Yes, Pinterest is testing Explore -- an extension of its existing platform, which will feature auto-play versions of Promoted Video.
Like a typical TV experience, Explore should make it easier for brands to encourage episodic viewing. Indeed, when users finish one video, the next will begin playing automatically.
“Now Pinners have a daily destination to visit and catch up on the best of Pinterest,” according to Jenny Chiu, who works on partnerships for Pinterest.
With promising results, Pinterest said it has already been testing Explore with American Express, The Home Depot, Macy’s and Sony Pictures.
Pinterest unveiled Promoted Video, its mobile-only, video-based ad product, in August. Simply put, Promoted Video invites brands to share their ideas in video form -- then gives their offerings prominent placement in users' mobile feeds.
The ads include Pinterest’s Cinematic Pin format, and play a few sound-free frames when users encounter them in their feeds. Before the video can play, users actually have to give them a tap. Pinterest is allowing brands to include up to five minutes of footage in the new opt-in ads.
The new product makes perfect sense, considering the popularity of video on top social media platforms. Pinterest, for one, has witnessed a 60% increase in videos on its platform over the past year.
For Pinterest, the launch is part of an aggressive effort to sell brands on its potential.
For example, it recently hired Gunnard Johnson to head measurement science and insights. Johnson most recently served as head of quantitative ads research at Snapchat, and prior to that, was the advertising research director for Google.
Bigger picture, Pinterest’s business prospects are looking brighter than ever. In fact, the image-based social network reportedly expects to rake in $3 billion in revenue in 2018.
If accurate, that would be dramatically higher than the roughly $100 million in revenue Pinterest reportedly took in last year.