WSOP Brand A Growing Threat To Zynga Poker

Zynga Poker is by far the biggest social poker site, and today accounts for 61% of the total market, generating around $13 million in revenues each month for the company. However, Zynga has been on a downward spiral since 2011 when it boasted 38 million active users and in 2014 it noted a 44% fall off in its audience to 20 million players, with annual revenues also expected to plunge to $179 million in 2015, down from the $203 million collected in 2013.
Being such a dominant force in the social poker market, Zynga Poker’s fluctuating fortunes has therefore exponentially impacted the overall industry, with the company currently criticized for failing to keep up with changing trends. After all, whilst Zynga has continued concentrating on offering a stand-alone poker app for social gamers, the markets’ appetite has moved towards apps offering the whole range of casino games, including slots and blackjack, and as a SuperData Research study recently stated:
“User numbers are dropping more sharply than revenue, as the market matures and fickle players fall by the wayside. More casual poker players now gravitate toward poker games included in casino-style apps like DoubleDown Casino.. [thus] causing a deflation in poker figures.”
As Zynga Poker’s core audience continues its dramatic decline, another operator has been experiencing a huge bump in its social poker players numbers, namely WSOP.com, which has noted a doubling of player numbers to 3.25 million over the past year. In addition, WSOP.com is predicted to overtake Zynga Poker in active mobile users this year, an increasingly important segment of the market which is predicted to generate the bigger part of free poker revenues by 2018.
The WSOP brand’s meteoric rise up the social poker ladder is expected to be given a further boost over the next couple of months, too, as thousands of players and tourists alike are drawn to the 2015 WSOP in Nevada. This year, the Rio has enabled greater access to the WSOP.com site than ever before, and the 2015 series also features a landmark online bracelet event which is sure to promote the site further.