Pinterest opens its max width ad format to all brands

Brief:

Pinterest is offering a bigger video ad format to all brands after testing it with Adidas, Warner Bros. and U.K. retailer John Lewis, according to a blog post from the image-collecting company. Pinterest's "max.width" format is about four times bigger than its standard video ads and fills out the width of a smartphone screen.
Adidas ran a video in the max.width format during the FIFA World Cup and saw a 12.6% lift in ad awareness, according to a Millward Brown study cited in the post. John Lewis saw a 20% increase in awareness and 33% jump in purchase intent after a campaign that promoted its new nursery collection.
Now, Warner Bros. is using the format to promote the movie "Crazy Rich Asians," premiering next week. The bigger format is available for marketers in Pinterest's self-serve Ads Manager.

Insight:

Pinterest is opening its max.width format to all brands as social media companies seek to expand their video advertising to appeal to major brands with bigger ad budgets. Mobile devices are set to be the primary driver of video ad growth in the next five years as U.S. consumers continue to shift their viewing habits away from traditional TV, per a study by Forrester Research. The in-app share of mobile video will grow from 78% this year to 84% in 2023, the firm estimates. Smartphone users are becoming more comfortable with viewing online video as the share of mobile screens that measure at least 4.5 inches increases, increasing the options and adding to their allure for advertisers.

Adidas is a particularly powerful brand to test Pinterest's new video format, as the maker of athletic apparel has the most-shared brand on social media, according to a ranking by researcher Brandwatch. The Adidas logo appears in 6.5 million images shared on Twitter and Instagram each month, putting the brand ahead of rivals like Nike, Puma and Under Armour. Adidas is boosting its investment in digital platforms with a goal of doubling e-commerce sales in the next two years to 4 billion Euros through greater brand awareness online and on social platforms, per the Financial Times.

The max.width format's expansion to all brands comes as Pinterest works to ramp up its advertising appeal. The company is set to double its ad revenue this year to nearly $1 billion as it reportedly prepares for its initial public offering (IPO) in mid-2019, unnamed sources told CNBC last month. The platform is seeing particular success with mobile ads among its more than 200 million active monthly users, 80% of whom use Pinterest's mobile app, the company reports. CNBC said that advertisers are also attracted to Pinterest's mobile search capabilities. Pinterest's bigger, more engaging video format likely will help appeal to more big-name advertisers.