Pinterest hits 661m monthly users as European revenue stalls.

Pinterest reached a record 661 million monthly active users in the third quarter, up 10% on a year earlier, and grew revenue 12% to $1.174bn. Almost all the revenue growth came from the US and Canada, while Europe was flat.

US and Canada revenue rose 14% to $894m, Europe stayed at $193m and the rest of the world grew 24% to $87m. Users grew fastest outside the core markets: rest-of-world users rose 13% to 394m, Europe 7% to 161m, and the US and Canada 4% to 107m. Revenue per user tells the same story. It rose 10% to $8.38 in the US and Canada, fell 7% to $1.21 in Europe and was $0.23 in the rest of the world. Pinterest expects fourth-quarter revenue of $1.425bn to $1.475bn, growth of 8% to 12%.

Social Media Today reports that Pinterest blamed weaker international revenue on regulatory changes in Europe that hit cross-border selling, and that Gen Z now makes up 57% of its audience. The company has opened programmatic buying in all regions, launched visual search ads last month and lets brands sponsor creators' Pins. Chief executive Bill Ready pointed to AI-driven visual search and shopping as what makes the platform more valuable to users and advertisers.

Pinterest hasn't said which European rules were to blame or how long the effect will last. It also hasn't said how programmatic buying is priced outside North America.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE sit inside the rest-of-world figures, which Pinterest doesn't break down. That segment is growing users quickly but earns about 23 cents per user a quarter. With programmatic buying now open in every region, Pinterest inventory reaching Gulf audiences should be cheap to test, though it will be a small share of the platform's revenue for some time.