach choosing between scarce live hours and repeatable orders, the ICF’s growth finding matters:
“Even with more coaches, most (59%) expect to make more money next year. They see that revenue coming because they’ll have more clients and more coaching sessions — and not higher fees.” — International Coaching Federation, 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study
Neither BLS nor ICF measures esports or game coaching specifically. Treat both as directional context for coaching sold as scheduled time, not a rate card for your game, rank, proof, or audience. Your own price still depends on the game, your skill evidence, audience trust, and whether people are already asking for help.
Why does scheduling cost more than it looks like?
A live session costs more than the hour on the call. Finding a shared time, confirming it, waiting on late clients, and dealing with missed slots all use minutes that never appear in the headline rate.
Time zones are the first drag, and they are normal now. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index special report Breaking Down the Infinite Workday, published June 17, 2025, states that “nearly a third of meetings now span multiple time zones—up 35% since 2021”. The same Microsoft report states that 57% of meetings are ad hoc calls without a calendar invite and that 1 in 10 scheduled meetings is booked at the last minute. Microsoft sells calendaring and meeting software, so those figures are vendor-published telemetry and should be read as directional evidence about coordination drag rather than neutral academic measurement.
No-shows are the second drag, and here the outside evidence is peer-reviewed. A systematic literature review by Dantas and colleagues, published in the journal Health Policy in 2018, reviewed 105 studies of appointment scheduling and found an average no-show rate of about 23% (Dantas et al., “No-shows in appointment scheduling – a systematic literature review,” Health Policy, PubMed 29482948). The same peer-reviewed review reports that measured no-show rates ranged from 13.2% in Oceania to 43.0% in Africa (Dantas et al.):
“The results indicate that the average no-show rate is of the order of 23%, being highest in the African continent (43.0%) and lowest in Oceania (13.2%).” — Dantas, Fleck, Cyrino Oliveira and Hamacher, “No-shows in appointment scheduling – a systematic literature review,” Health Policy 122(4)
That 23% figure comes from healthcare appointment scheduling, not game coaching, so do not treat it as a forecast for your Discord coaching slots. It is useful because it shows that any reserved-time format carries attendance risk.
Async review avoids that exact problem. The client submits footage when they can, and you work through the queue in a block you chose. That is why a VOD review can look cheaper per order than a coaching hour while still being sensible: the client is not buying a shared calendar slot, and you are not losing an unused hour when someone does not show.
Why can’t I just rely on my Twitch VOD for review requests?
A Twitch VOD can be a fragile source for paid review because Twitch does not keep past broadcasts forever. How long the recording survives depends on broadcaster status, so “watch my last stream” can become a missing-source problem.
Twitch’s own On-Demand Content help article states that Affiliates have past broadcasts saved for 14 days and that all other broadcasters have past broadcasts saved for 7 days before they are deleted (Twitch Help, On-Demand Content on Twitch). Twitch’s Partner Program page states that “Partners have VODs stored for 60 days, vs only 14 days for Affiliates” (Twitch Partner Program). A ranked game from two months ago may simply be gone unless the broadcaster saved it somewhere else.
Highlights help, but only partly. Twitch’s On-Demand Content help article states that there is a 100-hour storage limit across all Highlights and Uploads, including unpublished ones. For a paid VOD review, it is cleaner to ask the client for the clip file if it fits, or a stable hosted link, inside the order details.
Which format should a new coach start with?
Start with the format that matches how you want to work. If you enjoy live back-and-forth and can protect a predictable weekly block, live coaching may fit your separate calling setup. If you would rather batch feedback and skip calendar messages, async VOD review is usually the easier first offer to keep under control.
| If this describes you | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You can hold a fixed weekly block open | Live coaching elsewhere | Reserved time is the product; a predictable block is what makes it sellable |
| Your schedule changes week to week | Async VOD review | No shared time slot is required to deliver a bounded clip review |
| You want more paid units per hour worked | Async VOD review | Several reviews can be batched in one sitting; live slots cannot be batched |
| Your audience spans several time zones | Async VOD review | The client submits footage whenever they are free, with no mutual hour to negotiate |
| Clients keep asking for real-time correction | Live coaching elsewhere | Redirecting a player mid-game is what synchronous attention buys |
| You want to test demand before committing | Async VOD on Brillay, live elsewhere | List the async VOD review through Custom Work, and sell the live session through your separate calling and scheduling setup |
Many coaches eventually run both: VOD review as the batchable order, and live coaching as a smaller, higher-priced live offer somewhere else. They do not have to compete. A creator can publish multiple Custom Work listings on one Brillay page, each with its own price and delivery time, so a client chooses the version that fits their budget and patience.
A small audience can still test a specific review offer. You do not need to convince everyone to join a monthly community; you need one clear order from one client who already asked. Give the clients who are already sending you clips a single Brillay link that carries Custom Work alongside Tips, Paid Questions, Goals, Personalized Videos, and Brand Collaboration Inquiries, so your paid options are not scattered across DMs.
How should delivery times differ between the two formats?
A live session has its timing built in: it happens at the scheduled time. An async VOD review needs a delivery time stated up front. Put that time on the listing so the client understands the pace before paying.
For Custom Work on Brillay, you can set your delivery time up to 5 days. A 24- to 48-hour promise feels fast, but it leaves less room to batch several reviews together. A longer promise gives you more control over your work blocks, but it may feel slow to a client who wants same-day feedback. Since batching is what improves async work, the best delivery time is the one you can reliably keep, not the shortest one that sounds impressive.
What should a VOD review listing actually include?
A VOD review listing should state the input format, clip length, deliverable, price, and delivery time before a client pays. Live coaching needs the same clarity around session length, prep, and what is outside the offer. Vague scope is how a simple order turns into extra unpaid work.
For a VOD review, define the maximum clip length and whether the final delivery will be written notes, a timestamped list, a marked-up file, links, or an audio/video file. Once you deliver, the client can still reach you through the order's support conversation for a correction on what you sent; a genuinely different ask is scoped and priced as a new order. For live coaching, define the session length, what is covered, what is not covered, and whether you send notes afterward. For Custom Work, accept requests that match your stated scope and decline requests outside it; if you decline, the request closes and the follower keeps their money. (pricing a gameplay VOD review by clip length)
A clear order page also makes the money conversation less awkward. Instead of negotiating in DMs and wondering whether the client is serious, you send the review link. The client sees the price, brief, and delivery time, then you start once payment is in place. That does not remove every payment dispute, so do not price your work as if any tool can erase risk completely.
Frequently asked questions
An async VOD review can live on your Brillay page as Custom Work; live coaching should run through a separate tool made for calls and scheduling. The questions coaches usually ask are about price, scope, delivery time, call hosting, and what Brillay charges.
Is VOD review just cheaper coaching?
No. It is a different deliverable, not a discount version of a live session. A VOD review is priced for watching and responding to one scoped clip. Live coaching is priced for reserved real-time attention. If you compare only the headline price, you miss the time each format takes outside the actual coaching.
How much should I charge for live coaching vs. VOD review?
Divide each offer’s price, minus fees, by the total minutes it consumes, including prep, coordination, delivery, and any after-session notes, then multiply by 60. In the sample math above, a $60 live session that takes 100 total minutes returns $36.00 per hour before fees, while a $25 VOD review that takes 45 minutes returns $33.33. The gap is much smaller than the price tags make it look.
How do I open both without mixing them up?
Use Brillay for the async order, not the live call. You can publish multiple Custom Work listings on one Brillay page, such as a short VOD review and a deeper match analysis, each with its own fixed price and delivery time. Run live coaching through a separate tool that supports calls and scheduling.
Does Brillay host the live coaching call?
No. Brillay says there are “no live video calls or appointments to schedule” on the platform, so a live session belongs on your own tools — Discord, the game client, or a stream setup. For a custom request, the follower pays upfront and you deliver on your own time within the window you set; if you decline, the request closes and the follower keeps their money.
What’s the longest delivery time I can set for a VOD review?
For Custom Work on Brillay, the longest delivery time you can set is 5 days. Set a shorter time only if you can keep it consistently; missing the time you promised is worse than giving yourself a little more room and delivering when you said you would.
How do I take payment without making it weird?
Put the price, scope, brief, and delivery time on the order page, then send the link when someone asks for a review. Clients do not need an account to buy, there is no follower minimum for creators, and creator payouts are supported in 41 countries. Stripe’s processing cost is separate from Brillay’s platform fee, and payment disputes can still happen.
Source note on Brillay: the Brillay — Pricing page states its platform fee for paid work and for tips and goals. The Brillay — How It Works page states that Brillay is asynchronous with no live video calls or appointments to schedule, and that a creator can decline and refund a request. The Brillay — Custom Work page documents creator-set price and delivery time per service, and states that the delivery time can be up to 5 days from purchase. No figure in this article represents Brillay earnings.
For the written-question-versus-live-call version of this tradeoff, see paid direct messages vs. coaching calls; for the broader async-vs-live comparison outside gaming, see Paid Questions vs. coaching sessions. More gaming-specific offer ideas are collected on the Brillay for gaming coaches page.
Create your free Brillay page to sell a fixed-price, one-time VOD review through Custom Work alongside your other offers from one link.
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