Pinterest Max-Width Video Ad Format Attracts Paramount’s ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Pinterest is stretching video ads across the full width of its app in a new test with a handful of marketers including Paramount Pictures, which will run promos for Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” opening this summer.

’s Promoted Video at max width will span across the two-column feed on the Pinterest app, whereas the ads at standard width only show up on one column. The bigger format is available in both 16:9 and 1:1 aspect ratios, and they will appear on Pinterest users’ home feed, following tab and in search on mobile.

“Following the success of past video campaigns, we’re excited to be one of the first to partner on this product in order to reach Pinterest’s huge community of movie fans,” Shannon Petranoff, senior VP of digital marketing for Paramount Pictures, said in a statement. She added that “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which opens July 27, “is the perfect fit as this movie has something for everyone, much like Pinterest.”

Other advertisers kicking the tires on Pinterest’s wider-screen video ads include P&G, Kohl’s, American Express, Tropicana, Chevrolet, and U.K. department store chain John Lewis. The ads are slated to begin running on Pinterest next week.

Pinterest has about 200 million monthly active users for the image-based search and sharing service, trailing rival Instagram, which has more than 800 million.

While it has a smaller user base than Facebook or Instagram, Pinterest touts its audience as highly engaged — and interested in movies and TV shows. The company claims some 42 million users in the U.S. visit Pinterest “for entertainment ideas,” and says there are more than 11 million boards dedicated to movies on the service. Pinterest first introduced video ads two years ago and has run campaigns with media and entertainment partners including ABC, Paramount, STX Entertainment, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment.

Here’s what the “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” ad will look like in the Pinterest app:

As part of its push to win Hollywood ad dollars, Pinterest recently hired Tina Pukonen, a former exec at Publicis Media’s Zenith ad agency, as its head of vertical marketing for entertainment and restaurants, as well as entertainment/restaurant industry sales lead Mike Chuthakieo, who hails from Pandora.