Zynga increases its ad revenue by 99% to $134 million in Q3

Zynga released its financial results for its third quarter ending September 30, 2021, after market close on Monday. The social game developer reported $134 million in advertising revenue for the third quarter, up 99% year-over-year. 

The company reported a record Q3 revenue of $705 million, up 40% year-over-year, and its best-ever Q3 total bookings of $668 million, up 6% year-over-year. Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau attributed the growth in advertising revenue and bookings to Rollic’s hyper-casual portfolio and the first-full quarter contribution from Chartboost.

Zynga, which acquired hyper-casual mobile game studio Rollic for $180 million in October last year, also closed the $250 million acquisition of mobile ad and monetization platform Chartboost in August. 

For the third quarter, mobile revenue accounted for 97% ($685.1 million) of Zynga’s total Q3 2021 revenue. The social game developer behind the popular titles including the FarmVille franchise and Words With Friends finished the third quarter with average mobile DAUs of 38 million, up 21% year-over-year, and average mobile MAUs of 183 million, up 120% year over-year. This growth was primarily driven by the addition of Rollic’s hyper-casual portfolio, Zynga says.  

In light of its performance in Q3 2021, Zynga raised its full-year revenue forecast to $2.78 billion, which would be up 41% year-over-year. In Q4, the company expects a revenue of $675 million, up 10% YoY, and bookings of $715 million, up 2% YoY. 

“We delivered strong quarterly results ahead of guidance, including record Q3 revenue and bookings primarily driven by another standout quarter from Rollic’s hyper-casual portfolio,” said Gibeau. 

“Today, we are raising our full year 2021 guidance and are on track to finish the year with Zynga’s best-ever annual topline performance and the largest mobile audience in the company’s history. We are well positioned for 2022 and beyond with multiple growth catalysts in place to drive our continued expansion.”

On the same day as its third quarter financial results were announced, Zynga also announced that it has hired Matt Wolf as Vice President of Blockchain Gaming. With Wolf on the team, Zynga will begin integrating NFTs and blockchain into its existing portfolio and developing new NFT-based games.