Pinterest Q4 2025 Earnings: Record Users, Revenue Grows 14%, But Advertisers Pull Back

Pinterest ended 2025 with more users than ever — 619 million people using the platform every month — and a record $4.2 billion in annual revenue. But Q4 told a more complicated story. Revenue narrowly missed expectations, large retailers pulled back on advertising due to tariff uncertainty, and the company's guidance for Q1 underwhelmed. The question now is whether Pinterest can turn its massive, growing audience into faster revenue growth.

Here's what happened.

The Numbers: Revenue Grew But Missed, Users Beat

• Revenue: $1.32 billion, up 14% year-over-year (slightly below the $1.33 billion expected)
• Net Income (GAAP): $277 million, down 85% from $1.85 billion a year ago
• Adjusted EPS: $0.67, roughly in line with expectations
• Adjusted EBITDA: $541.5 million, 41% margin
• Full Year Revenue: $4.22 billion, up 16%
• Free Cash Flow: $380 million for Q4, $1.25 billion for the full year
• MAUs: 619 million, up 12% (all-time high, beat the 613 million expected)

Translation: The net income drop looks alarming — down 85% — but it's misleading. Last year's Q4 included a one-off deferred tax benefit worth about $1.5 billion that artificially inflated the 2024 number. Strip that out and the underlying business is actually more profitable. That's why adjusted EBITDA (which removes one-off items) grew 15%.

Advertising: The Revenue Engine and Its Headwinds

Pinterest makes virtually all of its money from advertising. When someone searches for "living room ideas" or "wedding outfits," they're showing commercial intent — they're planning to buy something. That makes Pinterest valuable to advertisers. The problem in Q4 was that some of Pinterest's biggest advertising clients — large retailers — pulled back their spending.

Translation: Tariff uncertainty caused big retailers to tighten their budgets, especially in Europe. When companies don't know what their costs will be in six months, they cut marketing spend first. This wasn't a Pinterest-specific problem — it hit ad platforms across the board — but Pinterest felt it more because large retailers make up a big chunk of its revenue.

CEO Bill Ready acknowledged the issue directly, saying he's "not satisfied with Q4 revenue performance." The company plans to diversify by courting more small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) and international advertisers so it's not so dependent on a handful of big retailers. SMB revenue is now 15% of total and its growth rate doubled in 2025.

Users: 619 Million and Still Growing

Pinterest hit 619 million monthly active users globally — its tenth consecutive quarter of record highs. The breakdown by region:

• US & Canada: 105 million MAUs (up 4%)
• Europe: 158 million MAUs (up 9%)
• Rest of World: 356 million MAUs (up 16%)

The platform now sees over 80 billion monthly searches, the majority of which are visual. Gen Z makes up over 50% of users and is the fastest-growing group.

Translation: The user growth story is strong, but there's a gap between users and revenue. Pinterest earns $9.41 per user in the US & Canada, but just $0.27 per user in Rest of World. As the user base shifts toward lower-ARPU regions, Pinterest needs to get better at making money from those users — or it risks growing users faster than revenue.

The Monetisation Gap: ARPU Tells the Story

Average revenue per user (ARPU) grew just 2% globally to $2.16 in Q4. By region:

• US & Canada: $9.41 (up 4%)
• Europe: $1.59 (up 15%)
• Rest of World: $0.27 (up 42%)

Translation: ARPU means "average revenue per user" — how much money Pinterest makes from each person who uses the platform. The good news is international ARPU is growing fast (Europe up 15%, Rest of World up 42%). The challenge is the absolute numbers are still tiny compared to the US. Closing that gap is the single biggest revenue opportunity Pinterest has.

AI and the tvScientific Acquisition

Pinterest is betting heavily on AI to improve both the user experience and advertising performance. The company highlighted several AI-driven improvements:

Its core AI models delivered a 450-basis-point lift in engagement and reduced model costs by 90% compared to third-party alternatives. Paid clicks to advertisers have increased roughly five times over the past three years.

Pinterest also announced it's acquiring tvScientific, a connected TV (CTV) performance advertising platform. This would let Pinterest combine its intent-rich user data with TV advertising for the first time — helping advertisers measure whether a TV ad actually led someone to buy something.

Translation: Connected TV (CTV) means streaming services on smart TVs. By buying tvScientific, Pinterest wants to help brands connect the dots between a TV ad and an actual purchase. This is a big deal in advertising because measuring TV ad effectiveness has always been difficult. If Pinterest can prove its user data makes TV ads work better, it opens up an entirely new revenue stream.

What's Coming in 2026

Pinterest's Q1 2026 guidance came in below expectations:

• Q1 Revenue: $951 million to $971 million (analysts expected around $982 million)
• Q1 Adjusted EBITDA: $166 million to $186 million
• Full Year 2026 Adjusted EBITDA Margin: Approximately 30% (roughly in line with 2025), or 29% including the tvScientific acquisition drag

Translation: The below-consensus guidance is what worried investors. Pinterest is essentially saying "the tariff headwinds from large retailers aren't going away in Q1." The company is also investing more in AI infrastructure (GPU capacity), which will pressure margins in the short term but should improve ad performance over time.

The company also announced a restructuring in January — laying off less than 15% of its workforce to shift resources toward AI and technical teams. That's expected to generate about $100 million in annual savings.

The Bottom Line for Investors

Pinterest has an enviable position: 619 million users who come to the platform with buying intent, 80 billion monthly searches, and a Gen Z audience that's growing fast. No other social platform captures commercial intent the way Pinterest does.

The bull case is that Pinterest is massively under-monetised, especially internationally. ARPU in Rest of World is $0.27 — a fraction of the $9.41 in North America. If Pinterest can close even a small part of that gap through better AI targeting, SMB advertiser growth, and the tvScientific CTV expansion, the revenue upside is significant.

The bear case is that Pinterest keeps growing users without proportionally growing revenue. Large advertiser dependence is a risk, tariff uncertainty isn't going away, and the Q1 guidance suggests near-term headwinds. The company also needs to prove that its AI and CTV investments actually translate into faster monetisation.

The raw ingredients are there. The question is execution.

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References:

1. Pinterest Investor Relations — Q4 2025 Earnings Press Release (February 12, 2026)
2. CNBC — Pinterest Q4 Earnings Report (February 12, 2026)
3. The Motley Fool — Pinterest Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript (February 12, 2026)

Ticker: PINS (NYSE) · Reported: February 12, 2026