Pinterest opened its display and video ad inventory to outside buying platforms on October 26, 2026. The feature, called Programmatic Deals, lets enterprise advertisers purchase Pinterest ad space through demand-side platforms (DSPs) they already use for other channels. They no longer have to log into Pinterest’s own Ads Manager to do it. It launched in general availability across North America, South America, and Asia Pacific, with Europe left out for now.
If you run paid social for a large brand or agency, this changes how Pinterest fits into your media plan. If you are a small business or solo marketer running self-serve campaigns, almost nothing changes for you today. This piece breaks down what Programmatic Deals actually does, who Pinterest built it for, what the early numbers show, and where the gaps in the announcement still sit.
What Pinterest Programmatic Deals Actually Does
A DSP is software that lets advertisers buy ad space across many publishers from one dashboard, usually bidding in real time against other buyers. An SSP is the matching tool on the publisher’s side that offers up its inventory for sale. Until this launch, buying a Pinterest ad meant using Pinterest’s own Ads Manager. Programmatic Deals changes that by piping selected Pinterest display and video inventory into DSPs that media buyers already use for the rest of their budget.
Magnite is Pinterest’s primary supply-side partner for the rollout, according to Pinterest’s own business community announcement. Google Ad Manager handles supply in Latin America and Asia Pacific instead. On the buying side, PPC Land reports that advertisers can transact through Amazon Ads DVA+, Google Display & Video 360, Yahoo DSP, and DeepIntent. Pinterest inventory is also part of Magnite Orchestration, a newer layer for AI-driven buying. It lets buyers connect their own AI buying agents to Magnite’s seller-side agent. Neither company has explained exactly how that handoff works yet.
Right now, deals run as private marketplace and preferred deals. That means a buyer negotiates fixed or floor pricing with Pinterest rather than bidding blind in an open auction. Pinterest is also testing programmatic guaranteed deals, which would reserve specific inventory at a set price. None of the public reporting includes CPMs, floor prices, or minimum spend commitments. Pricing stays a blind spot for now.
It helps to unpack what those deal types actually mean, since the terms get thrown around loosely. A private marketplace deal sets a floor price and invites a closed group of buyers to bid above it, rather than opening the inventory to everyone. A preferred deal skips the bidding entirely and locks in a fixed price between the buyer and seller ahead of time. Programmatic guaranteed goes further still. It reserves a specific amount of inventory at a set price, the way a traditional, negotiated media buy has always worked, just executed through automated systems instead of a phone call. Pinterest currently supports the first two deal types and is testing the third. That suggests the company wants to offer a full range of commitment levels, not just push everyone into open auctions.
Access Is Not Self-Serve
This is the detail that matters most for most marketers reading this. Programmatic Deals is not something you turn on in your Pinterest account settings. Advertisers get access by contacting their Pinterest sales representative. That puts it firmly in enterprise and agency territory, not self-serve small business advertising. Pinterest’s own self-serve Ads Manager still exists, unchanged, for everyone else.
Why Pinterest Is Pushing Into Programmatic Now
This launch does not stand alone. Pinterest completed its acquisition of ad-measurement company TvScientific in February 2026 and named TvScientific’s CEO as general manager of programmatic and affiliate. The company hired its first dedicated head of programmatic in May. Programmatic Deals is the clearest result of that run of moves. Marketing Dive reports that Pinterest’s stated goal is a single programmatic offering spanning search, social, and connected TV inventory.
There is also a revenue pressure angle worth naming plainly. Pinterest’s second-quarter 2026 revenue reached $1.18 billion, up 18% year over year, a strong number. But the company’s guidance for third-quarter growth sat at 13% to 15%, a step down from that second-quarter pace. Opening inventory to the programmatic budgets that agencies already control is a reasonable way to find new demand when growth is cooling, even if Pinterest has not framed it that way itself. Marketing Dive also cites a Madison & Wall forecast that programmatic buying will account for 74% of open-internet ad revenue in 2026. That is the kind of industry shift that makes staying outside the DSP ecosystem a harder position to hold.
How Pinterest’s Programmatic Push Fits the Wider Ad Market
Pinterest is not the first platform to open inventory this way, and it will not be the last. What makes this launch notable is less the idea itself and more the specific partners Pinterest chose. Routing deals primarily through Amazon Ads DVA+, rather than a more traditional DSP like The Trade Desk, is a telling choice. PPC Land’s reporting cites a 2025 industry report putting Amazon’s DSP take rate at roughly 1%, compared with 12% to 15% at The Trade Desk. Neither Pinterest nor Magnite has disclosed what cut applies to Programmatic Deals specifically. But fee structure quietly decides which partnerships advertisers favor, so the choice of which DSPs get top billing is unlikely to be accidental.
Pinterest also rolled this out alongside a new ad format called Visual Search Ads. It places ads directly inside search results and Pin closeups, according to Adweek’s coverage of the launch. Taken together with the TvScientific acquisition and the push toward connected TV, the picture is clear enough: Pinterest is competing for the same automated ad budgets that Meta, Google, and streaming services already capture. It no longer wants advertisers to treat it as a separate, manually managed line item.
Pinterest Programmatic Deals vs. Self-Serve Ads Manager
Most marketers reading about this launch will want to know fast whether it applies to them. The table below lines up the two paths to buying Pinterest ads as they stand today.
| Factor | Self-Serve Ads Manager | Pinterest Programmatic Deals |
|---|---|---|
| How you get access | Sign up directly, no sales contact needed | Through a Pinterest sales representative only |
| Where you buy | Pinterest’s own ad platform | Outside DSPs you already use for other media |
| Who it suits | Small businesses, solo marketers, growing brands | Enterprise advertisers and agencies with existing programmatic budgets |
| Deal structure | Standard auction-based campaigns | Private marketplace and preferred deals now; programmatic guaranteed in testing |
| Regions available | Broad global availability, including Europe | North America, South America, and Asia Pacific only; no Europe yet |
| Measurement | Pinterest’s built-in reporting dashboard | Passed through the connecting DSP; Google touts full-funnel measurement for Pinterest buys through DV360 |
| Pricing transparency | You set and see your own budgets and bids | Not publicly disclosed; negotiated per deal |
Nothing here replaces the self-serve option. Pinterest is adding a second path for a specific buyer, not retiring the first.
The Moroccanoil Numbers, Read Carefully
Pinterest and Magnite point to a June 2026 campaign from beauty brand Moroccanoil as early proof the approach works. The campaign ran through Magnite and Amazon Ads. The reported results:
- 15% higher incremental reach, with only 1% audience overlap against the brand’s existing media
- 63% more new-to-brand buyers among people whose purchase path touched Pinterest
- A 20% higher click-through rate than the brand’s average video and display campaigns
Those numbers look good on their own, but a few honest caveats belong next to them. The data comes from Amazon’s internal measurement, not an independent auditor. Pinterest describes the results as specific to that one campaign, so they are not a guarantee for anyone else’s category or budget. The 63% new-to-brand figure has no stated baseline period attached. The click-through comparison has no control group either. That means there is no way to know, from the public reporting, how much of that lift came from Pinterest specifically versus the rest of the media mix running at the same time. Treat this as a promising single data point, not proven performance.
Who Should Actually Use Pinterest Programmatic Deals
Based on what Pinterest and the trade coverage have disclosed, this fits a narrow but real group of advertisers well.
It’s a good fit if you:
- Already run programmatic buys through Amazon Ads DVA+, Google DV360, Yahoo DSP, or DeepIntent, and want Pinterest folded into that same workflow
- Manage enterprise or agency-level media budgets with staff who negotiate private marketplace deals regularly
- Run campaigns in North America, South America, or Asia Pacific, where the inventory is actually available
- Have an existing Pinterest account team contact, or can get one, since there is no self-serve signup
Skip it for now if you:
- Run a small business or solo-managed account on a self-serve budget; nothing about your workflow changes
- Need European inventory, which Pinterest has not scheduled a launch date for
- Need firm pricing before committing budget, since none has been published
- Want to evaluate performance before Pinterest or independent analysts publish results beyond the single Moroccanoil case
The Trade-offs Worth Weighing
On the upside, Programmatic Deals gives Pinterest a real answer to a complaint agencies have had for years: that Pinterest required a separate buying relationship outside their normal DSP workflow. Folding Pinterest into Amazon DVA+ or Google DV360 removes a real point of friction for teams managing dozens of channels at once. Pinterest’s scale argument is also genuine. The company reports 640 million monthly active users and more than 80 billion monthly searches, with over half described as commercial intent. That is a meaningful audience for brands already spending through those same DSPs on other platforms.
On the downside, the lack of disclosed pricing is a real gap, not a minor detail. Agencies evaluating a new supply source need to know the take rate and minimum commitment before they can compare it against existing options. That information simply is not public yet. The Europe exclusion will frustrate any agency running global campaigns, since it means managing Pinterest through two different buying paths depending on region. And the heavy reliance on Magnite as the primary supply-side partner means Pinterest’s programmatic push is, for now, only as reliable as that one partnership.
What to Watch as Pinterest’s Programmatic Push Continues
Three things will tell you whether Pinterest Programmatic Deals becomes a mainstream part of media plans or stays a niche enterprise option. Watch whether Pinterest publishes a timeline for European availability, since that gap currently excludes a major advertising market. Watch whether more case studies appear beyond Moroccanoil, ideally with clearer baselines and from brands outside beauty and retail. And watch whether Pinterest eventually discloses pricing or fee structure. Agencies will keep comparing this quietly against The Trade Desk and other programmatic options, regardless of what Pinterest says publicly.
If you manage Pinterest spend for an enterprise client or brand, the practical next step is simple. Ask your Pinterest account representative directly whether Programmatic Deals is available for your region and category, and get real numbers before shifting any budget. If you manage a smaller account, there is no action needed. Your Ads Manager experience has not changed.
Pinterest Programmatic Deals: Common Questions
What is Pinterest Programmatic Deals?
It is a Pinterest advertising option, launched October 26, 2026, that lets enterprise advertisers buy Pinterest’s display and video ad inventory through outside demand-side platforms, instead of Pinterest’s own Ads Manager.
Which DSPs support Pinterest Programmatic Deals?
Reported partners include Amazon Ads DVA+, Google Display & Video 360, Yahoo DSP, and DeepIntent, with Magnite serving as the primary supply-side partner.
Is Pinterest Programmatic Deals available in Europe?
No. General availability currently covers North America, South America, and Asia Pacific only. Pinterest has not announced a date for European availability.
Do I need a Pinterest sales representative to use it?
Yes. There is no self-serve signup for Programmatic Deals. Advertisers access it by contacting their Pinterest sales contact.
How is this different from Pinterest’s self-serve Ads Manager?
Self-serve Ads Manager stays open to anyone and runs standard auction campaigns inside Pinterest’s own platform. Programmatic Deals routes inventory through outside DSPs using private marketplace and preferred deal structures. It targets enterprise and agency buyers, not small businesses.
Pinterest’s move fits a broader pattern other platforms have already worked through. Channel prioritization decisions increasingly hinge on how easily a platform’s inventory fits into an advertiser’s existing buying stack, with audience size now a secondary factor. It also sits alongside other recent shifts in how platforms pass signal and measurement data back to buyers, from Meta’s one-click Conversions API setup to Google’s own push around ad data strength and signal quality. On the video inventory side specifically, Pinterest’s push mirrors changes Google has made to Performance Max’s sourced video inventory, where platforms are increasingly deciding how and where their video ad space gets sold. None of these replace Pinterest Programmatic Deals. But they show the same industry current: platforms are competing to fit inside buyers’ existing workflows, rather than asking buyers to come to them.
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