What happened
Shares of Zynga (ZNGA) popped 9.4% on Tuesday, following the release of the video game developer's third-quarter financial results.
So what
Zynga's revenue surged 40% year over year to $705 million, boosted by strong growth in international markets. The mobile gaming company also delivered record bookings -- an important sales metric that accounts for changes in deferred revenue -- of $668 million.
Notably, Zynga's average mobile daily active users (DAUs) climbed 21% to 38 million. Its average mobile monthly active users (MAUs), meanwhile, soared 120% to 183 million.
Zynga's offerings are proving popular with gamers. Image source: Getty images.
Zynga's rapidly expanding advertising business is also helping to power its growth. The company's purchase of hyper-casual game publisher Rollic late last year has made it an increasingly powerful player in the in-game ad market. Zynga's advertising and other revenue and bookings, in turn, rocketed 99% to $134 million in the third quarter.
All told, Zynga's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased more than fivefold to $197 million.
Now what
These strong results and positive ongoing gaming trends prompted Zynga's leadership team to lift its full-year sales and profit forecast. Management now expects the company to generate revenue and adjusted EBITDA of $2.78 billion and $616 million, respectively, in 2021. That's up from a prior projection of $2.73 billion and $575 million.
Looking further ahead, Zynga guided for "low double-digit" revenue growth in 2022, driven by new game launches and continued growth in ad sales.
