Pinterest has announced the acquisition of connected TV ad platform tvScientific, which will allow Pinterest to expand its advertising capabilities across a wider range of platforms and formats.
The context matters here – audience attention has long moved into a multi-screen mode: people can get absorbed in video while simultaneously searching for ideas and products. This is especially clear with teens, whose basic app stack has barely changed for years: YouTube, TikTok and Instagram remain the most popular apps among teens.
The acquisition, which is currently pending approval, will enable Pinterest to combine audience data and shopper intent signals with tvScientific’s CTV platform, giving it the ability to reach customers on their home TVs and measure ad performance.
According to Pinterest:
“With this acquisition, Pinterest will bring a highly engaged audience to CTV. tvScientific’s performance CTV platform will be integrated directly into Pinterest’s performance-oriented products, including the Pinterest Performance+ suite of AI-based automation and ad tools.”
tvScientific was founded by a group of ad industry veterans and enables advertisers of all sizes to run CTV campaigns across different formats, pay based on performance and use advanced response data to prove the effectiveness of TV.
In essence it is the same trend social platforms are pushing now – driving engagement through live formats and fast attention triggers, in order to sell placements more precisely and measure impact more clearly. You can see this very clearly in how TikTok is ramping up interest in live streams: TikTok announces two live shows to boost interest in its broadcasts
“The tvScientific platform includes automated media buying, AI-based optimization models and deterministic attribution, enabling advertisers to run coordinated campaigns and measure performance across screens.”
Currently, tvScientific’s system includes more than 15,000 unique segments for more effective audience targeting and reach, helping you direct your ad campaigns to exactly the right people at the right time.
Combining tvScientific’s models with Pinterest’s shopping data, built on engagement and behavioral patterns of 600 million active users, will make it possible to achieve better ad performance and more efficient placement across more surfaces.
This could become a significant boost for Pinterest’s ad tools, providing expanded placement options to improve your campaign performance.
And as TV viewing via connected devices becomes more common, with many people now relying on that screen while searching for products, the ability to showcase your offers in multiple ways will improve your results.
And this is not theory – at home people often turn on YouTube on the TV and watch it so the video does not take up the entire screen, because at the same time they are scrolling for ideas, messaging or comparing products. If you need to quickly set up this mode, here is a short how-to: How to make YouTube take up half the screen
As already noted, Pinterest’s acquisition of tvScientific is currently under regulatory review and is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Pinterest also notes that tvScientific will continue to operate under its own name after the deal is approved.
