The booming social gaming market has been kind to Zynga, according to its CFO Dave Wehner. While speaking at the 40th J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference Wednesday, Wehner reported that Zynga is seeing a larger share of its revenue coming from mobile games for iOS and Android, with its own core games experiencing organic growth quarter-over-quarter.
"We're really excited about what we're seeing in mobile," Wehner said, adding, "There's a ton of connected wallets out there, people who are available as potential players and payers."
Only 2 percent of Zynga's montly unique users were paid users in the last quarter, and Wehner sees this as an opportunity to "increase payer penetration." He cited the millions of users with iTunes accounts, who already have mobile wallets built into their devices as a way to increase paid MUUs.
Zynga's revenue from mobile is three-pronged, with revenue coming from downloads, in-app purchases and in-game advertising. Wehner confirmed that in-app purchases are the "No. 1 driver" in revenue, despite the fact that one of its most popular titles, Words with Friends, is advertiser-based.
"We're building our own direct ad sales force both in mobile and on the Web," Wehner said. He noted the success of virtual goods tie-ins, including Cityville's McDonald's themed branded business available last year.
Wehner also broke down the differences in Zynga's audience on mobile devices and the Web. In mobile, it excels at turn-based apps, like its "With Friends" series, whereas on the Web its "ville" branded titles are more successful.
He attributes much of this growth to the changing gaming market. "I think the largest shift that we're seeing in our business as it relates to the gaming industry is that Zynga is bringing a whole class of gamers into the game space that weren't there before," he explained. And while shifting demographics of mobile gamers isn't new--mobile analytics firm Flurry noticed this trend last year--it does provide some insight into which types of games are popular now and will continue to be popular in the future.
Wehner reported the largest increase in Zynga's popularity in mobile comes from two genres: casino and casual games. Building on that trend, the company launched a bingo name, Slingo, in the first quarter and saw its daily average users jump to 4 million.
