Duolingo's green owl character is making waves on Instagram with various meme-based content. Offline, the app has made its presence felt at birthday cafes, Buddhist expos, and university festivals. By leveraging humor, character engagement, and fandom culture, Duolingo is expanding its user base in South Korea without relying on a rigid educational image.
On August 26, we spoke with Ma Joo-yeon, Duolingo's country manager for South Korea, about the company's localization marketing and growth strategies.
Ma, who joined Duolingo in October 2024 after a marketing career at global IT and content companies like Netflix and Line, noted that while Duolingo offered Korean language services, there was no dedicated team for the South Korean market at that time.
According to Mobile Index, Duolingo's monthly active users (MAU) in South Korea surged from 620,000 in November 2024 to 2,082,084 in July 2026, a growth of approximately 3.4 times. In the same period, competitors like 'Malhaeboka' increased from 290,000 to 313,272 users, and 'Speak' grew from 240,000 to 266,546 users.
As the domestic English learning app market expands, Duolingo has significantly widened its lead over competitors. Data from Mobile Index's core audience report indicates that in July, Duolingo accounted for 57.1% of the top 20% of users by app usage time among English learning apps. This growth, along with Duolingo's strategy to encourage daily app visits, has garnered attention in the local app industry.
Ma's initial focus for the South Korean market was on Duolingo's positioning. He stated, "We aimed to make it less about education and more about lifestyle. Our priority is to ensure that Korean users do not perceive it as a boring language study app, but rather as a tool they actively use."
The 'loose' owl character, Duol, exemplifies this strategy. Ma is responsible for adjusting the character's humor to align with Korean culture and sensibilities.
Ma emphasized the importance of not just attracting users with memes and characters but also encouraging repeat visits. He highlighted the 'Duo Birthday Party' campaign, which adapted Duolingo's global 'Streak Revival' initiative to a Korean context by incorporating the birthday cafe culture popular among K-pop fans.
In June, Duolingo hosted birthday parties for Duol at cafes in Yongsan, Hongdae, and Seongsu, offering gifts to visitors who verified their continuous learning streaks. Participants could share photos on Instagram to enter additional events, effectively linking app usage with offline activities and social media engagement.
This approach, which goes beyond mere meme marketing to drive users back to the app, is central to Duolingo's strategy. Ma considers daily active users (DAU) a more critical metric than MAU. Duolingo's average daily DAU in South Korea increased from about 1.05 million in May to 1.14 million in July 2026.
At the Nexon Developer Conference in June, Ma presented DAU as a key performance indicator for Duolingo, stating, "The core of Duolingo is DAU. Continuity is crucial in language learning. We focused on making users return to the app daily, which seems to have resonated in the domestic app market."
Looking ahead, Ma plans to expand localized marketing efforts in South Korea. The company has broadened user engagement through participation in Buddhist expos, university festivals, and collaborations with K-pop idols. He cited the April Buddhist expo as an example of adapting global standards to the local cultural context.
"Cultural acceptance varies by region," Ma explained. "While other countries may approach religion cautiously, in Korea, even non-Buddhists attend the expo. It has become a cultural event enjoyed by the MZ generation. We considered this when participating in the expo, and the response was positive."
New collaborations are also underway. In August, Duolingo partnered with the K-pop group ATEEZ for Instagram content, further connecting with the K-pop fandom. This collaboration has since expanded to other Duolingo channels in different countries.
Ma expressed his hope that users would feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of each day, saying, "I want Duolingo to become a productive short-form experience that users can incorporate into their daily habits."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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