Integration Makes Zynga’s Direct Inventory Available to Marketers Via Automated Guaranteed Buying for the First Time
LOS ANGELES & SAN FRANCISCO – Rubicon Project (NYSE: RUBI), which operates one of the largest advertising marketplaces in the world, and Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a leading social game developer, announced that for the first time ever marketers will be able to access Zynga’s premium guaranteed and reserved inventory via programmatic buying.
“Advertisers everywhere are seeking new and innovative ways to reach highly engaged mobile audiences at scale”
The relationship marks a first for Zynga as it makes its most premium guaranteed inventory, which was previously only available via manual sales channels, available to programmatic buyers globally through Rubicon Project’s industry leading Guaranteed Orders marketplace. The inventory includes highly sought after ad units that combine unique and compelling creative content, including gamified and native ads with deep first party data insights across the highest value placements including first look, limited interruption and sponsorship placements coveted by buyers.
“We are excited to team with Rubicon Project to offer global scale and access to Zynga’s guaranteed inventory in our games,” said Julie Shumaker, Vice President of Sales, Zynga. “By marrying Zynga’s rich data insights and compelling brand experiences with Rubicon Project’s leading automated advertising marketplace we’re making it easier for brands to more meaningfully connect with Zynga’s millions of loyal players.”
The announcement marks the first time that Zynga has made all of its game inventory available via automated guaranteed, as well as the first time buyers will have access to the full suite of inventory via automated buying channels.
Automated guaranteed allows buyers to access premium reserved publisher inventory in addition to unique high impact and custom publisher solutions such as sponsorships, rising stars, in-game and native placements. Rubicon Project’s Guaranteed Orders platform will streamline the purchase, execution and development of gaming experiences with minimal new creative assets required from the client or brand.
“Advertisers everywhere are seeking new and innovative ways to reach highly engaged mobile audiences at scale,” said Joe Prusz, Head of Mobile, Rubicon Project. “Today’s game-changing announcement for mobile marketers means that for the first time buyers can access Zynga’s premium content with some of the best data and placements via automated guaranteed at scale. We are thrilled to be the only automated advertising platform in the world today to offer Zynga’s massive array of premium guaranteed reserve inventory to the tens of thousands of buyers who rely on our advertising marketplace to reach and engage consumers.”
About Rubicon Project
Rubicon Project’s mission is to keep the Internet free and open and fuel its growth by making it easy and safe to buy and sell advertising. Rubicon Project pioneered advertising automation technology to enable the world’s leading brands, content creators and application developers to trade and protect trillions of advertising requests each month and to improve the advertising experiences of consumers. Rubicon Project is a publicly traded company (NYSE: RUBI) headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
About Zynga Inc.
Zynga Inc. is a leading developer of the world’s most popular social games that are played by millions of monthly consumers. The company has created evergreen franchises such as FarmVille, Zynga Casino and Words With Friends. Zynga’s NaturalMotion, an Oxford-based mobile game and technology developer, is the creator of hit mobile games in popular entertainment categories, including CSR Racing, CSR Classics and Clumsy Ninja. Zynga games have been played by more than 1 billion people around the world and are available on a number of global platforms including Apple iOS, Google Android, Facebook and Zynga.com. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. Learn more about Zynga at http://blog.zynga.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, Zynga’s selection and success of Rubicon Project to exclusively launch automated guaranteed advertising buying through Rubicon’s Guaranteed Orders marketplace across Zynga’s premium direct inventory, Zynga’s ability to deliver certain creative content (including gamified ads and first party data insights) to programmatic buyers globally and offer to tens of thousands of advertising buyers premium direct inventory that could be viewed by some Zynga’s millions of players around the world, the ability of automated guaranteed buying through the Guaranteed Orders marketplace to allow buyers to access Zynga’s inventory, ad units and advertising offerings and streamline the execution and development of gaming experiences with minimal creative assets, and the future unveiling of information about Zynga’s and Rubicon’ Project’s relationship. The success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks. Actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, among other things advertising buyers interest purchasing Zynga’s advertising offerings through automated guaranteed advertising buying on the Guaranteed Orders marketplace, players interests in the purchased advertisements, Zynga’s relationship and agreement with Rubicon Project, Zynga’s ability to offer advertising options in a timely manner, Zynga’s ability to monetize its advertising options effectively, the effectiveness of Zynga’s marketing program, Zynga’s ability to anticipate and address technical challenges that may arise and competition. More information about the risks Zynga faces is included in Zynga’s quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC, copies of which may be obtained at http://investor.zynga.com or the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this release. We assume no obligation to update such statements.
