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SENSOR TOWER · ABRAHAM YOUSEF · MARCH 2024

Empowering Education: Global Trends and Opportunities in EdTech

Despite a decline in global downloads, the education app industry has experienced steady revenue growth over the past three years, driven by a transformative shift in learning experiences and increased adoption of AI. Duolingo set new download records in 2023, while homework helper apps like Brainly and Photomath faced challenges due to increasing competition.

Empowering Education: Global Trends and Opportunities in EdTech

Key Takeaways:

  • Despite a substantial 21% decline in global downloads for education apps over the past three years, the category's revenue has maintained steady growth. In 2023, the US, Asia, and Europe all experienced double-digit YoY growth rates of 12%, 14%, and 21%, respectively

    • While the European and Asian markets continued to experience a decline in education app downloads in 2023, the US market saw a return to growth with a 3% YoY increase

  • Education apps have witnessed a surge in the adoption of AI terms. During the second half of 2023, 88 apps on Google Play and 55 on the App Store added the keyword “AI" or “Artificial Intelligence” to their app descriptions, marking a notable overall increase of 72% from the previous year. This reflects the industry's recognition of the potential of artificial intelligence to transform learning experiences

  • Duolingo set a new download record, solidifying its position as the leading language learning app globally. Experiencing remarkable growth, the app reached 160M downloads in 2023, marking an impressive 109% increase compared to 2020. This expansion notably widened the gap between Duolingo and other leading language learning apps

    • Duolingo's loyal user base plays a pivotal role in its success within the language learning sector. Sensor Tower's Audience Insight data shows remarkable loyalty among US users. While more than 40% of users from competing apps such as Pimsleur, Busuu, Babbel, and Rosetta Stone also engage with Duolingo, the reverse trend is less prevalent, with less than 2.5% of Duolingo users using these competing apps

  • In a competitive market environment, Photomath exhibited resilience by retaining its existing user base and acquiring new users, with MAUs up 5% YoY in 2023. In contrast, its competitor, Brainly, encountered challenges as both downloads and average MAUs declined during the same period

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Abraham Yousef

Written by: Abraham Yousef, Senior Insights Analyst

Date: March 2024