Pinterest just reported $1.008 billion in quarterly revenue for Q1 2026. That's an 18% year-over-year increase, driven almost entirely by the maturation of its AI-powered advertising suite.
The number that matters most isn't the headline revenue figure. It's this: 30% of Pinterest's lower-funnel revenue now runs through Performance+ campaigns. Advertisers using Performance+ are growing spend at twice the rate of non-adopters.
Performance+ delivered a 24% higher conversion lift in advertiser tests and won 80% of A/B comparisons against manually optimised campaigns. Those are the kind of numbers that move budget allocation conversations.
Pinterest also crossed 631 million monthly active users, up 11% year-over-year. The platform is growing at a time when most social networks are fighting for flat user numbers.
Pinterest Q1 2026 revenue, with Performance+ campaigns driving 30% of lower-funnel revenue
For Australian advertisers, Pinterest has historically been the platform that gets left out of the media plan. It doesn't have Meta's scale, Google's intent signal or TikTok's cultural momentum. But it has something none of those platforms have: purchase intent baked into the user behaviour.
People come to Pinterest to plan. Weddings, renovations, wardrobes, meals, holidays. The intent signal isn't inferred from browsing behaviour or search queries. It's explicit: users are literally pinning things they want to buy, build or book.
That intent signal is what makes Performance+ particularly effective on Pinterest. When the AI optimisation layer is working with users who are already in planning mode, the conversion pathway is shorter and cleaner than on platforms where you're interrupting entertainment or social browsing.
Pinterest is also piloting something noteworthy: direct integration with advertisers' proprietary measurement systems. Instead of relying solely on Pinterest's attribution model, the AI bidding can respond to each advertiser's specific definition of value. In early testing, this drove a 15% to 20% improvement in lifetime value return on ad spend.
Pinterest is quietly becoming the highest-intent paid media channel that most Australian brands aren't using.
The new A/B testing tool in Ads Manager (currently in beta) and updated Canvas with real-time image editing lower the creative production barrier. CTV integration via tvScientific extends reach beyond the platform itself.
If your brand sells products or services that people plan before they buy, Pinterest should be in your next media review. The platform's AI tools have matured past the point where "we don't have the creative resources" is a valid reason to skip it.
Sources: Pinterest Newsroom, MediaPost, Social Media Today
