Zynga banking on 'fat fingers' to help mobile ad numbers -- analyst

(Credit: Richard Greenfield/BTIG )

Zynga has increased the size of its ads and made it more difficult to close them, in a ploy to get more accidental clicks, according to one analyst (BTIG registration required) playing close attention to the game creator's advertising.

The new ads are, he says, a "desperate action" to encourage "fat fingers," or accidental clicks, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield wrote in a blog post today (BTIG registration required).

CNET has asked Zynga to comment and we'll update if we hear back.

With mobile advertising as the No. 1 concern for most online companies, Greenfield said Zynga was actually doing a good job of attracting "high quality, major brand advertising" for its mobile apps, but the company's recent woes may be changing the game plan.

"Yet, with Zynga's key assets, employees, literally walking out the door, company guidance of essentially zero EBITDA in the back half of 2012 and its stock price having cratered, we believe the company is resorting to questionable tactics to drive revenue," Gr... [Read more]