Pinterest reported an 18% year-on-year increase in second-quarter revenue to $1.18 billion, as the company said artificial intelligence is helping improve performance for advertisers while creating new monetisation opportunities.
For the quarter ended June 30, the image-sharing platform’s global monthly active users (MAUs) climbed 11% year-on-year to a record 640 million, marking its 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit user growth.
The company posted a GAAP net loss of $47 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased to $311 million. Net cash generated from operating activities stood at $293 million, and free cash flow rose to $270 million.
“Our Q2 results reflect the scale and strength of our platform: more than $1.1 billion in revenue, growing 18%, and 640 million monthly active users, our 11th consecutive quarter of double digit user growth,” said Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest.
“AI is at the heart of our momentum and is a clear accelerant for our business. It is trained on our unique human curation of style and taste, making Pinterest more personalized and actionable for users, while improving performance for advertisers and creating more opportunities to monetize over the long term,” Bill added.
“The shift of Prime Day from Q3 last year into Q2 this year resulted in an approximately half-point benefit to Q2 and will represent a roughly half-point headwind to Q3 as multiple brands and retailers increase their advertising spend around that moment,” Pinterest finance chief Julia Donnelly said. “Lastly, in Q2, we saw a nearly one-point benefit from World Cup-related spend that will not repeat in Q3.”
As part of its latest advertising product updates, Pinterest said it is scaling Pinterest Performance+ to a broader group of advertisers, including Smart Assembly, a creative optimisation feature designed for advertisers without product catalogues. The company is also enhancing measurement and bidding capabilities and widening its AI bidding pilot to additional advertisers during the third quarter.
Pinterest’s sales and marketing expenses increased to $374.3 million in the second quarter from $313.1 million a year earlier. The company did not attribute the increase to any specific initiatives.
Pinterest also acquired tvScientific, a connected TV performance advertising platform, because it believes the acquisition will extend its AI-powered performance advertising from mobile to connected TV.
Looking ahead, Pinterest expects third-quarter revenue to be between $1.19 billion and $1.21 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 13% to 15%, assuming a modest foreign exchange headwind. It forecast adjusted EBITDA in the range of $335 million to $355 million.
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