Pinterest continues to occupy a small portion of advertisers’ media plans, but agency executives report growing momentum as the platform enhances its advertising capabilities. According to five ad buyers interviewed by Digiday, client investment in Pinterest remains modest but is steadily increasing.

“For those where it is part of the plan, we’ve seen investment levels range from 0.50% to 11% of their budgets over the past year or so,” said Andrew Richardson, SVP of Advanced Analytics and Measurement at New Engen.

Courtney Shaw, VP of Social Media Solutions at Basis Technologies, confirmed this trend: “Our average spend on Pinterest is in the low single-digit percentage of the overall social ad spend we activate for clients. It is, however, continuously increasing each year.”

Revenue Growth and Partnerships

Pinterest’s recent financial performance reinforces this trajectory. The platform reported $855 million in Q1 2025 revenue, representing a 16% year-on-year increase. CEO Bill Ready attributed this growth to the platform’s increasing appeal to performance-focused advertisers beyond its traditional branding base.

“Some of the most sophisticated performance marketers in the world are spending 5% to 10% of their advertising budgets on Pinterest as they lean into our lower funnel tools,” Ready stated during the company’s Q1 earnings call.

Despite progress, Pinterest faces competition from established players. Agency executives report that Pinterest budgets typically reach only 25% of what clients allocate to Meta. Chris Rigas, VP of Media at Markacy, noted that his clients’ Pinterest budgets average around 10% of their Meta investments.

Rather than acquiring an ad tech platform, Pinterest has opted for partnerships to expand its reach. The company recently announced an official partnership with supply-side platform Magnite.

“Partnering with scaled ad tech vendors should be a core focus to broaden its reach,” said Thomas Thomson, Ad Tech Research Lead at Omdia.

Industry analysts view this partnership approach as appropriate given Pinterest’s current scale and resources, allowing the platform to expand its advertising capabilities without the significant investment required to build proprietary ad tech infrastructure.