Pinterest has published its latest performance report, showing double-digit year-over-year increases in both users and revenue.
Though its user growth in key revenue markets remains stagnant, and even declined in Europe, which could put a cap on expectations for its opportunities.
First off, on users. Pinterest is now up to 578 million monthly actives, up 8 million on its Q1 usage stats.
As you can see in this chart, all of Pinterest’s audience growth came in the “Rest of World” category, where it added 9 million extra users.
A significant concern, however, is that Pinterest lost 2 million actives in Europe, and remained flat, quarter-on-quarter, in the U.S.
That’s a problem, because these markets generate the vast majority of Pinterest’s revenue:
As you can see, Pinterest is making little money, comparatively, from its users outside of these regions. So while its growth in developing markets bodes well for future opportunities, the lack of maturity in their relative digital advertising sectors means that Pinterest isn’t generating a heap more cash right now, despite seeing expansion in these regions.
Though on a positive note for marketers, Pinterest also reports that Gen Z users now make up half of its user base.
In terms of revenue, Pinterest brought in $998 million for the quarter, a 17% increase on the same period last year.
So Pinterest is getting better at monetizing its audience, and maximizing its opportunities, but again, you can see how reliant it is on the U.S. and EU markets, which is why declining growth is a point of concern.
But at 578 million users, most of whom come to the platform with shopping intent, there is also a lot to like about Pinterest’s evolving online shopping business, with its improving discovery and purchase-based tools helping to make it a more valuable utility for many.
Pinterest has continued to evolve on this front, with improved Pin recommendations, AI-powered collages and enhanced visual search features.
So it is getting better at converting more of its audience into revenue, which is a positive sign for the app. And even at its current usage levels, if it can continue to drive more sales opportunities, that’s still a solid business proposition. However, market analysts could be concerned about a potential cap on its growth in this respect, if its audience has plateaued in key markets.
And I guess, the indicators are that it may have, at least in the U.S., where Pinterest has only added 3 million more users over the past year. In the EU, it’s added 7 million over that period, despite the loss this time around, so it’s too early to say that it’s flat-lining there. But it does seem like all the American users who might be interested have probably checked out the platform by now, which means that Pinterest will need to make the most of what it has in its top revenue market.
And it is seemingly doing that, so there’s a lot to like about the platform, at least at this stage of its growth plan.
If its EU numbers continue to fall, that’ll be a concern, and if its revenue figures decline, that’ll be another element to watch. But overall, it seems like Pinterest is doing better in monetizing what it has, and building its shopping elements, even if it’s not drawing in a huge crowd of new users.
