Social networking platforms have been locked in a battle of one-upsmanship over the past year, with Facebook reporting that its videos get 3 billion daily views, and Twitter expanding its video capabilities using Periscope. Now Digiday reports that Pinterest is looking to join in by fully supporting video ads.
In the same way that both Twitter and Facebook have autoplaying video ads that start on mute, Pinterest could feature videos as part of its broader approach toward creating targeted advertising. Brands may be able to promote video pins that fit into experiences like how-to and cooking videos.
However, the challenge is in growing Pinterest as a video platform, but it’s already off to a good start. Last year, Pinterest reached 100 million monthly users, and was listed among the top three social media platforms where they spend the most money, largely due to the “buy” button that was added to its app in June. Furthermore, the use of pins, formed around avariety of categories, makes it the perfect platform for native advertising that blends in with the rest of the content.
Last year, Pinterest began its support of Cinematic Pins, which work similarly to animated GIFs, except they only move when users scroll up and down the screen. Although the ad format was impressive from a creative standpoint, and test by big name brands like Target and Wendy’s, it’s uncertain how effective they are.
Doug Neil, executive VP of digital marketing at NBCUniversal states that, “Video does interest us more.” The entertainment media company is considering Pinterest as a promotional platform for its upcoming movies.
Video is bound to boom on Pinterst, which will help it grow to further match up against rival services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
