With over 20 million downloads in the last year and more than 100 million active users, it’s more than safe to say that Duolingo is not only an educational, but cultural phenomenon on an extraordinary level of success. On the surface, the app has primarily gamified language learning; yet, plenty of other applications do the same, so why does it have such a colossal effect on education and media?
Considering the events of Duo’s (Duolingo’s Mascot) death, on February 11, 2025, and resuscitation 13 days later, the company has garnered significant attention with the condolences of numerous renown corporations and celebrities. In a fight for Duo’s life, users had to work together to pool 50 billion XP(experience points) to resuscitate him; it was later revealed that his “death” was faked in order to test users to see their loyalty and rewarded them for their superb reaction and revival of him. Although, the company’s sublime stunt in marketing was only one of the many media triumphs that led to their immeasurable economic success.
Corresponding to their enormous success, Duolingo has a following of 4.7 million followers on their main Instagram account, likely emerging from how they tailor to audiences by sticking to a “persona” and keeping up with current trends.
Their ability to stay current is no stroke of luck- with an incredibly unique and innovative style of marketing, Duolingo threatens users, utilizing themes of death, horror and trending memes to keep in the spotlight. For an educational app, they are far more renowned for their media than their teachings. Although their intensity and threats were more conspiratorial than anything at first, they have truly leaned into it in more recent years, going as far as creating gruesome icons and explicitly hostile or begging notifications in order to get users learning. Outside of its educational areas, Duolingo also has an online shop where they sell merchandise of their own, another trait not possessed by most other educational companies. A recent addition to their shop is Duo mystery boxes, again tailoring to current trends. They also continue to stick to their domain with things like the Duo the Owl Mask and Duo Butt Briefs. It appears to be these oddities that call so much attention to the company on social media, but there are plenty of other factors to compile into how they are so immensely successful.
Outside of their social media presence, they focus on which courses are available as well, even incorporating fictional languages into their curriculum. Duolingo offers a grand total of 42 languages, with its competitors Babbel and Rosetta Stone having a mere 14 and 25, respectively. On a local scale, The Village School students are well within the audience of Duolingo with their large range of nationalities and diversity. In the app’s variety of languages, it tailors to speakers internationally and can be well suited for a larger number of groups. For Star Trek fans, the app offers Klingon, and for any Game of Thrones fans, Valyrian is an option as well, showing a large variety in course choices. In its more recent years, the company has added both music and math to its repertoire of learning genres, primarily targeting younger learners.
As stances shift and times change, Duolingo has taken a progressive approach to its marketing, presenting characters of the LGBTQ+ community, different demographics and personalities which further solidifies them as an approachable and friendly application. Duo himself has made himself a distinct personality in social media and lessons, with friendly, mischievous and relatable dialogue.
Statistically, their numbers speak for themselves. According to Duolingo’s website, out of 100 million active users, 8% are subscribers with yearly payments ranging from $60 to $100. In 2024, Duolingo reached 100 million monthly active users with a reported 59% growth in daily active users and a 41% increase in revenues. Most impressively, over 20% of DAUs have a streak(number of consecutive days of activity) over a year long.
All things considered, Duolingo is more than just a means for learning language; it’s a marvel in its marketing. With a prolific distinction from other educational programs, it becomes clear that there is a method to their madness, and a madly successful one at that. Its bizarre formula found unprecedented success, completely altering how outside of school learning and advertisement was and is now executed.
