Zynga Contributed 15% of Facebook’s Revenue In Q1, Down From 19% A Year Ago

Zynga and Facebook are ever gradually trying to separate from each other. It’s working — sort of?

Facebook said today that 15 percent of its revenue in the first quarter came from either advertising or payments tied to Zynga games.* That’s down from 19 percent during the same time a year earlier.

About 11 of the 15 percent in revenue was from the 30 percent revenue share Facebook takes from transactions in Zynga games on the platform or advertising that Zynga directly paid Facebook for. Another 4 percent comes from advertising shown alongside Zynga content.

Facebook continues to emphasize that any bad blood between the two companies could hurt financial results. Zynga recently overhauled its site as a web destination for gaming that it hopes will attract users away from the Facebook canvas. The social network is still powering payments for the site, however, meaning that Zynga is still paying Facebook its 30 percent share.

“Zynga may choose to try to migrate users from existing Facebook-integrated games to other websites or platforms,” Facebook said in an updated filing for an initial public offering. “We may fail to maintain good relations with Zynga or Zynga may decide to reduce or cease its investments in games on the Facebook Platform. If the use of Zynga games on our Platform declines for these or other reasons, our financial results may be adversely affected.”

Overall, Facebook’s payments and fees revenue is pretty much double what it was a year ago at $186 million, up from $94 million. It makes up 17.6 percent of Facebook’s overall revenue, up from 12.9 percent in the first quarter of last year. But this isn’t a perfect comparison since Facebook’s 30 percent revenue share for transactions on the canvas only became mandatory last July. Payments and fees revenue is basically flat on the quarter too.

*Note: There was a 12% figure that was widely reported a few months ago when Facebook first filed for an initial public offering. But that was Zynga’s share of Facebook’s revenue for all of 2011 and it excluded advertising bought by other companies that shows up alongside Zynga games.

Here’s the exact text if you want to read it yourself:

In 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, we estimate that up to 19% and 15% of our revenue, respectively, was derived from Payments processing fees from Zynga, direct advertising from Zynga, and revenue from third parties for ads shown on pages generated by Zynga apps. If Zynga does not maintain its level of engagement with our users or if we are unable to successfully maintain our relationship with Zynga, our financial results could be harmed.

In 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, Zynga directly accounted for approximately 12% and 11%, respectively, of our revenue, which was comprised of revenue derived from Payments processing fees related to Zynga’s sales of virtual goods and from direct advertising purchased by Zynga. Additionally, Zynga’s apps generate pages on which we display ads from other advertisers; for 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, we estimate that an additional approximately 7% and 4%, respectively, of our revenue was generated from the display of these ads. Zynga has recently launched games on its own website and on non-Facebook platforms, and Zynga may choose to try to migrate users from existing Facebook-integrated games to other websites or platforms. We may fail to maintain good relations with Zynga or Zynga may decide to reduce or cease its investments in games on the Facebook Platform. If the use of Zynga games on our Platform declines for these or other reasons, our financial results may be adversely affected.