Pinterest has unveiled a new advertising partnership with Google, aiming to boost its ad revenue. The move makes Google the second third-party ad partner for Pinterest, following a multiyear deal with Amazon signed last year.
Pinterest mentioned the Google partnership during its Q4 2023 earnings call, where it disclosed revenues of $981 million, a 12% year-on-year growth, albeit below analyst expectations. Pinterest’s monthly active users increased to 498 million, reflecting 11% year-on-year growth.
Despite its stock initially dipping nearly 28% due to the below-expectation revenue, it recovered after CEO Bill Ready announced the Google deal. Ready noted that this partnership would focus on monetizing currently non-monetized international markets, by enabling ads to be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager.
He highlighted that while 80% of Pinterest users are outside the U.S., they only generate 20% of revenue. The Google partnership aims to increase the average revenue per user in these international markets.
Ready also discussed how Pinterest is leveraging AI and new formats to increase user engagement. Among new features is a ‘collage’ tool, which allows users to create and share images using stickers and objects. It also launched an auto-organizing feature that recommends board creation based on similar pins, leading to a 30% increase in boards created on the platform.
The CEO revealed that the company’s AI-search guides aid users refine their search queries, bringing them closer to making purchases. Additionally, Pinterest is working on enhancing inclusivity, experimenting with a new tool that incorporates a range of body types in search results.
