Angry Birds is the fastest-growing brand

“Angry Birds” is the fastest-growing brand in the world in its first two years, according to its makers, with growth expected to jump when the title finally comes to Facebook.
The Angry Birds fad began with the highly addictive video game and expanded to stuffed plush toys, books, clothes and even plans for a movie. These developments lead to its rapid growth, said Wibe Wagemans, senior vice president of brand advertising and analytics for Rovio, the Finnish studio that produces the title.
The game is downloadable for free on several platforms, including mobile devices and the Chrome app store. When Google+ added Angry Birds to its social games site, the game flew to the top of the rankings, beating out other games from Zynga, Electronic Arts and others.
Wagemans said the company’s growth led to 120 million active users playing Rovio’s Angry Birds games, drawing more users than other fast-growing global companies and doing it within 20 months of launch.
And Wagemans expects the growth to continue. Rovio’s main competitor, Zynga, has more than 273 million monthly active users on Facebook alone, and Wegman predicts Angry Birds will snag similar numbers when it launches on Facebook, too.
Rovio enjoys rapid growth, but Zynga might end up being the top gaming company after all, even with Angry Bird toys highly popular among the elementary school set.
In August, reports indicated Zynga, best known for its FarmVille game on Facebook, was in talks with Rovio. Zynga is in the market to add another gaming acquisition, after losing a bidding war for PopCap games, which went to Electronic Arts last month.
Both gaming giants may benefit if they form a partnership. Zynga’s games attract about 148 million users on Facebook every day, but people mostly play the games online instead of downloading them. Zynga makes millions selling game credits so players can build on their game levels.
Rovio earned millions through Angry Birds, which has been downloaded more than 250 million times. Although Rovio has surging profits and revenue, it doesn’t have an online presence or the wider audience Zynga enjoys through Facebook.
Neither party is admitting to a merger, but a Zynga-Rovio partnership may combine users in a gaming experience that surpasses more traditional gaming platforms, such as Nintendo and PlayStation, which are already declining because of the growth of mobile gaming.
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