Pinterest Popped In 2019

The renaissance of Pinterest is well documented and, if eMarketer’s latest data is anything to go by, the “visual discovery tool” is set for a bumper 2020.

According to data released yesterday, Pinterest surpassed Snapchat as the third-biggest social media platform in the US in 2019, and it will continue to stay ahead in the coming years.

Pinterest’s share price jumped 10% following eMarketer’s latest digital market update.

Globally, Pinterest has 322m users, putting it ahead of both Snapchat and Twitter. It is also growing at a faster rate than both, with total monthly active users up 28% in the third quarter of 2019.

Pinterest saw 9.1% US growth in 2019, a revision from eMarketer’s previous estimate of 4.3% growth. This year, in the US, it will have 86.0 million users, compared with Snapchat’s 83.1 million. The gap between the two platforms’ user bases will continue to grow through the end of the 2023 forecasting period.

Pinterest has approximately 3.8million monthly active users within Australia and New Zealand, with over 60% being female, aged 25 – 44, as per Pinterest Ads Manager.

Nazmul Islam, eMarketer Forecasting Analyst 

“While Snapchat has a young core audience that it caters to, Pinterest has a more universal appeal, and it's made significant gains in a wide range of age groups.”

According to Roy Morgan Australia, in an average four weeks Pinterest has over 7.3 million visitors locally, growing by over 4.6 million (+174.3%) since 2015.

Pinterest’s Broad & Practical Appeal

While still considered a more niche platform, Pinterest does offer a highly engaged audience.

• 96% of Pinners report using Pinterest to research and gather information
• 93% report using Pinterest to plan for purchases
• 87% report Pinterest helping them decide what to purchase

This data compares favourably to Facebook and Instagram, where only 53% and 44% of users, respectively, report using those platforms to plan for purchases.

55% of Pinners say they use the platform to shop for and find products, more than four times the rate of other digital platforms.

Pinterest’s users are more evenly represented across all age groups as a percentage of the general population, while Snapchat’s, for example, are much more skewed in the younger age groups.

Pinterest’s Old Skool Social Bonanza

On a related note, eMarketer’s recent write-down on Instagram’s growth forecast was based on its struggles attracting older users. Something which does not seem to be an issue for Pinterest.

Active Pinterest users are 47% more likely to experience a significant event life event in the next six months and use Pinterest to plan for these events (getting married, buying a home, taking a vacation, remodelling, having a baby).

Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, May 2019:

“Although Instagram and Pinterest are undoubtedly the ‘hottest’ Social Networks in Australia for attracting new users, the two are attracting different audiences.

Instagram appeals strongly to a younger audience with 68% of Generation Z and 52% of Generation Y using Instagram in an average four weeks. The two youngest generations are over 70% of Instagram’s total users.

“In contrast only 33% of Generation Z use Pinterest and the highest penetration of Pinterest users is found with Generation X of whom 40% use Pinterest. The majority of Pinterest’s users (53%) are in the three older generations of Pre-Boomers, Baby Boomers or Generation X.”

Pinterest finds itself in a rather enviable position, in that it is growing rapidly, and has no obvious direct competitor, due to its unique part social – part search positioning.

A position also currently enjoyed by LinkedIn, in a different realm, due to its unique enterprise positioning.

Unlike, say Instagram vs Snapchat vs TikTok, which are all battling over the same consumer user-base, with near identical value propositions.