Business Monitor: Zynga Q1 2019
Key Takeaways
  • Zynga reported that its poker franchise generated 15% of the $200 million in online gaming revenue in Q1 2019.
  • In real terms, that amounts to $30 million in revenue for the quarter, down an estimated 20% year-over-year.

Zynga reported that its poker franchise generated 15% of the $200 million in online gaming revenue in Q1 2019. This is its lowest share of group revenue in the 14 quarters on record.

In real terms, that amounts to $30 million in revenue for the quarter, down an estimated 19.6% year-over-year. It is the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines.

Q1 2019 was the lowest for poker in over two years. In sequential terms, online gaming revenue at Zynga Poker has declined for the last four.

Total online gaming revenue of $200 million was however up 23% year-over year and the company’s best on record. This was thanks primarily to the contribution from Merge Dragons, a game that Zynga acquired last year for $250 million/

At 14% of group revenue, the game contributed a very meaningful $28 million. That puts it on the same pedestal as Zynga Poker, the company’s long-standing top-performer in its portfolio.

Without the Merge Dragons contribution, Zynga’s growth in gaming revenue was a more modest 6%.

Zynga is growing its advertising revenue at a faster rate. In Q1 2019 it was $65 million, up 44% year-over-year. It now represents a full quarter of the group’s total gaming revenue, up from 22% in Q1 2018.