WEBVTT - Pinterest CEO Talks Q1 Sales and AI

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's dive deeper into Pinterest and those first quarter sales

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<v Speaker 2>use the growth with Pinterest CEO Bill Ready, Bill terrific

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<v Speaker 2>to have you on the program. The story seems quite clear,

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<v Speaker 2>Pinterest pushing into shopping and Pinterest focusing on gen Z users. Right.

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<v Speaker 2>My question to start, what is the relationship in the

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<v Speaker 2>activity between the shopping and the gen Z users.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so you know, we're finding our best product market

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<v Speaker 1>fit in years. We've hit an all time high with

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<v Speaker 1>users more than half a billion users and as you noted,

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<v Speaker 1>gen Z is our largest demographic. It's now more than

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<v Speaker 1>forty percent of our platform, and it's our fastest growing

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<v Speaker 1>demographic as well. And at the core of that growth

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<v Speaker 1>with gen Z has been the rising actionability in the platform.

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<v Speaker 1>Pinterestes where gen Z goes to shop, and as we've

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<v Speaker 1>made Pinterest more actionable so that people who can get

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<v Speaker 1>to more of the things they're finding out on Pinterest,

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<v Speaker 1>we're seeing that work really well for users, where we've

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<v Speaker 1>accelerated user growth for seven straight quarters now, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>also cutting through for advertisers, where as you noted, revenue

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<v Speaker 1>group twenty three percent this quarter, nearly doubling our revenue

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<v Speaker 1>growth rate from last quarter, and so we're really seeing

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<v Speaker 1>this be quite synergistic between users finding the things that

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<v Speaker 1>they love on Pinterest and then advertisers finding this is

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<v Speaker 1>a great place for them to meet users that are

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<v Speaker 1>in market looking to shop and buy.

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<v Speaker 3>And let's just talk about some of the synergies that

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<v Speaker 3>you've managed to bring to bear with Amazon, with Google,

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<v Speaker 3>with those ad partnerships. Bill, how much of that advertising

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<v Speaker 3>optic is thanks to these third parties.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, you know, on the shop ability front, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>historically Pinterests has solved digital window shopping, but it's hard

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<v Speaker 1>to get to the things that you found on Pinterest.

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<v Speaker 1>We have opened the stores, and in doing that, we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing that retailers broadly are finding great performance on Pinterest.

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<v Speaker 1>At the core of our revenue acceleration has been our

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<v Speaker 1>strength in low funnel actionability users that are clicking and buying.

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<v Speaker 1>We more than double the number of clicks we sent

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<v Speaker 1>to advertisers in Q four, and we did it again

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<v Speaker 1>in Q one. That is broad based, but we are

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<v Speaker 1>seeing our best strength with the largest, most sophisticated retailers

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<v Speaker 1>that provide really great buying experiences. We're quite pleased with that,

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<v Speaker 1>and we also see that the third party demand that

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<v Speaker 1>we've brought onto the platform is doing exactly what it

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<v Speaker 1>was intended to do, which is rounding out gaps in

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<v Speaker 1>our auction and bringing more great, shoppable, biable content onto

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<v Speaker 1>pinterest so that when users find what they're looking for

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<v Speaker 1>in Pinterest, they can easily click and buy it.

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<v Speaker 2>This was a milestone quarter in the sense that global

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<v Speaker 2>monthly uses past half a billion for the first time.

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<v Speaker 2>You've put a lot of emphasis on gen Z, So

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<v Speaker 2>look forward, what is the arc of user growth and

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<v Speaker 2>what drives it? What brings in you users to your platform?

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<v Speaker 1>Bill Yeah, So, as I mentioned, this is our seventh

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<v Speaker 1>consecutive quarter of accelerating user growth. We've accelerated in every

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<v Speaker 1>geography and with every generation that we track. Gen zs

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<v Speaker 1>are fastest growing in our largest but you have millennials

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<v Speaker 1>right behind that. So our improvement in the product has

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<v Speaker 1>been broad based, and it is that actionability at the core.

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<v Speaker 1>But I would say we are just getting going with that.

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<v Speaker 1>We see much more building momentum in that as we

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<v Speaker 1>look forward, and it's both the actionability as well as

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<v Speaker 1>the positivity that we're bringing into it. We've made tremendous

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<v Speaker 1>strides with AI, and AI is bringing more relevant recommendations

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<v Speaker 1>for users so they can take action on more of

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<v Speaker 1>what they find. But it's also the case that we're

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<v Speaker 1>tuning AI for positivity. We're tuning it to help users

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<v Speaker 1>feel better not just in finding what they're looking to

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<v Speaker 1>shop and buy, but in making sure that we're bringing

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<v Speaker 1>inspirational content to them. So we've done things like inclusive AI,

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<v Speaker 1>where we have skin tone filters so people can filter

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<v Speaker 1>for things that will reflect them and including diversity by

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<v Speaker 1>default in our feeds. We introduce body type AI where

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<v Speaker 1>people can select body types so that they can find

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<v Speaker 1>more things that fit well for them. And so we

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<v Speaker 1>want to make it so that every person on Pinterest

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<v Speaker 1>can see themselves on Pinterest, and so that's really leading

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<v Speaker 1>to great strides in both the relevance the representation and

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<v Speaker 1>in just people feeling positive when they spend time on Pinterest.

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<v Speaker 2>So last night on the Amazon Media called, Brian Ozowski

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<v Speaker 2>was asked about Timu and she In in the context

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<v Speaker 2>of competition with you guys a Pinterest a little bit different.

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<v Speaker 2>Would you talk about Timu and she In as potential partners?

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<v Speaker 2>Are you seeing any uplift from Chinese advertisers.

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<v Speaker 1>So so APAC cross border has been a contributor to

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<v Speaker 1>our growth, but it's a nice contributor, you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>not overwhelming, but it's a nice contributor. But as I

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned before, our strength and retail has been broad based.

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<v Speaker 1>Retailers of all sizes are finding strength on Pinterest, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's because they're seeing that doubling of clicks that we

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<v Speaker 1>sent to advertisers a year on year in Q four

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<v Speaker 1>and again in Q one. And it's also because they're

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<v Speaker 1>able to meet hard to find shoppers like gen Z

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<v Speaker 1>on Pinterest, and they're meeting those shoppers in a really

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<v Speaker 1>unique moment because users come to Pinterest when they have

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<v Speaker 1>clear intent. More than half the users on the platform

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<v Speaker 1>we're here to shop, but they haven't yet decided what

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<v Speaker 1>to buy, so they're not necessarily searching for a specific

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<v Speaker 1>brand or a specific item where maybe the decision's already made.

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<v Speaker 1>They're coming here with much more general thoughts like cool

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<v Speaker 1>outfits for spring, what to wear to Coachella, And those

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<v Speaker 1>are great moments for advertisers to meet users because the

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<v Speaker 1>user has clear intent but hasn't decided yet what to

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<v Speaker 1>buy and again we're seeing that broad based across retailers.

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<v Speaker 1>China cross border is a contributor, but it's broad based

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<v Speaker 1>strength for retailers.

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<v Speaker 3>Focusing a little bit more on China for a moment, Bill,

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, this is a unique time in social media

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<v Speaker 3>more broadly, because it looks as though one of a

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<v Speaker 3>key social media player might be falling away. Do you

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<v Speaker 3>think more gen Z will come to you because of

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<v Speaker 3>TikTok actually being banned completely no longer existing in the US.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, when you look at why we are doing so

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<v Speaker 1>well with gen Z, it is because we are we

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<v Speaker 1>are doing something very different than the rest of social media.

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<v Speaker 1>For gen Z, most of social media has the user

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<v Speaker 1>in a lean back entertainment mode. We have the user

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<v Speaker 1>in a lean forward mode with intent and purpose and

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<v Speaker 1>I mentioned tuning for positivity. Gen Z sees Pinterest as

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<v Speaker 1>an oasis away from the toxicity they experience on much

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<v Speaker 1>of the rest of social media. They know that social

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<v Speaker 1>media has largely become comparative and performative. And if you

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<v Speaker 1>go talk to gen Z about why they spend time

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<v Speaker 1>on Pinterest, they'll say they go to other places on

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<v Speaker 1>social media and see what others want them to be

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<v Speaker 1>what others expect them to be, and then go to

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<v Speaker 1>pinterest to discover what they want to be and invest

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<v Speaker 1>in themselves with a small circle of friends. So that's

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<v Speaker 1>already winning with gen Z, and we're not sitting around

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<v Speaker 1>hoping for the demise of other platforms. We're just busy

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<v Speaker 1>building something that makes people feel more positive is and

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<v Speaker 1>to give them a great experience, and that's winning, particularly

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<v Speaker 1>of gen z.

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, So no clear ambition to capitalize in the uncertainty,

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<v Speaker 3>but clearly seeing the flow of gen Z. What really

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<v Speaker 3>always interests me, Bill is when you break down your

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<v Speaker 3>numbers in terms of average users and where they are.

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<v Speaker 3>You're so dominant in the rest of the world, do

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<v Speaker 3>you see us as the area of growth? Do you

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<v Speaker 3>see internationally more the area of growth. Where do you

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<v Speaker 3>see the expansion?

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<v Speaker 1>So it's a great question. As you noted, we have

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<v Speaker 1>approximately eighty percent of our eighty percent or more of

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<v Speaker 1>our use outside the US, but only approximately twenty percent

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<v Speaker 1>of our revenue outside the US. So the improvements we've

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<v Speaker 1>made from the user perspective have been broad based. As

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<v Speaker 1>I mentioned, we've accelerated users across every geography. On the

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<v Speaker 1>modernization side, we are much further along in the US

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<v Speaker 1>and we are now starting to deploy those things internationally,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we see international as a huge growth vector

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<v Speaker 1>for US, both in terms of what we will bring

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<v Speaker 1>to advertisers directly where we do first party selling, as

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<v Speaker 1>well as where we're bringing in new sources of demand,

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<v Speaker 1>either through third party demand like what we're doing with

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<v Speaker 1>our Google partnership in international markets or what we're now

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<v Speaker 1>doing with resellers in international markets where they can bring

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<v Speaker 1>more local demand, which is going to be great for

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<v Speaker 1>those advertisers, but also great for users that will find

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<v Speaker 1>more shoppable content as more of those advertiser those international

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<v Speaker 1>markets come onto our platform.

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<v Speaker 3>Bill, great to catch up with you. Thanks for spending

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<v Speaker 3>some time with us. Very funny pintra't ceo. Bill ready there,