Pinterest ended 2019 with 82.4 million US users, according to eMarketer, up 9.1% on the year. Snapchat’s flagship app finished with 80.2 million. That left the pin-board platform as the third-largest social network among American consumers.
The ranking arrived as Pinterest reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations. Revenue climbed 46% from a year earlier to $400 million. Worldwide monthly active users hit 335 million, up 26%, and the US count approached 90 million, an 8% gain, MediaPost reported.
Todd Morgenfeld, the company’s COO, called the quarter the finish to a strong year. “We scaled the business to over $1 billion in annual revenue” in 2019, he said, and the platform grew to over 300 million monthly active users. Andrew Lipsman, a principal analyst at eMarketer, described the performance as “impressive”. An IPO in 2019 also helped.
Why eMarketer says it works
Nazmul Islam, a forecasting analyst at eMarketer, credits Pinterest’s broad appeal. “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,” he said.
Islam expects the gap to hold for the foreseeable future. For this year, eMarketer predicts Pinterest will grow its US following to 86 million users, against 83.1 million for Snapchat.
Try before you buy
The company has also kept adding products. Its newest is “Try On”, an augmented-reality tool that helps people find lipstick shades that suit them. It runs on Pinterest’s Lens visual search technology, and users can buy a shade they like directly from brands including YSL Beauté, Lancôme, Urban Decay, Neutrogena, Estee Lauder and Sephora. Pinterest treats it as part of a wider “try before you buy” push in mobile commerce.
Sources
Sources
- Pinterest's Q4 Revs Skyrocket 46% YOY To $400 Million 02/10/2020
- Blog – The TerminalFour social media news round-up – part 3
