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Pinterest is betting big on video ads for brands

It’s the first move to open the site up to more content down the line.

Jeff Chiu / AP Photo

While showcase site Pinterest is still releasing features in line with its image-focused brand, it's finally expanding its advertising options beyond still photos. Today it's introducing promoted video ads, letting users expand its cinematic pins into full auto-playing vids.

As Ad Age points out, Pinterest has had video on its platform for five years, but it's never been core to their content curation. Facebook encouraged its users to upload their own for awhile before introducing video advertising. Instead, this will be the first move in a larger push for more moving visual content across the board on the image curation site, a senior global sales executive for Pinterest told Ad Age.

While video is trendy, that means it's where users are looking at and connecting with content. It's another ecommerce tool for Pinterest to offer brands in its quest to shorten the gap from browsing individual to interesting product. The video ads are currently only available to larger advertisers in the US or UK working directly with the site's sales team. So far, these include Kate Spade, BareMinerals and Behr Paint. Agency executives told Ad Age that the site is offering ad units for a minimum of $500,000, with or cost per thousand impressions ranging from $15 to $20.