Pinterest has become more than a site where people go for recipes and wedding ideas. It has grown into a visual search engine with tons of inspirational visuals.
As such, it offers your business a unique opportunity to showcase what your products or services can do. You can use the platform to provide solutions or inspiration to your target audience.
If you have yet to start using Pinterest for your business, here are 34 mind-blowing statistics to convince you to start.
Mind-blowing Pinterest Stats for 2023:
1. 465 Million People Use Pinterest per Month
According to data shared by Statista, as of Q2 2023, Pinterest boasted 465 million monthly active users (MAU) across the globe. This figure is up slightly from the previous quarter (Q1 2023), solidifying the gains in 2022, when the platform returned to MAU growth.
At the beginning of 2021, 478 million people were using the platform for inspiration on what to wear, what to cook, ways to style their homes, and so much more. Just like with many other social media apps, this growth was attributed by the company to global lockdowns that forced people in. Pinterest gained significant users in 2020, peaking in Q1 2021. As people were “locked up” in their homes, they needed something to do with their newfound free time, and many chose to spend it by viewing and pinning images and videos to Pinterest.
However, the growth wouldn’t last, and as the world opened up and people’s lives returned to normal, users eventually left the platform.
In a recent CNBC interview, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready described Q2 2023 as the “best user growth quarter in more than two years.” He noted that Gen Z made up the platform’s “fastest-growing cohort.”
2. It Was the Fastest Site to Reach 10 Million Unique Monthly Visitors
While their number of unique monthly users might have dwindled lately, there’s one impressive feat regarding monthly users that remains. They’re the fastest social network to have reached 10 million unique monthly visitors.
To put this achievement further into perspective, for a long period during its launch, it was invite-only. Also, Pinterest only filed for an IPO nearly nine years after it was launched in 2010. Both Twitter and Snapchat waited only six years before filing.
However, this growth slowed down and it currently doesn’t rank that high in terms of the number of monthly active users. As of January 2023 Pinterest had the lowest number of monthly users of all the most popular social media platforms.
3. It Ranks 14th Among Domains With the Most Linked to Websites
According to a list shared by Statista, Pinterest ranked 14th among the domains with the most referring subnets. As of July 2022, it had nearly 217,000. In first place was Google, followed by Facebook and YouTube.
4. It’s the Fourth Most Popular Social Media Site in the US
Statista found that Pinterest ranked fourth after Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with 12.77% of US social media users claiming to have visited it.
5. Its biggest user base is in the US
The United States has by far the highest number of Pinterest users, according to data shared by Statista. As of the beginning of 2023, Pinterest had 84.6 million users in the US. This works out to about 40% of the website traffic coming from the US.
The US was followed by Brazil with 28.05 million users (though, they only account for about 8% of the traffic to the website) and Mexico with nearly 18 million users.
In Europe, Pinterest is most popular in Germany with 15.88 million users. This is followed by France (10.65 million) and Italy (8.08 million).
If you break it down by region instead, there are 95 million monthly active users in North America, and 128 million in Europe, while the rest of the world accounted for 240 million. So while the United States might be the country with the most users, if you add up all the users across Europe, it falls short, though not by too much.
6. Women Use Pinterest More Than Men
For some time, there have been considerably more female Pinterest users than male. As of the beginning of 2023, more than 76% of its user base was women. Just over 17% were male and 8% were unspecified.
The high Pinterest use rate among women may be because it encourages users to form emotional bonds with the platform.
A significant impact of this finding is that as women are the primary decision-makers in terms of buying household products and services, it can be a great place for businesses in this niche to leverage.
7. It’s Most Popular Among People Over 50 Who Are Well Off
A survey of Pinterest users in the US found that 21.9% of people aged 18-24 years used the platform as of January 2023, as did 35.6% of those aged 25-34, 14.5% of those aged 35-44, 8.8% of those aged 45-54, 8.7% of those aged 55, and 3.7% of those aged 65 and older. Compared to Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram; Pinterest, like Twitter and Reddit, had significantly fewer Gen Z users in 2023.
Pinterest also gets much usage from those households earning more than $75,000 (40%). 28% of its users belong to the low-income bracket, around the same percentage as Instagram (29%) and Twitter (25%).
8. People Don’t Spend Hours on End on Pinterest After All
Source: similarweb.com
Similarweb found that there were on average 1.1 billion total website visits per month (as of August 2023). Per visit, 6.36 pages were visited and the average visit duration was almost six minutes. The bounce rate was about 41%.
To put this into perspective, here’s how many website visits competitors and similar sites attract on average per month:
- Facebook 17.4 billion
- Twitter 6.4 billion
- Instagram 6.7 billion
- TikTok 2.3 billion
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Compared to Tumblr, another visual-heavy platform, it’s doing much better. Tumblr’s monthly visits add up to “only” 217 million.
9. Amazon Refers the Most Web Traffic
According to numbers shared by Statista, Amazon.com is the leading US-based traffic referrer to Pinterest and accounts for 6.14% of referred traffic. Etsy.com is the second biggest traffic referrer in America and generates 3.65% of its referral traffic. Worldwide, the top referrers to Pinterest are click.mail.ru (7.28%) and Yandex (6.65%) as of April 2023.
10. It’s More Popular in Rural Areas
Perhaps surprisingly, Pinterest is more popular in rural areas than in more populated regions, although not by much. According to a survey completed by the Pew Research Center at the beginning of Q2 2021 about US social media users, 34% of US adults in rural areas use Pinterest, compared to 32% in suburban areas and 30% in urban areas.
According to Ask Any Difference, rural areas are generally open and spread out with a small population. Suburban areas are residential areas with a larger population than rural areas, whereas urban areas have a high population for both living and working. Rural areas are countryside, suburban areas have a lot of single-family housing areas surrounding the larger cities, and urban areas generally have more than a thousand people per block.
11. Pinterest Has the Third Most Visits of Any Social Media Platform in the USA
While Pinterest is well down on the list of popular social sites, Statista found that the platform ranks fourth (12.77%) in the total share of visits across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices combined. As of March 2023, Facebook dominates the rankings, with about 53% of all social media site visits in the United States, while Twitter comes in second with 16.25% of all US social media site visits. Instagram is in third place, capturing 13.85% all US social media site visits.
12. There’s Little Buzz Around Pinterest in the US
While the United States is responsible for a lot of its traffic, there’s little buzz around the brand. In March 2022, less than 20% of US social media users read about Pinterest in the media (including social media) over the previous four weeks.
That being said, while they might not have heard about it recently in the news, it has no issue with brand awareness. Almost 80% of social media users could recognize the brand’s logo and written brand name. It might not be the social network with the best brand awareness in the US, but it beats LinkedIn which measured only 76%, and Reddit, Yelp, Tumblr, and Twitch.
13. Branded Searches on Pinterest Are Rare
A recent update from Pinterest’s Newsroom states that 97% of the platform’s top searches are unbranded. The top searches also generally only have a few words (about two to three).
This data implies that Pinterest continues to be a very effective channel to reach consumers. A majority of this social channel’s users are still considering what their next purchase should be. As they haven’t made up their mind about which brand to buy, they’re open to other options. In other words, businesses can capture leads at the decision-making process stage. To take advantage of this trend, your brand content should solve a problem or enhance an idea your target audience has.
14. UK Users Spend Less Than an Hour on Pinterest Per Day
A survey completed in 2022 revealed that the vast majority (72%) of fashion and lifestyle consumers in the United Kingdom spend less than one hour per day on the platform. However, 5% admitted to spending hours each day on it.
15. Most of Its Traffic Is Direct
Similarweb found that 67.58% of Pinterest traffic came from direct desktop visits while 27.22% came from organic search.
They also got over 2% traffic from referring sites like Linktree, Ya.ru, and Salesforce. Most consumers using Pinterest head straight to the site when looking for inspiration or products to buy, with few visitors from social, mail, or display advertising.
However, note that these statistics only refer to desktop visitors.
16. Pinterest Is Great for Finding Ideas
Pinterest describes itself as a place that’s “about your self, not your selfie”—a site for finding inspiration and ideas.
61% of Pinterest users visit the platform when starting a new project. What’s more, two out of three (78%) weekly Pinners describe it as filled with positivity, “an online oasis”. On the other hand, less than a third felt the same about other mainstream social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube.
According to Pinterest, over 400 million people come to the platform each month to search for their next inspiration. This fuels their Trends 2023 report where they make predictions on fashion, health, beauty, and design trends that will shape the coming year.
17. It’s the Only Major Platform to Ban Ads About Weight Loss
As their goal is to create a place where people find inspiration and feel inspired, they took the bold step in July 2021 to ban all ads that included weight loss images or language, making them one of the first major platforms to do so.
In less than a year, searches with the keywords “weight loss” decreased by 20%. Instead, more Pinners are turning to the platform to find “quick and healthy meals” (this phrase was up by 65 times) and “healthy food motivation”.
In September 2023, Pinterest announced the inclusion of a body type identification technology in its AI-powered suite of inclusive innovations. This new development hopes to increase representation across search results and fields for women’s fashion and wedding-related content. Earlier, the platform rolled out tools refining search results by hair pattern and skin tone.
18. Its Ad Revenue Is Expected to Exceed $4 Billion by 2025
It might have prohibited ads about weight loss, but its ad revenue is still pretty healthy. According to data shared by Statista, it’s anticipated that its global ad revenue will be $4.2 billion by 2025. In 2021, this was just over $2 billion. So, it’s expected to double in just four years.
Meanwhile, its advertising expenses totaled nearly $140 million in 2022, a $45-million jump from its ad spend the year before.
19. It’s a Place for Finding Healthy Habits
Bathrooms aren’t the only thing that gets renovated after a session of Pinterest exploring. Increasingly more users are searching for topics about healthy habits (and not just wholesome meals as mentioned earlier). For example:
- Searches for “how to change your mindset” increased by 50%
- Searches for “loving myself” increased by 36%
- Searches for “how to become more confident” increased by 32%
In a February 2023 blog article, Pinterest reported that 10 minutes of active engagement with its content daily had a positive effect on Gen Zer’s mental health. Inspiring images on the platform helped ease stress and social disconnectedness, according to Pinterest’s research in cooperation with UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.
20. For 3 years in a row, 8 out of 10 Predictions from Pinterest Trends Come True
According to Pinterest, 8 out of 10 predictions in 2022 became reality. So, they’re pretty good at forecasting trends. After all, another reason why people turn to Pinterest is to plan for the future.
Using data gathered between September 2020 and September 2022, the platform released its Pinterest Predicts 2023 report on trends that will increase in prominence in 2023. They can help you plan campaigns or develop new products to suit your consumers’ needs:
- Blue and black braids (+215%)
- Micro French nails (+235%)
- Burnt orange wedding theme (+695%)
- Mini pool ideas (+830%)
- Lace Top Long Sleeves (+225%)
- Fantasy mushroom art (+170%)
- Dystopian outfits (+215%)
- Seaweed snacks recipes (+245%)
- How to make paper rings (+1725%)
- Eclectic interior design vintage (+850%)
So, get ready to see some Gemini Hairstyles as Gen Z’s mix and match their hair colors while donning 2000s romcom outfits.
And if you’re in the travel industry, you’d be overjoyed to learn that Gen Z and Millennials have renewed their love for travel and are looking at exploring the world by train.
21. Trans and Nonbinary Topics Are Getting More Popular
Pinterest is helping its users to create lives that they love. They’ve highlighted trans creators through channels such as Pinterest TV, and their users are also exploring trans topics more. For example:
- Searches for “transmac haircut” are 35 times higher
- Searches for “nonbinary wedding outfit” are eight times higher
- Searches for “transmasc aesthetic” and “nonbinary aesthetic fashion” are five times higher
- Searches for “trans pride” have increased by 80%
- Searches for “transgirl” increased by 66%
22. Pinterest Influences the Shopping Decisions of its Regular Users
85% of Pinners who use the platform weekly made a purchase based on Pinterest posts. Merchants have experienced a 90% growth in product saves and a 30% increase in checkouts after uploading their catalogs on this social channel.
As a result, they’ve increased their suite of shopping features for brands/advertisers significantly. These include “slideshow for collections,” the Verified Merchant Program, and “merchant details.”
However, it’s not all “business” on Pinterest. Their research reveals that users on the platform are 40% more likely to say that they “love shopping,” compared to those who don’t use it.
23. Pinterest Users Have Bigger Online Baskets
Shoppers on Pinterest have 30% bigger baskets than shoppers on other platforms. What’s more, they spend twice (40% more) as much per month.
24. Pinterest Posts Have the Longest Lifespan
In short, a post’s lifespan refers to the average time it generates engagement (in other words, views, likes, repins, comments, and saves). After this engagement has died down, it’s very unlikely that it will increase again.
Pinterest posts have an average lifespan of three months but can last longer in some cases. In 2021, searches for “forest resort” sustained growth for longer than 13 months.
To put this into perspective, for Facebook it’s merely five hours. Instagram doesn’t fare any better really, and for a general feed post on Instagram, the lifespan is only 48 hours. That’s still much better than TikTok—where unless you’ve created a viral post, don’t expect your post to last longer than a few minutes.
The reason why Pinterest posts perform so much better is that it’s a search engine (in addition to a social media platform). So, just like with Google, people use it to search for topics that interest them.
25. The Best Times to Post Are Noon and Night
Posting on Pinterest isn’t something that you can do morning, noon, and night, at least not if you want to get the best engagement. CoSchedule found that the best times to post are:
- 12:00 p.m.
- 6.17 p.m.
- 8:02 p.m.
Loomly, which has a longer list of optimal posting times, includes the three “prime” time slots CoSchedule identified.
With regards to the day of the week, the best days to post on the platform for engagement purposes are:
- Friday
- Tuesday
- Thursday
- Wednesday
- Monday
- Saturday
- Sunday
These recommended days have similarities with Sprout Social‘s list:
Best days to post: Wednesdays through Fridays
Worst days to post: Sundays and Mondays
You may have to experiment with your posting times but pin consistently for about 30 days to appear active on the site. Moreover, use your analytics to check when your target audience is most engaged during the day and throughout the week. Refer to the results to determine your ideal posting schedule.
26. It’s Used for Watching Videos Too
Pinterest has always been a visual discovery engine. While the rise of visual search has made the platform a favorite among people who prefer searching for images, Pinterest no longer features only static images. One of their blog posts shared that their community of Pinners is watching almost one billion videos daily.
That being said, Pinterest Lens—which lets users search by image—remains just as popular. Visual searches using the tool exceed 250 million monthly.
27. Pinterest Made $708 Million in Q2 2023
Pinterest posted $708 million worth of revenues in Q2 2023, up six percent from the year before. Analysts attribute the growth to the platform’s “multi-quarter” deal with Amazon announced in Q1—making the online retailing giant Pinterest’s first partner on third-party ads—and AI-powered personalization.
Pinterest ended 2022 with $2.8 billion in revenues for the entire year. Although its Q4 revenue of $877 million was below the market forecast of $886.3 million, the amount represented a four-percent growth year-on-year. Meta and Alphabet’s Google ad business incurred losses in the same period.
With MAU growth stabilizing in 2022, Pinterest will focus on integrating shopping throughout the core user experience and growing monetization per user, according to CEO Bill Ready in a press release announcing the company’s full-year 2022 results.
28. 2021 Was the First Year Since 2016 That It Didn’t Incur a Net Loss
While its quarterly revenue might look impressive, from 2016 to 2020 it generated significant net losses. These net losses averaged around $150 million, but 2019 was a particularly “bad” year and it had a net loss of over $1.3 billion.
However, 2021’s numbers painted a different picture. According to numbers crunched by Statista, in the fiscal year 2021, it generated a net income of over $316 million.
This was short-lived though, as Pinterest incurred a net loss of $96 million in 2022.
In its Q2 2023 report, Pinterest said it completed a $500-million stock repurchase program. Also, its “focus on cost efficiencies” allowed the company to return to adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin expansion—a profitability metric—in the said quarter.
29. It Spent $254 Million on R&D for Q3 2022 Alone
Pinterest spent 948.98 million on research and development in 2022. The figure is higher than its $780.26-million budget the previous year and $606.19 million in 2021.
Still, it’s still not nearly close to what they spent in 2019 — a whopping $1.2 billion.
30. Pinterest Has More Female Employees
For a second straight year, female employees (53%) exceeded male ones (47%) in 2022. In the same year, Pinterest beat its 2025 goal of boosting women’s representation in leadership as people who identify themselves as women made up 40% of the company’s leaders. Females held 50% or more of departmental management positions in Pinterest’s offices outside the U.S.
2021 was the first year the female workforce (51%) surpassed its male counterpart (48%).
Not only did the percentage of female employees increase, but there has also been a steady increase in employment since 2018. At the end of 2022, it had 3,987 full-time employees, up from 3,225 the previous year. In 2018, there were only about 1,797 workers.
31. Pinterest Was Among the Top 50 Most Relevant Brands in 2022
According to the Prophet Brand Relevance Index 2022, an index that shows “the 50 brands consumers can’t live without,” Pinterest is the USA’s 41st most relevant brand. The social channel held 10th place in 2021.
Apple topped the roster for seven consecutive years until 2022. In 2023, Prophet listed KitchenAid as Number 1 and Pinterest dropped out of the list.
Nevertheless, Pinterest has helped people tap into their creativity, remaining instrumental in the democratization of the creator economy. Along with YouTube and Etsy, it’s a brand that helps people tap into their authentic self-expression.
Meanwhile, Pinterest also made it to the 435 brands listed on MBLM’s Brand Intimacy 2022 report. However, it ranked 381st based on data sourced from January 2021 to October 2021. This may be the reason behind the social channel’s aggressive personalization and inclusion efforts.
Also in 2023, Amazon topped MBLM’s inaugural Brand Family Rankings, which could explain Pinterest’s recent tie-up with the e-commerce giant.
32. Pinterest Trends Sustain 21% Monthly Growth than Other Internet Trends
According to Pinterest, their predicted trends last longer and grow faster than other trends on the Internet. This is what fuels them to release their Pinterest Predicts annual reports that measure search intent over the past two years. Trends spotted in this report are more likely to carry on to the new year.
Moreover, Pinterest has recorded 80% accuracy in its predictions.
33. Marketers can Reach Over 200 Million via Pinterest
As of January 2022, Pinterest’s advertising reach was 271 million users. The platform’s comparatively small user base makes it ideal for marketers to reach their target audiences with ease. Combining unique and personalized images makes it easy for consumers to move from discovery to purchase. The platform also influences what brands people shop from, the products they buy, and the amount they spend.
34. More Millennials Are on Pinterest
35.6% of Pinterest’s users are millennials (aged 25-34), with this age group’s women making up 28.5% and men making up 7.1%. Gen Zers make up the second-largest group at 21.9%, composed of 18.1% Gen Z women and 3.8% Gen Z men.
If this is your target audience, the platform also gives you targeting tools that you can use to reach people by demographics, keywords, and interests. Alternatively, you can use their auto-targeting and they’ll display your ads to the users that they think will enjoy it most.
Wrapping Things Up
These statistics show that Pinners are dedicated shoppers who use Pinterest not only to get inspired but also to discover products to buy. Pinners are in discovery mode, and you can use great content, videos, and images to drive them through the sales funnel.
So, if you’re not already using Pinterest for your brand, start using it today. Whether it’s to boost your brand’s online social media presence or to showcase your products to the right kind of audience and drive engagement, with some skill and thought it can be used quite effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people use Pinterest monthly?
As of Q2 2023, Pinterest has 465 million monthly active users worldwide. This figure has increased from the previous quarter and reflects the platform’s ongoing growth and popularity.
Which demographic uses Pinterest the most?
Pinterest is most popular among women, who make up more than 76% of its user base as of early 2023. It is also highly favored by people over 50 who are well off, with a significant portion of its users earning more than $75,000 annually.
How does Pinterest rank among social media platforms in the US?
Pinterest is the fourth most popular social media site in the US, following Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with 12.77% of US social media users reporting that they have visited it.
What is the average lifespan of a Pinterest post?
Pinterest posts have an average lifespan of three months, making them much longer-lasting compared to posts on other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
How does Pinterest influence shopping behavior?
Pinterest significantly influences shopping behavior, with 85% of weekly Pinners making purchases based on Pinterest posts. Additionally, Pinterest users tend to have 30% larger online shopping baskets and spend 40% more per month compared to users on other platforms.
About the Author
Writer
The Influencer Marketing Hub Team brings together a diverse group of experts with a passion for influencer marketing, digital trends, and social media strategies. Each piece of content crafted by this team is researched and written to provide valuable insights, tips, and updates for our readers. Our authors are dedicated to delivering high-quality, informative, and engaging articles that help businesses and influencers thrive in this rapidly changing digital world.
