Zynga

In today’s newsletter: Why Apple’s SKAdNetwork 4.0 is a bust; advertisers are irked by Google’s optimization-driven demand for different creative formats; The Trade Desk releases a baffling list of top 100 publishers.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The AI A/B Google Ads industry liaison Ginny Marvin was called out during a recent Q&A session hosted on an SEO-focused Discord server.  SEO folks had spotted instances where Google clearly A/B tested different ad copy options without a brand’s awareness or approval, Search […]

Mobile game developer Zynga closed its acquisition of ASO provider Storemaven on Monday. Zynga, which declined to share the terms of the deal, is acquiring all of Storemaven’s IP and technology, and it will add Storemaven’s staff of 50 to its current headcount of 2,900. Storemaven founder and CEO Gad Maor will continue to lead the Storemaven team.

Ad tech companies are buying gaming companies, and gaming companies, like Zynga, are buying ad tech. In May, Zynga, maker of FarmVille and Words With Friends, spent $250 million to acquire in-app monetization platform Chartboost. But don’t call Zynga a “content fortress,” says Scott Koenigsberg, Zynga’s chief product officer.

2021 brought unprecedented consolidation across ad tech. But there’s one particularly striking mini trend that’s emerging: Gaming studios are merging with ad tech platforms, writes Mike Peralta, VP and GM of Marketing Solutions, a division of T-Mobile USA.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. News It Or Lose It Influencer journalism is a dangerous trend, according to Jessica Lessin, editor-in-chief of The Information. “Long term,” Lessin writes, “the current obsession with treating journalists like influencers isn’t healthy for journalism.” For one, so-called “elite reporters” generally don’t abide by […]

Despite Apple’s ATT curveball, Zynga is having its best revenue and audience growth year since the company was founded in 2007. The social game developer, whose titles include Words With Friends and the FarmVille franchise, grew its advertising business 99% year-over-year in the third quarter to $134 million. Total quarterly revenue was $705 million, a […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. iOS’s Junk, Android’s Treasure Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency framework is making it unprofitable to acquire new customers – and Zynga’s earnings offered a proof point for the change’s impact on the mobile game company’s business. “The adoption of Apple’s privacy changes resulted in a higher cost […]

Zynga is buying in-app growth and mobile monetization platform Chartboost for $250 million. It’s an excellent exit for a company that’s only raised $21 million since its $2 million Series A in 2011. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, was announced on Wednesday on Zynga’s Q1 earnings call, during which the company […]

Zynga might be in the market to buy some ad tech. The online and mobile gaming developer, which posted record Q4 earnings on Wednesday, fueled by an all-time best revenue and bookings quarter for Words With Friends, is in the midst of building its own ad network to expand its addressable market. Revenue for the […]