Meta's TikTok ad ban tripled Pinterest's share of TikTok's spend to 9% from 3% before Oct. 29 earnings
Meta banned TikTok's ad dollars on October 8, and the first week of reallocation data shows Pinterest's share of that spend tripling. But Pinterest itself warned of slower growth from ad competition, and October 29 earnings will say which force wins.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
Meta+2.41% — Meta, up 2.41 percent today slammed the door on October 8, banning ByteDance, TikTok's parent, from buying ads on Facebook and Instagram in the US, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam, and the ban extends to any advertiser linking to TikTok 1. TikTok's user-acquisition budgets did not disappear. They moved, and the first post-ban week shows where: Sensor Tower's allocation estimates, published October 21, show the share of TikTok's ad spend landing on Pinterest+1.78% — Pinterest, up 1.78 percent today tripling to 9% between October 9 and 16, from 3% in the first week of October 2.
That is a windfall landing on a company that just told investors to expect less. Pinterest warned in October that quarterly revenue growth will slow, blaming intensifying competition for advertising budgets, without naming rivals or quantifying the pricing pressure 3. The windfall is one advertiser. The pressure is the whole market.
Pinterest is the third stop, not the first
Pinterest's redirect is real but small. YouTube−2.10% — YouTube, down 2.10 percent today, a far larger destination, took 17% of TikTok's spend in the post-ban week, up from 9%, and mobile-app ad networks like Google's AdMob took 58%, up from 19% 2. Pinterest is the third stop, not the first.
TikTok's spend shifted hardest to ad networks; Pinterest tripled but stayed third
- Week to Oct 7
- Oct 9 to 16
Data
| Week to Oct 7 | Oct 9 to 16 | |
|---|---|---|
| 3% | 9% | |
| YouTube | 9% | 17% |
| AdMob networks | 19% | 58% |
Pinterest is not waiting for the verdict
The company is not standing still while it waits. On October 16, Pinterest announced a partnership with tvScientific to put its ads on connected TV, opening the fast-growing streaming market to its advertisers 4. And it named Amazon's+0.08% — Amazon, up 0.08 percent today James Dibbo as its new CFO, a hire the trade press read as a response to a softening ad market 4.
Pinterest has grown revenue for 12 straight quarters; Oct. 29 tests the run
Data
| Revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '23 | $0.76B |
| Q4 '23 | $0.98B |
| Q1 '24 | $0.74B |
| Q2 '24 | $0.85B |
| Q3 '24 | $0.9B |
| Q4 '24 | $1.15B |
| Q1 '25 | $0.86B |
| Q2 '25 | $1B |
| Q3 '25 | $1.05B |
| Q4 '25 | $1.32B |
| Q1 '26 | $1.01B |
| Q2 '26 | $1.18B |
Both camps get their number on October 29, when Pinterest reports third-quarter results after market close 5. The report either shows the redirected TikTok dollars offsetting competitive pressure, or it confirms Pinterest's own warning. Until then, the honest position is that a forced advertiser is a tailwind, but a tripling of one advertiser's share is a rounding error next to pricing power eroding across the sector. Pinterest told the market what to fear; October 29 tells it how much 5.
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