Pinterest CEO Bill Ready wants advertisers to see the platform as a search engine for shopping

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready used the Cannes Lions stage to pitch his platform as a shopping search engine. The message, delivered to advertisers at the annual ad conference, marks a deliberate push into territory dominated by Google and Amazon.

Ready, who joined Pinterest in 2022 after running Google's commerce division, told Business Insider that the company is betting its AI can surface products at the exact moment users are planning to buy. That framing – search, not just inspiration – puts Pinterest in direct competition with platforms that already capture billions in ad dollars tied to purchase intent.

The pitch lands at a critical time. Pinterest reported 518 million monthly active users in its last quarter, up 11% year over year. Revenue climbed 23% to $876 million. The company still trails rivals by a wide margin. Meta brought in over $35 billion in ad revenue in the same period. Google's ad business was roughly $62 billion.

What sets the Pinterest argument apart is the intent layer. A user searching for “fall jackets” on Pinterest often does so before opening Google – or instead of it. Ready is telling advertisers to treat those queries as search volume, not social browsing. The AI piece powers visual discovery and product tagging, making the image itself a searchable link.

The company has already tightened the link from pin to checkout. Direct shopping integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Amazon now let users buy without leaving the app. That closes the attribution gap that historically made Pinterest harder to measure than pure search ads.

Still, the pivot is as much about perception as technology. Pinterest has long described itself as a visual discovery engine, not a social network. Ready’s Cannes speech sharpens that into a direct value proposition: advertisers can bid on shopping-related queries the way they bid on Google keywords. The company already supports shopping ads with a pay-per-click model.

The timing coincides with a broader shift in ad spending. Retail media networks – ad platforms run by Amazon, Walmart, and others – are pulling share from traditional search and social. Pinterest is trying to carve a slice of that growth by framing itself as a product-focused search utility, not a place where users just save ideas.

Ready’s background strengthens the story. He led Google’s $140 billion commerce business, including Shopping ads and payments. Ad buyers may give his search positioning more weight than a CEO without that pedigree. Pinterest has also invested in its own ad measurement tools, including conversion API upgrades and partnerships with third-party attribution firms.

The stock closed Thursday at $44.61, up roughly 8% year to date. It remains well below its 2021 highs above $80. Analysts are split on the company’s ability to convert user growth into ad revenue at scale. Pinterest trades at about 30 times forward earnings, a premium to Meta and Google but with smaller absolute profits.

Ready will need to show that the search pitch drives real advertiser spending. The first test comes in the third-quarter earnings report, typically the first full quarter after a major ad conference push. Early indicators include advertiser feedback at Cannes and whether brands begin earmarking search budgets for Pinterest campaigns.

For now, Ready has planted the flag. Whether advertisers see a search engine when they look at Pinterest depends on whether the AI behind the pins delivers return on their bids.