What? Duolingo has launched its own ad platform and introduced new formats that let brands sell their wares through its mascots.
More what: Brands can buy two new kinds of full-screen mobile ads on Duolingo, and in two different formats. The first kind is fully animated, and uses the app’s cast of recurring characters to deliver the brand’s entire message. The second kind uses a mascot to introduce the brand’s own video ad.
These circa-15-second messages can be delivered as interstitial ads, which are shown after a user completes a lesson and can be skipped after five seconds, or as rewarded videos, for which users receive gems (which can be spent on in-game power-ups). Users must opt-in to receive the latter.
Why should brands care? Duolingo claims more than 128 million monthly active users and, according to the company’s newly-installed head of sales, Andrew Guendjoian, approximately 90% of those users are subscribed to the app’s free, ad-supported tier. Early tests of the new ad formats showed a 96% completion rate for the rewarded videos, and a click-through rate of 3.3%.
Why is Duolingo doing it? The app previously just sold inventory through a demand-side platform, and most of the buyers were advertising freemium mobile games. By creating its own ad platform and offering more tailored inventory integrating its own characters, each of which has its own personality, Duolingo hopes to attract more premium brands.
Anything else? In the interests of transparency, the author of this article would like you to know that he has a 2,315-day streak on Duolingo.