Social Platform Ecosystem Measurement
PinterestMeasured how paid, owned, earned, creator, and push media influenced MAU, acquisition quality, reactivation, advertiser outcomes, and long-term value across the user journey.
Challenge
Pinterest needed a clearer way to understand how paid, owned, earned, creator, and push media influenced user growth, advertiser outcomes, creator KPIs, perception, and revenue. The goal was to move beyond impressions and channel reporting toward a model that could explain how different journey touchpoints influenced MAU, acquisition quality, reactivation, and long-term value while improving acquisition efficiency.
Approach
Built a machine-learning time-series model using historical media, creator, user, advertiser, and macro-event data. The model estimated channel-level lift across 20+ KPIs and supported multi-touch attribution across new, existing, and resurrected users. It helped optimize CAC (Cost of Acquisition) against LTV (Lifetime Value), with the goal of keeping acquisition cost below expected long-term value instead of optimizing around low-cost reach alone.
Impact
The model identified which channels and creator/media touchpoints contributed most strongly to priority audiences, MAU growth, resurrected users, advertiser outcomes, and revenue. The work created a planning framework for acquisition, engagement, and ecosystem investment decisions.
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