Pinterest introduces Promoted Video ads for brands

PanARMENIAN.Net - Image-first platform Pinterest is making a big move into video. The company on Wednesday, August 17 introduced Promoted Video ads, allowing users to expand its existing, animated Cinematic Pins to access a full auto-play video with sound. Brands can display six Buyable Pins beneath each video as it plays, Ad Age reports.

According to two different agency executives, Pinterest is offering the units for a minimum of $500,000, with CPMs -- or cost per thousand impressions -- ranging from $15 to $20.

Video, as Pinterest puts it, will now be a "core part" of its user experience.

"This is a focused effort from the company to make a much bigger bet on video," said Jon Kaplan, head of global sales at Pinterest. "Things are going to change pretty dramatically in the coming quarters as we get more serious on the core user experience, ingest much more video content than we've ever done before and by making video much more discoverable on the platform."

Video has been on Pinterest for at least five years, but it's certainly not something often associated with the platform. Other social media companies like Facebook, for example, made video a core part of its user experience before introducing video ads to its audience. Agency executives said Pinterest was moving in the right direction, Ad Age says.

Promoted Videos are currently only available to larger advertisers who work directly with Pinterest's account teams in the U.S. and UK.