Language learning company Duolingo will launch its generative AI-based video-calling feature ‘Call with Lily’ in India this month to boost monetisation, said chief business officer Bob Meese.
The feature users converse with Lily, a virtual character, providing an immersive and interactive experience.
“The video call feature we think is around conversation practice, which we think is a better fit, and that’s more likely to drive our revenue and bookings in a market like India,” said Meese in an interview with businessline.
The US-based company started its monetisation journey last year and will bundle this feature as a part of the subscription model, Duolingo Max, which is the company’s most premium offering. The premium offering starts as low as ₹99.
Its subscription model Super Duolingo (formerly known as Duolingo Plus), DET, or Duolingo English Test, are the company’s major revenue sources.
“We started monetization last year in 2023, and since it’s so recent, it’s pretty small, but one thing that we’re particularly excited about is we have a new higher tier in our subscription, and AI calling feature,” he added.
The company plans to also plans to expand its India presence and hire more tech talent, said Meese.
“We’re getting more people to grow the India tech team, and we believe it’s a big step to hire our first engineering and product people in India,” he said.
Duolingo is also launching different types of course content and is doing more long-form content, which it launched a format called Stories.
“Stories has been an important format for us, and then more recently, last year, we launched a format called Duo Radio, which teaches listening practice,” added Messe.
India is currently within the top five markets for the company in terms of user base.
“When we look five plus years in the future, I’m very confident India will be among the top three biggest markets for us by number of users, for sure,” he added.
The company also introduced an English-language course worldwide for the intermediate level, with advanced English skills for education and career growth.
“It is a big focus for us at the whole company level, and India is a really fast-growing part of that,” Meese added.