According to eMarketer’s final quarterly data released on 19 January, Pinterest finished 2019 with 82.4 million monthly active users (MAUs) in the United States. The figure places the visual‑discovery platform just ahead of Snapchat, which logged 80.2 million U.S. MAUs, and secures Pinterest the third‑largest domestic social‑media audience behind Facebook and Instagram.
The 9 percent increase in Pinterest’s U.S. base represents an addition of roughly seven million users over the year. In contrast, Snapchat’s growth slowed dramatically, adding fewer than one million users and posting a domestic growth rate of under 1 percent—the first time the platform has fallen below that threshold since its 2011 launch. eMarketer’s demographic breakdown shows Pinterest expanding across all adult age groups, with the strongest surge among users aged 35 and older. Snapchat, however, remained concentrated in the 13‑to‑24‑year‑old segment and lost a small share of the 25‑34 cohort.
The shift translated into raw numbers: Pinterest’s 6.9 million‑user gain dwarfed Snapchat’s sub‑million increase. “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,” eMarketer analyst Nazmul Islam wrote in the accompanying note.
He added that the change was “less about Snapchat losing fans than about Pinterest expanding the definition of a social network.”
Product and content moves that fueled Pinterest’s rise
Founded in 2010 as a digital pinboard for recipes, décor and style ideas, Pinterest leaned heavily into commerce during 2019. New tools such as Lens visual search, “Shop the Look” pins and an updated catalog upload feature enabled merchants to turn any post into a potential checkout. The platform also broadened its content mix, inviting creators to share short DIY videos and searchable step‑by‑step guides.
These initiatives encouraged users to pin more frequently, return more often, and invite demographics that previously did not view Pinterest as a social destination—parents, aunts and co‑workers. Chief marketing officer Andréa Mallard told investors on the company’s third‑quarter call that users come with purchase intent, stating, “They’re not scrolling to kill time; they’re scrolling to buy.” Internal data released that month showed a 70 percent year‑over‑year rise in product pins saved per day, a metric Pinterest links to higher MAU retention.
Snapchat’s focus and challenges
Snapchat’s 2019 strategy centered on augmented‑reality lenses, original video shows and a refreshed Android app aimed at expanding usage beyond affluent markets. While global daily active users grew 17 percent to 218 million, the U.S. segment—its most lucrative advertising market—stagnated. The firm attributes the plateau to market saturation among teens and early twenty‑somethings and to competition from Instagram Stories and TikTok for limited screen time. Snap’s leadership emphasizes deeper engagement over broader reach.
In October, CEO Evan Spiegel told the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit that the average U.S. user now spends more than 30 minutes per day in the app, up from 26 minutes a year earlier, describing the trend as “deepening, not widening.”
Implications for advertisers
Facebook and Instagram together command just over half of the $37 billion U.S. social‑media ad market tracked by eMarketer. Pinterest holds a 3 percent share, narrowing the gap with second‑place Twitter, while Snapchat’s share remains flat at 1.5 percent. Media buyers note that Pinterest’s lower auction density keeps cost‑per‑click rates 20‑30 percent below Instagram for comparable audiences, encouraging experimental spend.
GroupM, WPP’s media‑buying arm, told clients in December that it expects Pinterest to generate “at least a point of incremental social spend” in 2020 as retailers diversify beyond Facebook’s ecosystem. Although Pinterest’s average revenue per user (ARPU) in the third quarter was $0.90 per U.S. monthly user—well below Snapchat’s $2.58 per North American daily user—analysts argue that Pinterest’s commerce‑friendly format shortens the path from impression to checkout, a metric retailers monitor closely.
Outlook
eMarketer projects Pinterest will reach 90 million U.S. users by the end of 2020, while Snapchat is expected to hover near 82 million. Both forecasts exclude users under 13, a group each platform avoids to comply with federal privacy regulations. Pinterest’s CFO Todd Morgenfeld indicated that the United States will remain the company’s “richest monetisation ground” for the foreseeable future, while Snapchat bets on augmented‑reality advertising, virtual try‑ons and location‑based lenses to lift domestic revenue even if user counts stay flat.
The divergent strategies—Pinterest courting a broad, purchase‑driven audience and Snapchat doubling down on Gen Z‑centric ephemerality—have reshaped the U.S. social‑media hierarchy. For now, the platform with the larger, more diverse reach appears to hold the advantage in the eyes of marketers seeking both scale and spending power.
