Pinterest is rolling out a new form of Promoted Video that will play automatically in a user’s news feed without sound and pop up within search results and Related Pins galleries. The ad product has been in testing since last November and will be available to brands in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada in the “coming months.”
Video is currently a major battleground for social sites, and Pinterest believes that autoplay should serve its 175-million user base well, as it acts differently to those on Facebook, Google, Twitter and Snapchat. This is because it generally searches topics, saves Pins, then acts on them later, which should give advertisers more of a chance to engage with users across the whole timeline
“With our new autoplay format, your Promoted Video sparks into action the moment a Pinner scrolls across it in their feed – no need to hit play,” Pinterest’s Jenny Chiu said in a blog post. “They can just sit back and watch your video unfold. And unlike on other platforms, where ads interrupt people as they’re trying to enjoy posts from friends, on Pinterest, people are actually looking for videos that inspire them to give ideas a try.
She added: “The more people watch, the less you pay. Since Promoted Video is bought on a per-impression basis, thanks to autoplay, every impression is significantly more likely to lead to a video view. As the number of people enjoying your video goes up, your cost per view goes down.”
Pinterest initially talked about autoplay Promoted Video late last year, and it has since been working with brands such as Adidas, L’Oréal, Universal Pictures, Toyota and Tesco to test the feature and bring it to a wider audience. Advertisers will soon be able to buy the ad product through the platform’s self-serve buying tool, and videos will have a maximum run time of 30 minutes and should be in either a vertical or square format.
Brands will also be able to access important metrics such as audience reach of campaigns with breakdowns for a viewer’s age and gender as well as see how visible clips are in news feeds and how long they are viewed. Pinterest is likely to talk more about autoplay videos when the feature officially launches later this year.
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