Video ads have finally come to Pinterest, as the social network Wednesday announced the launch of Promoted Video.
Promoted Video ads are video ads with the Pinterest touch, as they also contain featured pins, which are aimed at encouraging users to take action after watching the videos.
Pinterest said in an email to SocialTimes that it ran alpha tests of Promoted Video with 12 partners during the second quarter, adding that it teamed up with Millward Brown on a study of the ad units and found that they delivered ?significant brand lift metrics? across several verticals and were four times more memorable than ads without videos.
Product manager Mike Bidgoli said in a blog post introducing Promoted Video that Pinterest has seen videos posted to the social network increase 60 percent over the past year, adding that the feature is available to managed partners in the U.S. and U.K., and units can be reserved as premium inventory. The 12 alpha partners included General Mills? Old El Paso, Universal Pictures (for The Secret Life of Pets) and L’Oreal Paris? Garnier.

PinterestPromotedVideoTheSecretLifeOfPets from SocialTimes on Vimeo.

PinterestPromotedVideobareMinerals from SocialTimes on Vimeo.
Bidgoli said partners that will launch Promoted Video campaigns Wednesday or ?in the near future? include bareMinerals, Behr Paint, Kate Spade New York, Purina and Lionsgate. He added in the blog post:
Promoted Video brings together some of the best elements of Pinterest. Accordi...