Pinterest Gets The Picture, Introduces Native Video Ads

Pinterest has finally introduced a native video player, creating massive opportunities for brands and influencers everywhere. The photo-centric social platform has already established itself as a source for inspiration and tutorials, but a native video player makes it even easier to share ideas (and sell products).

“In the last year alone, we’ve seen a 60 percent increase in videos on Pinterest,” product manager, Steve Davis said on the official Pinterest blog. “With workouts, home projects and hair & beauty tutorials topping the charts. With so many bloggers, brands and other experts using video to share their ideas, it’s more important than ever that the video experience be as seamless as possible, and we’ve got some big improvements in the works.”

Although not as known for video as say, YouTube or Snapchat, Pinterest is no stranger to the idea. The company previously experimented with a format called Cinematic Pins, featuring short videos that played according to the scrolling of the page. Aside from that experiment, however, Pinterest has thus far been limited to sharing videos hosted on other platforms. In 2014, the company introduced its first ads in the form of promoted pins, and has since added other revenue sources like e-commerce.

This is exciting news for brands and influencers, who will get access to all the traditional metrics for video advertisements, as well as the option to stick featured pins below the video. Each video ad is natively hosted on Pinterest and users will initially see a short preview in their activity feed. They can then click on it if they want to watch it in full, or even click on a call to action if they want to purchase the advertised item.

Each ad also comes with up to six related “pins,” or images, that the advertiser can customize to go along with the video. For example, a cosmetics company could create a video ad to show off a new lipstick with a quick tutorial, using pictures of the lipstick and other products used as the accompanying pins. Influencers can also repurpose video content from other platforms and build out shopping options with pins, on their own or in partnership with a brand. These additional pins can also be easily saved to users’ accounts with a “buy” button to let them purchase the featured items.

Brands are taking full advantage of the power of video ads on social. According to a recent survey by Animoto, a cloud-based video creation service, 70.8 percent of respondents said they plan to invest in social video ads, including ads to boost content in the next 12 months. Marketers can now add Pinterest to those plans.

Pinterest tested the new video ads with 12 advertisers, including General Mills’ Old El Paso, Garnier, and Universal Pictures, rolling out across the US and UK for now. Pinterest’s user base has grown to more than 100 million monthly active users, but half of them are international. The site’s Featured Collections, a method for highlighting trending ideas and topics by region takes advantage of local brands, celebrities and platform influencers. Featured Collections are now available in the UK, France, Germany, Brazil and Japan, so the new video ads will most likely expand to these regions, as well.