Performance TV is heating up. Pinterest, which positions itself as an ‘AI-powered visual search and discovery platform’, today announced it is to acquire tvScientific, a connected TV (CTV) performance advertising platform. In a statement the company said that Pinterest will ‘combine its intent-rich audience signals with a CTV engine, so marketers can clearly measure how TV lifts the results of their performance ad campaigns’.
The deal is an interesting one. The tvScientific model has focused on introducing data-driven TV advertising to the many thousands of advertisers who spend on search and social, but didn’t view TV as an accessible option. Pinterest’s datasets are also likely to give the tvScientfic proposition a signficant boost, as the company claims to have ‘600 million monthly active users who save Pins to 15 billion boards, generating a predictive intent signal rooted in what people are planning to do next’. Pinterest’s AI systems use this signal, together with its ‘Taste Graph’, to deliver personalised recommendations and shopping experiences’.
With this acquisition, Pinterest will say they will be able to bring high-intent audiences to CTV. tvScientific’s outcome-based CTV platform will be integrated directly into Pinterest’s performance products, including its automation and AI-powered advertising suite, Pinterest Performance+.
The acquisition also helps to validate a new subcategory of CTV ad tech companies who have focused on the SME advertising market. Companies like Vibe, who claim to have a $100 million run rate, or MNTN, which has Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds serving as Chief Creative Officer, or the more freshly created European equivalents like Stamp and Airspot.
Most of the platforms focus on simplicity for smaller advertisers, both for when it comes to setting up a campaign and making creative easy using Gen AI. Streamr.ai, an AI tool for creating TV ads using Gen AI, was acquired by Magnite earlier in the year and the focus is very much on growing the CTV marketing by opening up to smaller advertisers.
Bill Ready, CEO at Pinterest, said, “People plan and shop across multiple screens and advertisers need performance solutions that reflect that reality. For the first time, Pinterest advertisers will be able to evaluate TV with the clarity they expect from their performance channels. Looking ahead, advertisers will be able to buy TV with the performance metrics they are already using, turning Pinterest into a true search, social, and CTV performance solution. This is an exciting progression in our multi-year strategy to drive new sources of demand to Pinterest and begin to allow advertisers to reach our valuable audience beyond our platform.”
The companies added that “tvScientific turns CTV into an accessible, measurable performance channel, letting advertisers of any size run their own CTV campaigns, pay by outcome, and use data to validate TV’s impact. tvScientific’s platform includes automated media buying, AI-powered optimization models, and deterministic attribution, enabling advertisers to run coordinated campaigns and measure outcomes across screens.”
Jason FairChild, CEO at tv Scientfic, said, “This is the first time a performance CTV engine will come together at scale with an intent-rich visual search platform and it fundamentally changes what marketers can expect from TV. Combining our performance-driven CTV platform with Pinterest’s scale and high-intent audience will create a powerful new equation for modern advertisers.”
The companies said the first priority will be to scale tvScientific’s capabilities in the US market before expanding the integration globally.
The transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory review, and is expected to close in the first half of 2026. After the transaction closes, tvScientific will continue to operate as tvScientific. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Pinterest said in a statement that it does not expect that the transaction will have a material impact on its financial results.
