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    PINS
    Earnings call· Mar 2026(Q1 FY26)

    PINTEREST Q1 FY26 earnings call PINS

    May 4, 2026 Source

    Executive summary

    Pinterest Q1 FY26 — Strong Revenue Growth and AI-Driven Performance

    Pinterest delivered strong Q1 FY26 results, exceeding revenue guidance with 18% YoY growth, driven by broad-based advertiser strength and AI-powered platform improvements. The company continues to see robust user growth and engagement, particularly with Gen Z, while strategically retooling its go-to-market organization to better monetize its expanding advertiser base and unique visual search capabilities. The acquisition of tvScientific extends Pinterest's intent signals to CTV, opening new avenues for performance advertising.

    Highlights

    5

    • Revenue exceeded $1 billion, up 18% year-over-year, above guidance.

    • Adjusted EBITDA grew to over $207 million, with a 20% margin, up 40 basis points YoY.

    • Global MAUs reached 631 million, up 11% YoY, with UCAN MAUs up 4%.

    • Pinterest Performance+ campaigns grew lower funnel spend nearly twice the rate of non-adopters.

    • Acquisition of tvScientific led to a nearly 190% increase in incremental audience reach and 159% increase in incremental sales for an early partner.

    Concerns

    3

    • Continued headwind from largest retail advertisers in Q1, though partially offset by AI-driven improvements.

    • Ad pricing declined 5% year-over-year in Q1.

    • International growth expected to moderate in Q2 due to go-to-market restructuring and difficult comparisons.

    Guidance & targets

    7
    CategoryTargetConfidence
    Q2 Revenue
    $1.133B - $1.153B
    high materiality
    High
    Q2 Revenue FX Impact
    1 point of tailwind
    medium materiality
    High
    Q2 Adjusted EBITDA
    $256M - $276M
    high materiality
    High
    Q2 Non-GAAP Cost of Revenue Growth (sequential)
    mid-single digits percent
    medium materiality
    High
    Full Year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA Margin
    around 29%
    high materiality
    High
    Adjusted EBITDA Margin Pressure
    moderate
    medium materiality
    Medium
    Long-term Adjusted EBITDA Margin
    30% to 34%
    high materiality
    High

    Segment performance

    3
    SegmentRevenueYoYQoQMargin
    U.S. and Canada
    Strength came from retail and emerging verticals, including financial services.
    MAUs: 106 millionMAU growth: 4%
    		$750M13%——
    Europe
    Growth in Europe was driven by retail. Constant currency growth was 16%.
    MAUs: 159 millionMAU growth: 7%
    		$186M27% (reported)——
    Rest of World
    Significantly undermonetized internationally relative to engagement and commercial intent. Constant currency growth was 50%.
    MAUs: 367 millionMAU growth: 15%
    		$72M59% (reported)——

    Operational metrics

    24
    Adjusted EBITDA
    $207Mup 40 bps vs Q1 last year
    Q1 FY26
    Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities
    $1.3B
    Q1 FY26

    Ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.3 billion.

    Ad Impressions Growth
    24%YoY
    Q1 FY26

    The deceleration in ad impression growth versus recent quarters was primarily driven by lapping the initial ramp of monetization in previously undermonetized markets including from resellers and Rest of World, which had contributed to outsized impression growth the prior year.

    Ad Pricing Decline
    5%YoY
    Q1 FY26

    The sequential improvement versus recent quarters was driven primarily by a higher relative mix of UCAN ad impressions, which carry higher average pricing overall due to the lower growth of international ad impressions I just mentioned as well as stronger UCAN ad demand.

    Cost of Revenue
    $232Mup 20% YoY
    Q1 FY26

    driven by increased infrastructure spend related to our user and engagement growth.

    Non-GAAP Operating Expense
    $574Mup 16% YoY
    Q1 FY26

    The increase was primarily driven by sales and marketing due to head count investments and marketing expenses as well as R&D to support our AI and product initiatives.

    Search Fulfillment Improvement (Penn REC)
    180
    Q1 FY26

    Penn REC, our proprietary generative retrieval system... This launch improved search fulfillment by approximately 180 basis points.

    CPA and CPC Reduction (Penn REC)
    180
    Q1 FY26

    It also drove a roughly 180 basis point reduction in CPA and CPC for advertisers.

    Search Fulfillment Improvement (Search Ranking Model)
    70
    Q1 FY26

    This launch improved search fulfillment by approximately 70 basis points.

    Saves Improvement (Search Ranking Model)
    390
    Q1 FY26

    and saves by approximately 390 basis points.

    Lower Funnel Revenue via Pinterest Performance+ Campaigns
    30%
    Q1 FY26

    Just over year-end, approximately 30% of lower funnel revenue is now running through Pinterest Performance+ campaigns.

    ROAS Gains from Ad Model Improvements
    up to 11%
    Q1 FY26

    In experimentation, these improvements drove ROAS gains of up to 11% and are an indication of what continued investment in our ads platform can unlock.

    Lifetime Value ROAS Improvement
    15% to 20%
    Q1 FY26

    In early testing with one advertiser that prioritizes lifetime value, the advertiser cited a 15% to 20% improvement in lifetime value ROAS.

    Incremental Audience Reach (tvScientific)
    nearly 190%
    Q1 FY26

    One early partner, a leading home furnishings omnichannel retailer, saw a nearly 190% increase in incremental audience reach... after leveraging Pinterest's audience data and its CTV campaigns.

    Incremental Sales (tvScientific)
    159%
    Q1 FY26

    and a 159% increase in incremental sales after leveraging Pinterest's audience data and its CTV campaigns.

    Search Context Window Expansion
    30-fold
    Q1 FY26

    In Q1, we updated our proprietary search ranking model, extending user context windows within search by 30-fold...

    User Actions for Search Results
    16,000
    Q1 FY26

    We now use up to 16,000 user actions over a 2-year period to inform the search results shown to each user.

    GPU Capacity Investment Yield
    strong
    Q1 FY26

    Importantly, we are already starting to see strong yield from our GPU capacity investments, including the engagement and performance improvements that Bill mentioned earlier.

    Long-term Revenue Growth Targets
    mid- to high-teens
    Long-term

    The plans that we laid out last quarter to return to our mid- to high-teens, long-term growth targets. They're proceeding well...

    Commercial Searches on Pinterest
    approximately half
    Monthly

    more than 80 billion monthly searches on our platform, approximately half of which are commercial in nature.

    Commercial Prompts on ChatGPT
    2%
    Current

    ChatGPT's own data says that only 2% of their prompts are commercial.

    Click-fee Advertisers Growth
    more than 5x
    Last 3 years

    We've more than 5x the number of click fee advertisers over roughly the last 3 years.

    tvScientific Outcomes Increase with Pinterest Audience
    27%
    Q1 FY26

    what we're doing with tvScientific. It's a very tangible example of what we can do with that data beyond our Pinterest app, where we've been able to achieve a 27% increase in the outcomes and a 65% increase in purchases by leveraging our Taste Graph on top of tvScientific's algorithms.

    tvScientific Purchases Increase with Pinterest Audience
    65%
    Q1 FY26

    what we're doing with tvScientific. It's a very tangible example of what we can do with that data beyond our Pinterest app, where we've been able to achieve a 27% increase in the outcomes and a 65% increase in purchases by leveraging our Taste Graph on top of tvScientific's algorithms.

    Industry KPIs

    6
    MetricValueDetails
    Family dap dau631MMAUs
    CAPEX compute commitments—
    Advertising revenue by segment$1.008BUSD
    Share buyback capital returned$2BUSD
    Ai feature adoption monetization180 bpsbps
    Custom silicon ai infrastructure—

    Product announcements

    6
    ProductTypeDetails
    Penn RECexpansion
    Search Ranking Modelupdate
    Canvasupdate
    Native A/B Testing Toollaunch
    Shopping ROAS Modelsupdate
    Pinterest Assistantupdate

    Deals & partnerships

    1
    tvScientificAcquisition of a Connected TV (CTV) ad technology company to extend Pinterest's intent signal to CTV campaigns.

    Closed in Q1. Integrates Pinterest audiences and signals with tvScientific algorithms via tvScientific's buying platform. Early results show nearly 190% increase in incremental audience reach and 159% increase in incremental sales for an early partner.

    Risks & headwinds

    6
    Continued headwind from largest retail advertisersQ1 FY26

    Partially offset by AI-driven ad platform improvements later in Q1.

    Mitigation: AI-driven ad platform improvements, including bidding optimizations and efforts to link AI bidding systems directly to advertisers' measurement sources of truth. Diversifying revenue base across mid-market, enterprise, managed SMB, and international advertisers.

    International go-to-market restructuring causing disruptionQ2 FY26

    Expected to moderate international growth in Q2.

    Mitigation: Changes are being made to best position for long-term opportunity, including a new Head of International joining soon. Long-term conviction in international opportunity is unchanged.

    Difficult comparisons in Rest of World and EuropeQ2 FY26

    Expected to moderate international growth in Q2.

    Mitigation: Acknowledged as a factor impacting Q2, but long-term international opportunity remains strong.

    tvScientific acquisition creating adjusted EBITDA dragFY26

    Approximately 100 basis point drag on full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA margin.

    Mitigation: Strategic acquisition expected to open larger and incremental budget pools and integrate into a full-funnel performance solution.

    Ad market environment consistency and tariff-related margin pressure for large retailersQ1 FY26, ongoing

    Broadly consistent environment.

    Mitigation: Focus on growing outside of large retailers through product and go-to-market changes.

    Impact from the conflict in the Middle EastQ2 FY26

    Small on a dollar basis, isolated to certain verticals impacted by higher oil prices in Rest of World and Europe.

    Mitigation: Factored into Q2 guidance range.

    What to watch in Q2 FY26

    5

    International Go-to-Market Reorganization Progress

    Q2 FY26
    CurrentModest disruption expected in Q2 due to leadership and structural changes.
    TargetImproved consistency and reduced disruption, with new Head of International in place.

    Why it matters

    Successful reorganization is key to unlocking significant long-term international monetization opportunity.

    We're making deliberate leadership and structural changes to our international go-to-market organization to best position for the long-term opportunity, including a new Head of International joining soon. As we said last quarter🔁, progress as we rebuild and retool the organization will not always be linear, but that modest disruption is playing out here in our international regions in Q2.

    Q&A highlights

    6

    Asked for more detail on Q1 upside (core business, tvScientific, FX) and expectations for Q2, including whether mid-teens constant currency growth is sustainable in H2.

    Julia explained Q1 strength came from broadening revenue base and better-than-expected performance from large retailers due to AI-driven ad platform improvements. tvScientific was in line with updated guidance. Q2 guidance implies consistent constant currency growth with Q1, but international growth will moderate due to go-to-market restructuring and difficult comps. Long-term mid-to-high teens growth targets remain.

    “The story of the strong Q1 is really 2 things: First is the continued broadening of our revenue base; and then second, better-than-expected performance from our largest retail advertisers as we continue to drive improvements to the ad platform.”

    asked by Doug Anmuth · answered by Julia Donnelly

    2 min read5 chapters

    Detailed Narrative

    01

    AI-Powered Visual Search and Discovery

    Pinterest leverages its proprietary taste graph and AI to offer a differentiated visual search and discovery experience, solving the 'I'll know it when I see it' problem. The platform's AI models, including the generative retrieval system Penn REC and the search ranking model, significantly improve search fulfillment and personalization, driving deeper user engagement and retention. This approach allows Pinterest to deliver more relevant experiences across all surfaces, with Penn REC improving search fulfillment by 180 basis points and the search ranking model by 70 basis points.

    02

    Advertiser Performance and Measurement Enhancements

    The company is focused on accelerating monetization by improving its ad platform and measurement capabilities. Pinterest Performance+, an AI-powered ad suite, now accounts for approximately 30% of lower funnel revenue and continues to drive higher ROAS and lower CPAs for adopters. New tools like native A/B testing and pilot integrations with advertisers' proprietary measurement systems are enhancing attribution clarity and optimizing bidding systems towards specific advertiser outcomes like customer lifetime value, with one pilot showing 15-20% LTV ROAS improvement.

    03

    Go-to-Market Reorganization

    Under new Chief Business Officer Lee Brown, Pinterest is strengthening its global sales and go-to-market organization. Key changes include sharpening the coverage model, evolving sales incentive structures, and accelerating the adoption of internal AI tooling. These efforts aim to broaden the revenue base beyond large retailers, increase consistency in global execution, and strengthen measurement capabilities, positioning the company for more durable growth. Some changes are expected to take a couple of quarters to fully play through.

    04

    Strategic Acquisition of tvScientific

    The acquisition of tvScientific in Q1 extends Pinterest's unique consumer intent signals and audiences to Connected TV (CTV) campaigns. Early results show significant increases in incremental audience reach (nearly 190%) and sales (159%) for partners leveraging Pinterest's data on tvScientific's platform. This move is expected to integrate CTV capabilities into Pinterest Performance+, creating a full-funnel solution and opening larger incremental budget pools, despite an anticipated 100 basis point drag on FY26 adjusted EBITDA margin.

    05

    Commitment to Online Safety and Positivity

    Pinterest emphasizes its long-standing commitment to creating a positive and safe online environment, particularly for young users. Initiatives like making accounts private by default for users under 16 and applying AI to prioritize positivity resonate with Gen Z, who represent over 50% of the user base. This differentiation is highlighted in a new brand campaign, reinforcing Pinterest's focus on inspiring real-world action and contrasting with the broader online ecosystem's scrutiny on youth mental health.

    AI-generated summary of the company’s earnings call. Not investment advice.