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EP 87: Luis von Ahn (CEO, Duolingo) on The Marketing Formula that Propelled Duolingo to 500M Users

The Logan Bartlett Show

NOTE

Duolingo’s Revenue & User Split Between Free & Premium

Initially uncertain about which revenue stream would dominate, Duolingo discovered that subscriptions greatly outperformed advertisements after a few months of operation. Although only about 8% of Duolingo's user base are paying subscribers, this minority generates roughly 80% of the company's revenue, indicating a massively disproportionate financial contribution compared to the 92% who use the service for free.

Maxims:

  • The minority who pay for premium services can contribute the majority of a company's revenue.

  • Subscription models can vastly outperform ad-based revenue in user-centric platforms.

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