DoubleVerify said that it received accreditation from the Media Rating Council for its measurement of video viewable impressions and related metrics for connected TV.

The MRC had previously accredited DoubleVerify for its pre-bid CTV measurement of brand suitability, video completion metrics, invalid traffic filtration and app-level ad verification.

"We are proud to receive this latest MRC accreditation, reinforcing DV’s leadership in CTV measurement," said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. "We commit to uphold the highest standards of data accuracy and transparency in digital media. This new accreditation further expands our extensive MRC accreditations across DV’s industry-leading pre- and post-bid CTV solution to give global advertisers greater clarity and confidence in their premium CTV investments."

Viewability is a surprisingly big problem on CTV, especially for those used to traditional TV always being fully viewable.  DV has found that at least one in three impressions are served into environments that fire ads when the TV is turned off. This issue is estimated to contribute $1 billion in wasted advertising spend in CTV annually, the company said..

“The addition of video viewability in Connected TV to DoubleVerify’s range of MRC-accredited metrics represents an important step forward, and once again speaks to DV’s commitment to quality in measurement,” said George Ivie, executive director and CEO of the MRC.  “We congratulate them on this latest achievement.”

DoubleVerify said it will be expanding its brand safety and suitability measurement to Meta’s Facebook and Instagram Feeds and Reels, enabling advertisers to independently authenticate campaign quality and product their brands in user-generated media environments.

The new capabilities take advantage of proprietary technology from DV that includes artificial intelligence that is able to classify at scale the content above and below ads.

DV is able to measure the quality of in-stream video on Instagram and Facebooks, as well as Meta’s Audience Network.

"The expansion of DV’s industry-leading, AI-powered classification technology to Facebook and Instagram Feeds and Reels underscores our commitment to helping brands ensure safe and suitable ad environments across all channels,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO, DoubleVerify. “The protection of brand reputation online is an important factor in maximizing campaign performance for the global brands we serve.”

Also Read: DoubleVerify Working With Google To Measure YouTube Shorts

DoubleVerify has worked with Meta since 2017, providing fraud and viewability data on Facebook and Instagram. It has been expanding its capabilities to include some brand safety and suitability features for Facebook and media quality authentication for Facebook and Instagram Reels.

"DoubleVerify's expansion of brand safety and suitability solutions across Facebook and Instagram is an important step forward in our ongoing efforts to foster digital transparency and trust within our advertising environments,” said Samantha Stetson, VP of Client Council and Industry Trades at Meta. “Responsible marketing is a key priority at Meta – and we are delighted to expand our partnerships with this important solution."

In its first quarterly report providing benchmarks on viewer attention levels, DoubleVerify says that media and sports was the top performing advertising category.

Also among the top three categories were health and pharma and education.

The bottom performers were telecom, financial services and travel.

The global attention benchmarks were produced by the DV Attention Lab, a multidisciplinary team consisting of data scientists, product experts and marketing analysts. Their work focuses on providing advertisers with sophisticated, attention-based insights and recommendations on campaign performance.

"Our latest findings from the DV Attention Lab highlight the dynamic landscape of attention across various industries and regions,” said Daniel Slotwiner, senior VP of Attention at DoubleVerify. “These insights are critical in helping brands better contextualize their ad campaign performance, and implement stronger optimization strategies.” 

Attention has emerged as a metric advertisers are looking at to try to predict how consumers will react to their TV campaigns.

Advertisers can use the DoubleVerify data to determine how their campaigns stack up against competitors within their categories. 

DoubleVerify found that attention trends vary significantly by region, influenced by diverse ad inventory buying strategies. in Latin America, for example, ad performance is generally lower because more than half of the region’s display ad creatives were small format and purchased programmatically. Without optimization, this can result in lower attention metrics, DoubleVerify said. 

“These findings demonstrate that it is not just one factor driving attention – it is the combination of device, environment, message, creative and more, that influence whether consumers pay attention to ads,” said Slotwiner. “That is why measuring and refining campaigns based on all of these factors can help make a real difference in performance.”

DoubleVerify opened its Attention Lab in October 2022.

For engagement, DV Authentic Attention analyzes key user-initiated events that occur while the ad creative is displayed, including user touches, screen orientation, video playback and audio control interactions. 

DoubleVerify said it has been retained by Instacart to authenticate advertising running on Instacart’s retail media network.

DoubleVerify will measure the viewability of ads bought on Instacart and provide protection from fraud.

“We're excited to partner with DoubleVerify to provide valuable viewability and IVT authentication to our mutual advertising clients,” Tim Castelli, VP of global advertising sales at Instacart, said. “As we continue to enhance our advertising solutions, we are committed to delivering measurable value and growth for our brand partners.”

Retail advertising networks are among the fastest-growing forms of media and DoubleVerify says it already works with 90% of the top retail media inventory available.

“We are excited to extend DV’s independent measurement on the Instacart Ads platform to ensure that campaigns meet key media quality criteria while maximizing performance for advertisers,” Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify, said. “Instacart has been a pioneer in online grocery shopping for over a decade, and this partnership exemplifies the leadership, innovation and trust that both companies have built.”

DoubleVerify said that it has expanded its work with Google to include measuring the performance of YouTube Shorts, Masthead and In-feed video format.

The new capability helps advertisers ensure that their video ads are being seen by human consumers and safe from fraud and invalid traffic.

“We are excited to expand our solution to include viewability and fraud coverage on YouTube Shorts – giving global brands greater clarity and confidence in their investments,” said CEO Mark Zagorski of DoubleVerify. “Short-form videos offer advertisers a high-engagement forum to connect with passionate online communities. This release enables our customers to authenticate their media and maximize campaign effectiveness.”

DoubleVerifyhas provided viewability and fraud measurement across YouTube and Google ad serving solutions since 2011. In 2018, DoubleVerify became a Google measurement partner for Brand Safety and Viewability. In 2020, DV launched Authentic Brand Suitability on Google Display & Video 360 and, in 2022, DV was the first verification provider to receive Media Rating Council accreditation for Independent Third-Party Viewability Reporting on YouTube. 

DoubleVerify and Roku said they would extend their efforts to investigate and prevent ad fraud affecting streaming video.

The companies started working together last year and said they managed to neutralize SmokeScreen, a sophisticated ad fraud scheme that targeted connected TV devices.

Under the new agreement, the companies will use each others’ anti-fraud technology and share resources going forward. The partnership will focus on continuous monitoring, analysis and collaboration to respond to new threats, ensuring that advertisers can trust in the integrity of their CTV ad placements.

Also Read: Ad Fraud Schemes Detected By DoubleVerify Jumped 70% in 2021

"Combating ad fraud demands collective action and innovation,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Our successful partnership with Roku on SmokeScreen was just the beginning. As we move forward, our combined data and technology resources will empower us to identify and address emerging threats, safeguarding advertisers’ investments in the rapidly growing CTV landscape."

Roku uses Advertising Watermark technology as part of its OneView ad bing platform. The watermark is designed to validate the authenticity of video ads originating on Roku. DoubleVerify has a Fraud Lab and anti-fraud solutions that detect scams.

“Our Advertising Watermark technology is instrumental in combating device and app spoofing,” said Adam Markey, director of product management, ad platform at Roku. “Our partnership with DV enhances our collective capabilities to secure the TV streaming advertising ecosystem. Together, we are committed to ensuring transparency, accountability, and confidence for advertisers and partners.”

TVision said it is working with DoubleVerify to bring attention-based measurement to connected TV.

TVision’s viewer presence and eyes-on-screen ad attention signals are being added to DV’s exposure data, including viable time and share, giving advertisers a better way to gauge the performance of the exposures. 

“We are thrilled to collaborate with DoubleVerify to advance the adoption of attention measurement across CTV environments,” TVision CEO and co-founder Yan Liu said. “Our partnership enables marketers to gain deeper insights into where and when they get the most value in CTV.”

Technical integration between DV and TVision will be ongoing over the next few months. The companies anticipate the combined offering will be available for customers in a closed beta in the second half of 2023, followed by a broader market release.

DV’s current DV Authentic Attention product is accredited by the Media Rating Council.

“Our alliance with TVision is a significant stride towards comprehensive and reliable attention measurement in CTV,” DoubleVerify senior VP of attention Daniel Slotwiner said. “This partnership underscores our commitment to delivering the most scaled, objective and actionable performance metrics for our clients. By aligning TVision's viewer presence and eyes-on-screen attention data with our own ad exposure and user-engagement data, we are establishing a new standard for assessing the true impact of CTV advertising — ultimately driving superior outcomes for brands across the globe.“

DoubleVerify said it launched DV Marketplace Suite, which provides users with tools to evaluate the quality of advertising inventory to better determine value and revenue potential.

The suite is designed for supply-side and demand-side platforms, marketplaces and ad exchanges. It provides metrics for brand safety, fraud, viewability and context.

At launch, platforms using DV Marketplace Suite include Tremor International, Teads, PulsePoint, AdTheorent, Undertone and A Perion Co. 

“DV has serviced global platforms with our best-in-class media quality solutions for years, helping to address critical challenges related to IVT prevention and viewability optimization,” Steven Woolway, executive VP of business development at DoubleVerify, said. “With the launch of DV Marketplace Suite, we are building off this success by creating a holistic solution that addresses the emerging need for brand safety insights that are aligned with industry standards. DV Marketplace Suite is the only solution that holistically addresses pre-bid and post-bid brand safety, fraud, viewability and contextual challenges all through a single integration.”

The launch includes widespread availability of DV’s Brand Safety Floor, a solution that aligns with the standards established by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). DV launched its Brand Safety Floor earlier this year and clients that were using it can now align their monetization policy to GARM standards.

The suite’s combination of pre-bid controls and post-bid insights is designed to help supply-side and demand-side platforms grow business with advertisers and publishers. 

“Our partnership with DoubleVerify plays an important role in ensuring high-quality inventory in our exchange and empowering our customers to create and deploy comprehensive brand safety, viewability and fraud controls across campaigns,” said Jay Baum, chief data partnerships officer, Tremor International. “We are excited to maximize DV Marketplace Suite solutions to elevate our offerings and limit inventory waste.”

DoubleVerify reported higher first-quarter earnings, driven by increases in social and connected-TV measurement and programmatic activation.

Net income was $12.2 million, or 7 cents a share, compared to $4.6 million, or 3 cents a share a year ago.

Revenue rose 27% to $122.6 million. Activation revenue rose 32% to $69.9 million and measurement revenue grew 22% to 41.4 million.

The company raised its full-year outlook for revenue and adjusted EBITDA based on the first-quarter results.

“DV has once again delivered a powerful combination of strong revenue growth and profitability that has exceeded expectations,” Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify, said.

“The first quarter’s exceptional performance was driven by existing customers meaningfully expanding their use of DV’s programmatic, social and CTV products as well as recently won international customers ramping business on our platform,“ Zagorski said. “Both are a testament to the unique utility and value our solutions deliver in reducing media waste and maximizing campaign effectiveness.” 

DoubleVerify grew its connected-TV measurement volume by 39% in the quarter. That exceeded the 14% CTV revenue growth projected for the industry by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

“Advertiser interest and investment in CTV has been growing," DoubleVerify chief marketing officer Dan Slivjanovski said. “Eager to combine the measurability of digital video with the appeal of sight, sound and motion on the biggest living room screen, brands are paying top dollar to reach consumers via this medium. With increased advertiser demand for premium CTV supply, the need for third-party verification is critical — evidenced by DV’s continued growth across the channel.”

DV recently launched viewability verification and fraud protection coverage for Netflix’s ad-supported plan. Currently, DV’s verification on Netflix is available in 12 markets worldwide, demonstrating the company’s commitment to comprehensive CTV coverage.

DoubleVerify, one of the ad tech and data companies enlisted by Netflix when it decided to get into the advertising business, said its quality-measurement technology is now available to Netflix advertisers.

“Netflix is one of the world's largest streaming services and we are excited that our industry-leading solutions are now widely available for their advertisers,” DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski said. “Our partnership ensures that campaigns on Netflix fulfill essential quality standards that drive optimal outcomes. At DoubleVerify, we are committed to delivering innovative, accredited and independent quality measurement products that maximize advertising performance. We continue to expand our unmatched coverage across CTV platforms like Netflix, and wherever advertisers engage consumers of premium video.”

Integral Ad Science also said its viewability and invalid traffic verification services also launched for Netflix advertiser.

Not having advertising was a key part of Netflix’s value proposition as it added hundreds of millions of streaming subscribers. When subscriber and revenue growth slowed, Netflix announced plans to launch a lower-priced service with commercials and hired Microsoft to handle its ad tech, Nielsen to handle audience measurement and DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science to verify viewability and traffic validity.

More recently, there have been reports that Netflix has hired advisers and is looking at options to build or buy its own ad tech with the Microsoft deal expiring in 2024.

DoubleVerify’s technology protects clients from fraud and invalid traffic and ensures that commercials are fully viewable by real people.

Also Read: DoubleVerify Provides TikTok With Brand Safety Measurement

As more ad dollars have flowed programmatically into connected TV, so have fraud attempts. DoubleVerify has identified several high-level fraud schemes and kept its customers from wasting money.

With pre-bid avoidance and post-bid monitors, DoubleVerify said it provides measurement parity and a higher level of confidence in CTV advertising. ■

DoubleVerify said it has developed a solution for streaming’s ‘TV Off’ problem.

Last year, media buyer GroupM, working with measurement company iSpot.TV, found that many ads were being delivered to television and other devices that were turned off and not being watched by viewers.

The study said that the problem was costing connected TV (CTV) advertisers $1 billion in wasted impressions.

DoubleVerify’s own research found that one in four CTV environments and apps continued to play ads even after the television was turned off.

Also: DoubleVerify Sees Less ‘TV Off’ Ad Fraud With ‘On-Screen’ Certification

DoubleVerify said its new scalable solution can verify viewability, determining whether or not an ad on a website or app was actually seen by a CTV user.

“As CTV impressions continue to be sold at a premium, brands need insight into which platforms and environments offer the best viewability rates,” DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski said. “To that end, we’re excited to launch this first-of-its-kind solution and continue to lead in measurement and innovation for CTV buyers. This release enables advertisers to address growing challenges in CTV, such as the “TV off” issue, and offers insight into whether ads had the opportunity to make an impact across digital environments, in a consistent manner.”

DoubleVerify said a number of leading brands already plan to leverage DV’s new viewability solution but didn’t disclose their identities. ■

DoubleVerify said it has received accreditation from the Media Rating Council for its DV Authentic Attention metrics, which aim to measure attention to advertising.

The accreditation spans use for ads on desktop computers, the mobile web and mobile apps.

“Earning MRC accreditation for DV Authentic Attention, in an environment where ad dollars are increasingly scrutinized for accountability, advances our commitment to develop independent media quality and performance solutions that drive campaign outcomes for our global brand customers,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify.

Included in the accreditation are DoubleVerify’s Engagement Index, which looks at user-initiated events that occur while ad creative is displayed; its Exposure Index, which quantifies the intensity of exposures by measuring viewable time, share of screen, video completion, audibility and other factors; and Attention Benchmark, which helps advertisers measure and optimize campaigns compared to the results achieved by other marketers.

In October, DV launched the DV Attention Lab to help advertisers optimize campaign performance using attention data on ad engagement and ad exposure. Featuring a multidisciplinary team consisting of data scientists, product experts, and marketing analysts, the Lab provides advertisers with attention-based insights and recommendations on campaign performance.

In addition to this first-time accreditation, the MRC granted initial accreditation in nine languages for CTV app ad verification at a property level. Also, continued accreditation was granted for display and digital video impressions and IVT (invalid traffic) in desktop, mobile web, mobile application and CTV environments, as well as for viewable impressions and property-level ad verification metrics within desktop, mobile web and mobile application environments.

DoubleVerify previously received MRC accreditation for the way it measures viewability of ad impressions.

In addition to this first-time accreditation, the MRC granted initial accreditation in nine languages for CTV app ad verification at a property level. Also, continued accreditation was granted for display and digital video impressions and IVT (invalid traffic) in desktop, mobile web, mobile application and CTV environments, as well as for viewable impressions and property-level ad verification metrics within desktop, mobile web and mobile application environments. Continuation was also granted for DV’s third-party integrated reporting of Facebook display and video impressions, viewable impressions and related viewability metrics within desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app, inclusive of IVT filtration in desktop. ■

DoubleVerify reported higher third-quarter earnings and indicated that the economic headwinds facing the industry won't slow it down in the remainder of the year.

Net income rose 30% to $10.3 million, or 6 cents a share, up from $7.9 million, or 5 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenues rose 35% to $112.3 million.

The company raised the midpoint of full year guidance for total revenue growth to 36%, or between $450 million and $454 million and said it expects to achieve adjusted EBITDA margins of 31%.

"We delivered another strong quarter and outstanding year-to-date performance fueled by continued momentum in programmatic activation and social and CTV measurement," said CEO Mark Zagorski.

"Our revenue growth of 35% in the third quarter and 40% year-to-date has significantly outpaced that of the broader digital advertising industry as we continue to win new customers and gain market share across geographies and platforms," Zagorski said. "Additionally, we continue to expand product coverage across premium CTV environments such as Netflix and pre-eminent social media platforms such as TikTok, LinkedIn and Twitter."

Also: DoubleVerify CEO Sees Netflix Growing CTV Advertising By 50%

Analyst Matthew Swanson of RBC Capital Markets rated DoubleVerify stock as "outperform," based on what he called a "standout" quarter in the face of a deteriorating macro economy and TV ad market.

Swanson was also impressed that DoubleVerify raised its full-year guidance, making it unique among ad-tech companies.

"DV's results again pointed to the differentiation of its model, volume-based pricing and platform approach," Swanson said. "Looking out to 2023, we feel additional product cross-sell could accelerate if the macro improves, but on the secular growth driver front, we look for a benefit to CTV from new AVOD inventory, especially Netflix in the 2H, as well as social growth in TikTok and Meta opening up its news feed." ■

DoubleVerify said it expanded its relationship with TikTok, providing advertisers with post-campaign brand safety and suitability measurement.

The two companies got together last September to measure ad viewability and invalid traffic.

“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with TikTok to measure brand safety and suitability, providing global brands with greater clarity and confidence in their investments on this high-growth platform,” said DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski. “User-generated content offers  advertisers a high-engagement forum to connect with passionate online communities. Our expanded partnership will ensure campaigns can have transparency into adjacent content while maximizing impact and performance for our joint customers.”

DoubleVerify’s video classification product looks at visual, audio and text components, including metadata, captions and hashtags to determine suitability.

DV’s technology can classify TikTok videos according to DV’s brand safety floor and suitability categories, while aligning with standards from the 4A’s Advertiser Protection Bureau (APB) and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).

In addition to post-campaign analysis, advertisers can use DV’s capabilities to make future media planning and buying decisions. ■

DoubleVerify said it has launched the DV Attention Lab to help advertisers by using data about ad engagement and exposure to optimize campaign performance. 

Attention is becoming an increasingly important metric as advertisers use more data to determine the effectiveness of campaigns.

The DoubleVerify lab is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of 20 data scientists, product experts and marketing analysts who focus on providing advertisers with attention-based insights based on DV Authentic Attention, which analyzes more than 50 data points on exposure and engagement in real time with digital ads to quantify intensity and prominence, viewable time, share of screen and audibility.

Mondelez International used DV Authentic Attention to evaluate and optimize the performance of a cross-platform display campaign for a popular snack brand. “High-exposure” impressions on the campaign correlated with a 9 percentage point increase in brand favorability, an 8-point lift in consideration overall and a 5-point rise in purchase intent among the brand’s primary target audience.

Also: ARF Launches Project Looking at Measurement of Attention

“As a longtime DV partner, we have been impressed by DV’s ability to provide sophisticated, attention-based analyses of media performance,” said Jennifer Brain-Mennes, director of global media strategy and planning, Americas CX lead at Mondelez. “We are excited to see them launch the Attention Lab and support the industry as attention-based measurement and targeting becomes even more critical. Now more than ever, advertisers need actionable insights to drive campaign optimization and deliver outcomes.”

DoubleVerify also recently released a DV Authentic Attention Snapshot, which is available to all clients at no additional costs and provides attention-based data as scale, insights that identify top and bottom media performers and benchmarks to gauge an advertiser's performance compared to category competitors.

Also: Scripps Networks To Use TVision Attention Data During Upfronts

“As advertisers grapple with economic uncertainty, the need to understand and maximize advertising performance is more important than ever,” DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski said.

“Traditional KPIs such as viewability and clicks are not effective at identifying whether an ad is making an impact on the end viewer, and disruption from regulatory shifts to cookie deprecation is hindering how brands can use existing tools,” Zagorski said. “With that in mind, we are confident that privacy-friendly attention metrics will become the industry’s new performance currency. We are excited to launch the DV Attention Lab to help advertisers navigate today’s digital landscape.” ■

DoubleVerify said its new system for dealing with the issue of advertisers paying for connected TV ads that appear on devices and apps hooked up to TVs that are turned off has cut down on fraud and improved performance.

DoubleVerify in February found that in a quarter of CTV environments, ad ad viewers were recorded despite the TV being off. In response, the company announced its would begin to certify “Fully-On Screen” environments for CTV advertisers.

The problem was also noted by a high profile study conducted by GroupM and iSpot.tv that found that about $1 billion worth of CTV ads were being counted with the TV off.

DoubleVerify did an analysis with what it described as a leading DSP in which it ran the two campaigns, one in Fully-On Screen certified environments, the other across all CTV environments.

The result was that the rate of fraud and sophisticated invalid traffic was 83% lower for the campaign that ran in the Fully-On Screen environment.

“CTV commands some of the highest CPMs in digital advertising, which can make it more susceptible to fraud and bad actors,” said Mark Zagorski, DoubleVerify CEO. “Targeting environments certified to only display ads when the TV screen is on and where the ad is 100% displayed helps to reduce fraud’s impact and improve campaign ROI.”

DoubleVerify also found that the Fully On-Screen campaign had a higher video completion, a higher authentic ad rate and improved attention levels. 

“Brands rightfully expect their ads to deliver to engaged audiences while the TV set is on,” said Zagorski. “Unsurprisingly, those who target environments where ads are Fully On-Screen see better results and stronger performance across the board.” ■

The explosive growth of connected TV advertising has left a wave of fraud schemes in its wake, according to a new report from DoubleVerify.

DoubleVerify says the number of fraud schemes it uncovered jumped by more than 70% from 2020 to 2021.

Schemes targeting CTV and video could have stolen as much as $8 million a month from advertisers had then not been detected. Publishers would have been defrauded of $140 million.

The ways crooks aim to steal ad dollars via fraud have become increasingly sophisticated. Some of the fraud attempts DV detected last year were named OctoBot, Sneaky Terra, ViperBot and SmokeScreen.

While fraud attempts were up, brand safety in digital advertising improved, with violations falling 9% in 2021, the second-consecutive year of decline.

Security improved in North America, with the rate of fraud and sophisticated invalid traffic decreasing, but the regions still has the highest fraud rate at 1.5%, which drives up the global average.

Brand suitability violating in the U.S. also dropped by 10% in 2021.

The attention paid to digital ads increased and more advertisers turned to CTV. Video completion rates hit 71% in 2021, up from 67% in 2020 and 62% in 2019. For CTV, the video completion rate was up 3% to 95.6%

“The good news is that verification is working,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “DV’s first-ever Global Insights Report, published in 2017, reported display viewable rates at 52% and video viewable rates at 59%. Now, they are near or above 70%. Additionally we saw brand safety violations decrease for the second year in a row, while the number of fraud schemes we were able to protect our clients from increased. Based on our stats, it is clear that verification technology is making the internet stronger, safer and more secure.”

One factor improving media quality and performance in pre-bid verification. This allows advertisers to reduce by evaluating programmatic impressions for brand suitability, fraud and location before the bid takes place. Advertising adopting pre-bid verification saw post-bid violation rates falling 6%.

DV clients now see just 10% of their potential buys resulting in violations across all quality measurement criteria.

DoubleVerify’s 2022 Global Insights report is based on an analysis of more than one trillion impressions delivered across over 2,100 brands in 80 markets. ■

Netflix’s entry into the ad business could give the connected TV business a big boost.

Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify, a top CTV measurement and verification company, said a Netflix with ads could grow the market for CTV ads by 30% to 50%, with Netflix attracting 40 million ad support subscribers right out of the gate.

“With maybe the exception of YouTube, Netflix’s subscriber numbers dwarf any other subscriber system and any ad-supported VOD platform today,” Zargoski said. 

Also: Netflix Plan For A Tier With Commercials A Positive Sign for Ad Tech: Analyst

“Even if a small percentage of Netflix’s current subscribers shift to an ad-supported model, you’re looking at 20 million subscribers possibly right out of the gate, plus another 20 million in new ad-supported viewers,” Zagorski said. “If you have 40 million streaming viewers, that would make them one of the largest ad-supported streaming platforms on the planet. It would accelerate the growth of CTV advertising in a way we haven’t seen before, with anywhere between 30-50% growth just from Netflix alone.” 

Zagorski has been on record since at least 2019 as expecting Netflix to eventually get into the ad business despite vehement denials from the company‘s top executives, including CEO Reed Hastings.

CTV has already been one of the fastest-growing parts of the video advertising ecosystem.

The CTV explosion has also led to numerous efforts at defrauding advertisers who think they’re reaching streaming viewers. DoubleVerify has detected many of these schemes, protecting its clients and preventing millions of dollars in fraud. ■

DoubleVerify said it detected a sophisticated ad fraud scheme called “ViperBot” that attempted to steal more than $8 million a month in spending on connected TV and mobile video ads.

"ViperBot is one of the most sophisticated fraud schemes that DV has ever identified," said Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify.

“The dynamic nature of fraud schemes underscores the fact that advertisers need a partner who is laser focused on protecting their interests – and who operates independent of the media transaction to remain neutral when determining the quality of inventory,” said Zagorski. “Efficient and transparent media buying leads to better outcomes for brands. By uncovering ViperBot, we are able to give brands greater confidence in their digital investment while ensuring campaign performance.”

Also: $6 Million a Month Screensaver CTV Fraud Caught by DoubleVerify

Using ViperBot, criminals strip the code that verifies ad impressions. ViperBot also relies on a new tactic, discovered by DoubleVerify called “verification redirection,” in which the tags are reinserted on cheap ad slots running on real devices in an attempt to prevent detection.

Verification stripping normally causes measurement discrepancies that can be detected by advanced measurement companies, but the reinsertion makes that more difficult.

Also: DoubleVerify Finds CTV Ads Running with TV Set Turned Off

DoubleVerify said its customers have been protected against the scheme, but ViperBot continues to spoof more than 5 million devices and up to 85 million ad requests per day.

“As fraudsters continue to evolve and aggressively target high-value inventory types, measurement providers need to catch up,” said Jack Smith, chief product officer, DoubleVerify. “We’re seeing this happen in CTV and mobile inventory, where higher CPMs make it a more attractive target, but this new redirection tactic can be applied across many environments.” ■

NBCUniversal, which has been vocal in its search for companies to provide media measurement alternatives to Nielsen, said it has certified eight more vendors for audience measurement and audience verification.

NBCU made the announcement in conjunction with its One22 ad tech presentation Tuesday.

The first alternative measurement company certified by NBCU was iSpot.TV. NBCU tested iSpot’s methodology and technology during the first quarter, measuring NBCU programming including the Beijing Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI. 

Also: The Front-Runner: How iSpot Became a Favorite To Claim Nielsen’s Measurement Crown

NBCU called the test successful and said that during the 2022 upfront advertisers will be able to use iSpot’s viewership data — which provides ratings for individual ads — to activate cross-platform advanced audience media plans. Buyers will be able to use the iSpot data via OpenAP and other marketplaces.

For now, NBCU will also transact on Nielsen, although NBCU has not named Nielsen one of its certified measurement providers.

“This is a big step forward, but it’s not the only one we need to take,“ said Kelly Abcarian, executive VP, measurement & impact for NBCU’s advertising and partnerships group. ”We must also evolve transactional measurement of unique audiences by building a more modern, interoperable, and expansive measurement framework. One currency, one metric or one company can’t possibly capture all the ways people consume content. Rather, it’s going to take many innovative companies to count it all, measure it all and deliver a complete, unified cross-screen view of the consumer.”

In addition to iSpot, which was certified as a provider of national audience measurement, NBCU certified Comscore for providing local TV measurement and Conviva for streaming and digital audience measurement.

“Given the tremendous growth in streaming over the past 18 months, it is no surprise streaming is becoming a larger, more strategic piece of the publisher market. The critical next step in capturing this market opportunity is census-level streaming audience measurement, and NBC is leading the charge in many ways,” said Keith Zubchevich, CEO of Conviva. “Conviva is thrilled to be a part of NBC’s innovative new audience measurement architecture and continuing to evolve as publisher, advertiser and consumer needs demand.” 

NBU also certified DoubleVerify, Oracle’s Moat and Integral Ad Science for audience verification, iSpot’s ad catalog and FreeWheel and Innovid for verifying ad serving.

Abcarian has led NBCU’s process, which drew proposals from 120 measurement companies.

Also: Ad Industry Seeks Alternatives After Nielsen Loses Seal of Approval

"At this stage of the process, we’ve focused exclusively on Audience Measurement and Audience Verification,” she said. “And, as we head into the Upfront season, we wanted to make it clear that, at this moment in time, we will be transacting against our certified cross-platform partner, iSpot.tv. However, these additional eight certified companies play an important role in the interoperable ecosystem of currency, including streaming viewership capture, ad serving, audience verification and ad catalogs.”

Abcarian said NBCU’s process would be continuing and that it would be dynamic, making sure that new, innovative companies get included and making sure that certified companies keep up with changing consumer behavior.

She said NBCU will announce certification in the impact measurement category by the end of the third quarter of 2022 and business planning by the end of the fourth quarter.

“This is the starting point of an entirely new measurement era,” Abcarian said. “It’s about more than just new technology. It’s about a new beginning. For the first time ever, our advertisers can get a unified cross-screen view that provides a complete picture of their ad’s performance across all screens, in almost real time. And ready for action and transaction — right now,” Abcarian said. ■

Digital advertising software company DoubleVerify released preliminary financial results that show big gains in revenue and income for the fourth quarter.

The company is holding an investor day Friday and also released projections for the first quarter and full-year 2022. 

DoubleVerify went public last April.

Fourth quarter net income was $28.4 million, up 248%, with revenue growing 34% to $105.5 million

Also: DoubleVerify Acquires OpenSlate To Enable Contextual Targeting

For the first quarter of 2022, the company said it anticipates adjusted EBITDA to be between $21 to $32 million, representing a 24% margin at the midpoint of the range. Revenue is expected to be up about 33% to between $89 million and $91 million.

For the full year 2022, the company expects EBITDA to be $126 million to $134 million, representing a 30% margin. Revenue is seen increasing about 30% to between $429 million to $437 million. 

 Earlier this week, analyst Daniel Salmon of BBO initiated coverage of DoubleVerify, calling it a recommended stock in the category along with Innovid and IAS. 

“DV offers a greater degree of safety from regulatory and platform change risk and features an emerging CTV business, and growth opportunities across both the open web and walled gardens, Salmon said in a report.

He set a target price of $37 for innovid stock. It was trading at $25.43 on Friday. ■

DoubleVerify and Comscore said they formed a partnership to verify and measure cross-screen ad campaigns.

The new service combines DoubleVerify's “Authentic Ads,” a metric that verifies ads are fully viewed by a real person in a brand-suitable environment, with Comscore’s Campaign Ratings cross-platform product, which provides data on deduplicated reach and frequency across TV, connected TV, desktop and mobile.

“Measuring advertising reach is increasingly confronted by questions of veracity in the digital world,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO, DoubleVerify. “Digital fraud, conflicted verification solutions and growing identifier friction are challenging traditional measurement. In partnering with Comscore, we are addressing the issue head on – developing an industry-first measurement solution that combines media quality verification data with audience data to help advertisers maximize campaign performance and drive real business outcomes.”

DoubleVerify and Comscore plan to launch the joint offering as early as the second quarter of 2022 for a select group of customers.

“The industry is simultaneously facing three key megatrends: the search for more accurate deduplicated audience measurement, the mainstream emergence of streaming, and evolving privacy standards,” said Comscore CEO Bill Livek. “By partnering with DoubleVerify and pairing Comscore Campaign Ratings with their media quality verification data, we can better support the industry with this unique product, and help brands and agencies maximize media quality and performance within their campaigns.” ■

DoubleVerify said that over the past year it has uncovered multiple major connected TV fraud schemes that could have cost publishers more than $144 million annually.

CTV is attractive to schemers because the media attracts a CPM of $20, higher than most other forms of digital media.

DoubleVerify said that it discovered several schemes and they were blocked and neutralized, protecting its clients.

"CTV ad fraud doesn’t just impact advertiser ad spend, it also impacts publishers’ bottom lines,” said Mimi Wotring, senior VP of publisher sales and client services at DoubleVerify. “Schemes like MultiTerra and SneakyTerra siphon millions of dollars of revenue from high-quality CTV publishers without their knowledge. Through the incredible efforts of our Fraud Lab, DV helps preserve the monetization opportunity for these publishers who deserve a premium for their inventory and engaged audience access.”

DoubleVerify described some of those scheme:

MultiTerra: Uncovered in late 2020, the botnet was designed to create fraudulent inventory in CTV and mobile environments. MultiTerra undermines the monetization potential of legitimate CTV supply providers by artificially inflating inventory volume and directing media investment away from these platforms. This particular botnet generated more than three million fake impressions a day at its peak in CTV and mobile environments. At the time, the inventory value of the impression requests was on track for stealing over $1 million a month.

SneakyTerra: Uncovered in late 2020, this was the first server-side ad insertion (SSAI) scheme known to hijack real CTV device sessions. At its peak, the highly sophisticated scheme spoofed over 2 million devices each day, and may have cost more than $5 million per month.

LeoTerra/StreamScan: Uncovered in late 2020, “StreamScam” highlighted a very common approach to CTV fraud related to SSAI. In these types of schemes, fraudsters set up counterfeit SSAI servers and then manufacture CTV inventory across an unlimited number of apps, IPs and devices.

DV’s Fraud Lab performs ongoing detection and analysis of new types of ad fraud across channels in order to uncover the latest schemes as they occur. Through continuous analysis, scenario management and research, the Fraud Lab pinpoints the sites, apps and devices responsible for fraudulent activity and updates protection for DV clients in real-time. ■

DoubleVerify found that in many cases that CTV programming and advertising are running after the television set was turned off during a recent test.

The problem happens in one in four of the top CTV environments, DoubleVerify said.

Also: Expanded DoubleVerify, Innovid Integration Speeds CTV Campaign to Air

The issue is important as advertisers shift their ad budgets to streaming as more consumers cut the cord with traditional pay TV. Most advertisers have assumed the viewability of their commercials. Viewability measures whether or not an ad had a chance to be seen by a viewer. If the TV set is off when the ad is served, it's not being watched and the advertiser‘s money is being wasted.

The problem is similar to one faced by the cable industry, in which viewing data flowed from the set-top box to measurement companies while the TV set was turned off. Measurement companies using set-top-box data have come up with various systems for estimating when the TV set is off.

DoubleVerify also said it has launched a new product, called Fully On-Screen Prebid Targeting, to address the issue. It enables advertisers to target inventory from sources that have received DoubleVerify’s Fully On-Screen Certification.

The certification is based on a Media Rating Council accredited system for measuring leading CTV devices and apps to ensure ads are displayed 100% on screen and when the TV set is turned on.

DoubleVerify On-Screen pre-bid segments are available on the Amobee, MediaMath and Xandr platforms.

“CTV commands some of the highest CPMs in digital advertising, which means brands expect that their ads deliver to engaged audiences while the TV set is on,” DoubleVerify chief product officer Jack Smith said. “DV’s first-to-market solution to target fully on-screen impressions will help CTV advertisers maximize their media investments and drive real business outcomes.” ■

Bah, humbug! As advertising on connected TV spikes during the holiday season, fraud and invalid traffic are dropping lumps of coal into the industry’s wassail bowl. 

Digital media analytics platform DoubleVerify says that it sampled unprotected unprotected programmatic CTV inventory and found that 6.6% of what were supposed to be video ads and 18% of what looked like CTV ads were actually fraud or sophisticated invalid traffic.

In particular, DoubleVerify detected two fraud schemes that seemed to be picking up steam as the holiday season approached. 

One is LeoTerra, first detected by DoubleVerify in July 2020. LeoTerra sets up counterfeit supply side ad insertion servers and manufactures what looks like CTV inventory across an unlimited number of apps. Since the start of the holiday season LeoTerry has falsified as many as 20.5 million CTV devices per day--more than 40 times its average activity over the last three months.

The other scheme is CelloTerra, noticed by DoubleVerify in March 2020. CelloTerra uses mobile apps to run background ads and falsify CTV traffic. CelloTerra ha tripped the number of CTV devices spiked this season.

Also: $6 Million a Month Screensaver CTV Fraud Caught by DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski said fraud normally peaks in the fourth quarter, that this years rates are above last years.

“As advertisers shift budgets to CTV inventory and platforms, the need to understand performance and measurability across the channel is now more important than ever,” said Zagorski. “Given the growing complexity of these schemes — with fraudsters continuously employing new techniques, the entities representing or selling fraudulent inventory may not be directly responsible or even understand that fraud is taking place.”

DoubleVerify noted that if advertisers were getting more fraudulent inventory when they buy CTV programmatically, the performance of those campaigns are likely to suffer. 

DoubleVerify added that the advertisers it works with are protected from LeoTerra and CelloTerry by pre-bid avoidance and post-bid monitoring and blocking. ■

DoubleVerify said it acquired OpenSlate, a contextual targeting platform, for cash and stock valued at $150 million.

The transaction is expected to close later this quarter.

“DV’s mission is to make digital advertising stronger, safer and more secure, giving global brands clarity and confidence in their digital investments,” said Mark Zagorski, DoubleVerify CEO. “Our strategy in support of this mission is to verify everywhere – across channels, formats, platforms and geographies. The combination with OpenSlate fully supports this approach. OpenSlate’s pre-campaign solutions perfectly complement DV’s post-campaign measurement capabilities across CTV and social environments. Integrating the two provides advertisers with unparalleled end-to-end brand safety, suitability and contextual optimization. No other company will be able to deliver a fully-owned, integrated solution across the leading social and CTV walled gardens."

OpenState provides insights into the nature and quality of ad-supported content on video-drive social platforms including Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. It evaluates video for brand safety, suitability and context, and offers pre-activation controls to advertisers so they can target consumers using the most appropriate an impactful content.

Also: Expanded DoubleVerify, Innovid Integration Speeds CTV Campaigns to Air

“The OpenSlate team is thrilled to join forces with DoubleVerify – an industry-leading, rapidly expanding, global organization with best-in-class media quality and performance capabilities,” said Mike Henry, OpenSlate CEO. “Integrating with DV will be a natural evolution for our technology and will accelerate our ability to provide advertisers with comprehensive brand safety, suitability, and contextual solutions across social video and CTV.”

DoubleVerify also announced third quarter earnings.

Net income increased to $7.9 million or 5 cents a share, from $5.8 million, or 4 cents a share a year ago.

Revenue rose to $83.1 million from $61 million a year ago. 

Innovid and DoubleVerify said they expanded their relationship, speeding up the launch of campaigns across desktop, mobile and connected TV with an automated DV Video OmniTag integration.

The automation increases the speed to market by 48 to 72 hours, the companies said.

Innovid and DoubleVerify began working together in 2014, creating automated processes designed to reduce the risk of manual errors and optimize media quality across screens.

"We continuously innovate with a focus on simplicity and workflow automation to maximize operational efficiency for advertisers,” said DoubleVerify’s CPO, Jack Smith. “That’s why we’re excited to offer Innovid clients an even more seamless way to authenticate the quality of their video campaigns and protect brand equity across all digital screens, including CTV, by easily activating DV video solutions directly within the Innovid platform."

Innovid advertisers get the benefit of DoubleVerify’s VideoComplete, which provides campaign monitoring, pre-bid avoidance, post-bid blocking and DV Video Filtering, a Media Rating Council accredited process for reducing video quality violations.

“As consumers continue to flock to CTV and advertiser budgets follow, it’s increasingly important for brands to feel confident that they are getting the most value out of their investment,” said Dale Older, chief product officer at Innovid. “This expanded partnership further enhances our award-winning CTV ad serving and measurement platform and provides more value and efficiency to clients. The integration gives brands and agencies the peace of mind that they have strong, seamless protection across their omnichannel initiatives, including CTV.”

DoubleVerify said it detected a new fraud targeting the fast-growing connected TV ad market that has been creating invalid ads worth $6 million a month by hijacking the screen savers on CTV devices.

The SmokeScreen fraud was active even when the CTV devices were turned off. DoubleVerify said it has blocked the fraud for its clients, but it is impacting nearly 10,000 unprotected devices daily and generating up to 10 million fraudulent ad requests each day at a $20 cost-per-thousand impressions. 

Also Read: CTV Takes Lead in Video Delivery With Fraud Rates Falling: DoubleVerify

The scheme remains active on unprotected CTV platforms, affecting both media sellers and advertisers.

“As fraudsters continue to aggressively target the CTV space, we are committed to blocking emerging fraud schemes across all devices, formats and ad delivery platforms,” said DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski.

Also Read: No Vacation for Fraudsters as Travel Advertisers Return

“Safeguarding the brands we serve is our first priority, since it directly impacts ad effectiveness. Fraud harms inventory quality, which in turn drives suboptimal business outcomes for global advertisers,” Zagorski said. “Through the incredible efforts of our Fraud Lab, DV is providing CTV advertisers with much-needed transparency and protection, while helping to preserve the monetization opportunity for quality publishers.” 

DV’s Fraud Lab used data and insights from the company’s Video Filtering product, which enables advertisers to reduce quality infractions and associated wasted investment across all video environments and devices, even where blocking is not supported 

With some CTV transactions, blocking doesn’t work. In this case, the DV Fraud Lab used DV Video Filtering to help create a SmokeScreen detector that protects DV clients from the attempted fraud. 

DoubleVerify said it augmented its brand safety and suitability offering for the growing connected TV world that  include the ability to avoid selected categories and ratings at the app level.

DoubleVerify launched its CTV solution last year. Now advertisers can screen apps by content categories to avoid, such as violence or politics, or by their app-store ratings or categories.

“As audiences continue to flock to this channel, advertiser demand for transparency in CTV is accelerating,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “We’re proud to introduce innovative solutions that are not only first-in-market, but also deliver transparency, protection and performance in all environments. As brand safety and suitability needs evolve across channels, we’re committed to ensuring clients can safeguard investments and optimize performance with cutting-edge tools, data and analytics.”

DoubleVerify also on Thursday had its first earnings report as a public company.

The company said it had a second quarter net loss of $12.6 million or 8 cents a share, because of one-time IPO transaction costs.

Adjusted EBITDA was up 35% to $21.2 million.

Revenue rose 44% to $76.5 million.

Advertiser direct revenue rose 34% and advertiser programmatic revenue jumped 57%. Supply-side revenue increased 35%.

“We delivered an outstanding second quarter fueled by record Programmatic Revenue as advertisers adopted our industry-leading Authentic Brand Safety solution on Google’s DV360 and additional programmatic buying platforms,” said Zagorski. 

“Product innovation success, industry-leading accreditations in fast-growing sectors such as CTV and Social, and continued investments in enhancing our international footprint have yielded new enterprise client wins and meaningful expansion opportunities within our existing blue-chip customer base," Zagorski said. "Our ongoing product and market leadership combined with digital advertising spend tailwinds, make us optimistic about our growth prospects for the rest of the year and beyond.”

DoubleVerify said it is expanding its Brand Suitability Tier product to YouTube, an important platform that presents challenges to some advertisers.

DoubleVerify is also offering clients its Brand Safety Floor as a turnkey option on its DV Pinnacle platform. The turnkey option enables most advertisers to avoid the highest-risk content with the click of a button, the company said.

At the same time, the company has created a new “Death and Injury” category, allowing advertisers to control whether their ads are served with content associated with those topics.

“Advertising that performs best aligns with a brand’s core values,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “DoubleVerify’s Brand Suitability Tiers enable advertisers to better map their spend to specific content that reflects what their brand represents. Our new enhancements further empower advertisers to proactively manage their safety and suitability preferences, in turn helping to create a stronger digital ecosystem by supporting premium publisher inventory.”

DoubleVerify said it will continue to work closely with brands, agencies and industry groups to refine current standards and offer unique solutions that provide value to advertisers, publishers and platforms.

“Providing clients with turnkey access to solutions like DoubleVerify’s Brand Suitability Tiers has allowed them to feel more confident in their media placements and achieve a higher rate of brand safety and suitability,” said Yale Cohen, executive VP, global digital standards, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX). “We look forward to ongoing innovation in this space and will continue to work closely with MRC-accredited partners like DoubleVerify to find the most optimal brand safety and suitability solutions for the industry.”

DoubleVerify said it received accreditation from the Media Rating Council for three of its systems for measuring and analyzing connected TV.

The new MRC stamps of approval were given to DoubleVerified’s CTV Fully-On Screen metrics, its Video Filtering system and its Benchmarks, which compare a brand’s performance in a specific category or across all measured traffic.

The new accreditation might give DV a leg up as the market for CTV advertising continues its explosive growth.

Also Read: CTV Takes Lead in Video Delivery With Fraud Rates Falling: DoubleVerify

“Earning MRC accreditations for industry-first solutions across CTV and video environments, where investments continue to surge, reinforces our mission to help make the digital ad ecosystem stronger, safer and more secure, by providing superior media quality and performance solutions to our global brand customers,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “These new accreditations help us give advertisers continued clarity and confidence in their digital investments.”

The MRC also granted continued accreditation for DV’s system measuring display and digital video impressions, viewable impression and invalid traffic in desktop, mobile web, mobile application and CTV environments, as well as viewable impressions and property level ad verification within desktop, mobile web and mobile applications.

DV first received MRC accreditation in 2013 for its suite of impression quality services. It subsequently received approvals in 2017 for its detection of invalid traffic within mobile apps. Last year its third-party integrated Facebook measurement got a checkmark from the MRC.

The MRC accreditation will help DoubleVerify stand out in a growing world of data, analytics and measurement companies.

While growing the industry is also experiencing consolidation with many players merging or going public.

DV went public in April. Shares closed at 36.29 Thursday, up 0.11%.

Connected TV has become the No. 1 device for delivery of digital video in North America, according to a new report from DoubleVerify.

Total video impressions grew 56% during the 12 months from May 2020 to April 2021, compared to the previous 12 months. CTV impressions grew 87%, rising to a 29% share.

With marketers spending more of their ad dollars on CTV, the quality of programmatic buys is improving and matches direct buys through publishers.

Read Also: CTV Ads More Relevant to Consumer, Says Engine Study

The popularity and high price of CTV ads has attracted schemes to divert spending. But the rate of fraud and sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) for programmatic fell 31% to 1.4%, DoubleVerify said in its annual Global Insights report. Publisher direct buys also had a 1.4% violation rate, down 26%.

The brand suitability violation rate on programmatic buys fell 7% to 7.3%, while publisher direct buys had a 7.4% rate, up 10%.

Also Read: Connected TV Grabs More Time Spent Watching: TVision

“Private marketplaces (PMPs) and programmatic guaranteed deals (PGs) add flexibility to buys that blur the line between programmatic and publisher direct. It’s possible to now

buy from publishers programmatically. So it’s not surprising that quality is converging,” the report said.

Tools for buying CTV are still evolving. DoubleVertify said that this year it rolled out inclusion and exclusion lists for CTV, allowing advertisers to measure whether their actual placements match their media plans.

DoubleVerify also provides Video Filtering, which blocks brand suitability and fraud/SIVT violations on CTV. Advertisers using DV Video Filtering saw a 49% lower brand suitability violation rate than those who have not yet adopted the tool, the company said.

“Globally, post-bid fraud/SIVT and brand suitability violation rates are down while viewable rates are up. But that doesn’t mean advertisers should relax their standards,” the report concluded.

“One of the main reasons we’re seeing improvements in post-bid quality measures across the board is because of the prolific adoption of pre-bid programmatic protection. This means that much of the coverage is happening before the ad is purchased. Advertisers are combining pre- and post-bid coverage to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in their media buys,” the report said.

DoubleVerify said that the DV Video Filtering product it introduced last year has reduced fraud and other quality violations for early adopters.

Clients across a number of industries saw 85% lower video ad fraud and sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) and 88% fewer geographic violations in video impressions measured by DoubleVerify.

In CTV, violation rates dropped 66%. 

“Digital video has become an essential channel for capturing consumer attention; ensuring quality video is now critical.” said Jack Smith, chief product officer at DoubleVerify. “Before the launch of Video Filtering, fewer than 40% of video impressions were eligible for post-bid blocking on desktop and mobile web, and on CTV and mobile apps, blocking was virtually impossible. With DV Video Filtering, advertisers are able to substantially reduce non-compliant ad placements, helping to improve the quality and performance of their video campaigns.”

Also Read: DoubleVerify Stock Rises After Initial Public Offering

DV Video Filtering collects data from an ad request and runs it through DV's advanced fraud, brand safety and suitability, and geo detection models to ensure that ads are served in an appropriate environment, the company said. DV Video Filtering can be used for campaigns that are executed directly via a publisher or through a DSP. Because filtering occurs before the ad is served, publishers are able to re-monetize any impressions that are filtered.

With pandemic restrictions easing, companies in the travel business are advertising again, but they’re encountering fraud when buying digital advertising, DoubleVerify reports.

DoubleVerify found that for travel and hospitality advertisers, the post-bid fraud rate was 20% higher compared to other major industries.

Also Read: DoubleVerify Stops Ad Fraud Schemes Linked Under OctoBot

Video is a particularly important medium for travel and hospitality advertisers, DoubleVerify said, citing a study that showed 65% of consumers rely on video when booking a trip. To improve performance, travel and hospitality advertisers need to be sure they’re targeting quality inventory that is brand suitable, viewable and free of fraud, DoubleVerify said.

Many travel marketers also have stringent brand safety and suitability rules for their advertising, particularly if they target families. DoubleVerify found that the rate at which travel advertisers' suitability requirements were violated was 82% higher than brands in other categories. 

Read Also: Viant Aims To Prevent Fraud With DoubleVerify Integration

Travel advertisers’ ads also had 7% lower video viewability rates than other businesses.

“As we look ahead to a brighter future where travel and hospitality are once again commonplace, it’s important to take proper measures to maximize media effectiveness,” said Julie Eddleman, executive VP and chief commercial officer at DoubleVerify. “Just as all travelers will expect higher standards to ensure their well-being, digital advertisers will demand clarity and confidence in their digital investments. Setting a clear, informed strategy to address the issues of fraud, viewability, brand safety and suitability, and consumer privacy, will help ensure advertisers — and their audiences — have a smooth journey ahead.”

Viant Technology said it has integrated DoubleVerify’s Inventory Quality Management system into its Adelphic advertising software.

Viant said the new integrations, which expands its work with DoubleVerify, provides an additional layer of support. Adelphic’s Inventory Quality Program provides brand safety controls and anti-fraud protection across all video formats including connected TV.

Also Read: DoubleVerify Stock Rises After Initial Public Offering

“Viant’s partnership with DoubleVerify underscores our long-standing commitment to delivering high-quality inventory to our brands and agencies,” said Jonathan Ahuna, senior VP of technical operations, Viant. “We are excited that this partnership will boost our existing brand safety and fraud prevention protocols across all Adelphic channels, including CTV, a big focus area for today’s marketer.”

Also Read: Viant Stock Jumps 90% After Initial Public Offering

DoubleVerify has recently detected and disrupted a series of ad fraud schemes that turned out to be related. Fraudsters are attracted to CTV because it is growing fast and carries a relatively high price per ad compared to other digital media. 

“Marketers are increasingly investing in CTV as an alternative to linear television,” said Steve Woolway, executive VP of business development at DoubleVerify. “Credible, independent measurement for channels like CTV is required to give brands and agencies confidence in their media investment. We are excited to provide Adelphic’s customers an added layer of insight and control when it comes to their media buying.”

Advertising analytics and fraud protection company DoubleVerify started trading Wednesday on the New York Stock exchange Wednesday following its initial public offering.

DoubleVerify shares were trading at $34.24 a share, up front the IPO price of $27.

The ad tech business has been consolidating with many companies deciding to either go public, others raising additional capital or being acquired. 

DoubleVerify sold 8.6 million shares and Providence V!! U.S. Holdings, raising $232 million, and other stockholders offered 4.7 million shares.

According to the prospectus filed with the SEC, DoubeVerify had net earnings of $20.5 million in 2020, compared with $23.3 million in 2019.

Revenue rose to $243.9 million from $182.7 million.

DoubleVerify said it intends to use a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to repay its revolving credit facility and the remainder for general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures and operating expenses.

The company said it may use a portion of the remaining proceeds to acquire complementary businesses or technology, accelerate our product roadmap, continue to upgrade our technology platform and/or hire additional resources to support our product development and international expansion efforts.

A recently identified ad fraud scheme targeting connected TV devices was shut down by DoubleVerify, which determined that the new plot was part of a family of CTV ad capers that first surfaced in November 2019.

DoubleVerify dubbed the fraud family OctoBot, and said the schemes starting with LowerTerra were related and becoming increasingly sophisticated. Other varieties included Cello Terra, MultiTerra, FauxTerra and SneakyTerra

Also Read: DoubleVerify Report Highlights CTV Fraud

The seven Octobot schemes generated billions of ad calls and spoofed thousands of apps. At their peaks, MultiTerra was stealing $1 million a month from unprotected advertisers and SneakyTerry was robbing $5 million a month.

Also Read: Massive New CTV Advertising Fraud Scheme Detected

DoubleVerified said its clients remained protected throughout the iterations of OctoBot.

The schemes were enabled through three basic steps. First, the perpetrators got users to install fraudulent apps, including games like Hole Ball King. They then begin selling non-existent CTV inventory to buyers. Then, instead of running ads, the mobile apps would fire the pixels used to track ads. Because the ad creative wasn’t loading, pixels could be fired more frequently, getting more fraudulent impressions to be counted.

MultiTerra hijacked residential IP addresses to spoof CTV and mobile traffic. SneakyTerra began by by obtaining impression trackers from multiple ads through spoofed Supply-Side Ad Insertion calls. Next, SneakyTerra would insert these impression trackers into a real ad, use this ad to bid on real inventory and then serve the ad (stuffed with multiple impression trackers) to a real device during a user’s session. Although only one ad would play, multiple impression trackers would fire, DoubleVerify said.

SneakyTerra would actually stop its activity at the same time a new pattern of MultiTerra began. Then, when MultiTerra would stop its activity, SneakyTerra would become active again.

The DV Fraud Lab uses sophisticated tools and algorithms to accurately identify individual impressions that are infected by fraud.

In 2020, DV launched the industry’s first CTV Certification for programmatic platforms, designed to protect advertisers from fraud and invalid traffic in the CTV space. 

In order to be certified by DV for CTV targeting, a platform must demonstrate the ability to prevent fraud and IVT by applying DV’s pre-bid app and device fraud protection for CTV inventory transactions. DV found that non-certified programmatic CTV saw a fraud rate over 11 times higher than CTV transacted through DV-certified marketplaces and approximately 9 times higher than publisher-direct buys.

Certified partners currently  include Amobee, Adelphic, MediaMath, SpotX, The Trade Desk, Verizon Media, VideoAmp and Xandr.

DoubleVerify said it appointed Doug Campbell as chief strategy officer, a new role at the company.

Campbell, most recently chief strategy officer at Telaria, which merged with Rubicon Project to become Magnite.

In his new post, Campbell will be responsible for global strategy and corporate development and report to DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski, who ran Telaria before joining DoubleVerify.

“I’m excited to add Doug to our outstanding senior leadership team,” said Zagorski. "From Magnite to Nielsen, he has demonstrated a track record of success and achievement, and brings exceptional experience and knowledge to the chief strategy officer role. I look forward to Doug’s leadership as we continue to build momentum, expand globally and deliver on our mission to build a stronger, safer and more secure digital advertising ecosystem."

Before Telaria, Campbell was senior VP of global strategy and corporate development at Nielsen. He had been COO of eXelate, which was bought by Nielsen. 

“I’m thrilled to join a company as trusted and innovative as DoubleVerify,” said Campbell. “DV has taken the lead in providing sophisticated measurement solutions that power media quality and performance in virtually every media environment – including priority, high growth channels like CTV. I look forward to leveraging my industry experience to help strengthen our leadership position globally and accelerate company growth.”

NBCUniversal has joined the companies presenting to media buyers as part of the NewFronts, an indication of how the traditional media powerhouses are shifting their focus to streaming and digital content.

Other newly announced participants in the 2021 NewFronts are Ampersand and DoubleVerify.

Organized by the IAB, this year’s event is using the theme “Living the Stream.“

Also Read: NewFronts Draw New Participants A+E, Amazon, Entrecom, Estrella, Vizio

The NewFronts will run from May 3 to May 6, a week before the traditional broadcast network upfront presentations.

The IAB has laid out this year’s NewFront schedule, which features Roku leading off. Hulu, which kicked off the streaming revolution, won’t be part of this year’s NewFronts. Instead it will be a part of the consolidated Disney Ad Sales presentations.

Here is the NewFront schedule:

A new ad fraud scheme called SneakyTerra that manages to hijack real CTV Devices and could have cost advertisers more than $5 million, has been uncovered.

SneakyTerra purchases a real impression and then inserts impression trackers from multiple ads into one creative response from an ad server. When an actual CTV receives the response, all impression trackers respond, generating multiple impressions.

Also Read: DoubleVerify Report Highlights CTV Fraud

Double Verified said its DoubleVerified Filtering and Fraud Lab detected and helped clients avoid being victims of the fraud.

“Fraud follows the money, and the revenue opportunities in CTV are growing rapidly,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify. “In 2020 alone, DoubleVerify identified more than 10 SSAI schemes, and we’re seeing fraudsters execute increasingly sophisticated, larger schemes meant to divert more revenue from unprotected advertisers. Trusted, independent measurement is critical in the CTV space to give global brands confidence in their CTV buys.”

As CTV has grown and begun attracting millions if ad spending for high-priced, premium inventory, fraudsters have moved in with increasingly sophisticated schemes.

A month ago, DoubleVerify identified ParrotTerra, which was on track to steal $30 million to $50 million in ad dollars. 

DoubleVerify said it received Media Rating Council accreditation for its display and video ad impression measurement and filtration of invalid traffic over connected TV. 

CTV is growing fast and has attracted fraudulent traffic that concerns advertisers looking to reach audiences streaming content.

Also Read: DoubleVerify Launches Video Brand Safety Product

“As marketers increasingly adopt CTV/OTT platforms for their ad investments, it becomes ever more critical for those investments to have the protection of MRC-accredited measurements,” said George W. Ivie, executive director and CEO of the MRC. “DV’s accreditation for its SIVT-filtered rendered ad impression measurement of both video and display ad creatives in these environments is an important step toward that goal.”

Also Read: DoubleVerify Report Highlights CTV Fraud

In August, DoubleVerify reported that fraudulent CTV traffic rates in the first quarter of 2020 were up 161% in the first quarter of 2019. The company said it had detected about 800 fraudulent apps. 

“As more audiences flock to CTV and OTT, advertiser demand for greater transparency in these channels continues to accelerate,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Our mission is to give our clients the clarity they need to be confident in their media investments so they can take advantage of the opportunity CTV presents.” 

Also Read: DoubleVerify Launches Tracking Product for Booming CTV Ads

DoubleVerify has had other products that measure impression quality and viewabily accredited by the MRC. Its tag-based impression-quality suite of services for desktop display viewabilty was accredited in 2013. In 2015, the MRC accredited DV’s for desktop video ad viewability and invalid traffic. It received additional accreditation for the detection of invalid traffic within mobile apps in 2017 and last month it got the MRC seal for third-party integrated measurement on Facebook. 

“DoubleVerify continues to lead in providing sophisticated quality measurement solutions that deliver transparency and protection in all environments,” said Olga O’Donnell, senior VP, brand safety lead at ad agency Dentsu. “We congratulate them on meeting the MRC’s high standards time and again, especially in emerging media environments like CTV.”

Separately, DoubleVerify named Julie Eddleman as executive VP, global chief commercial officer. She most recently had been global client partners at Google.

Digital media software company DoubleVerify launched a new platform for publishers that provides measurement and insights tools designed to deliver ads, assess inventory quality and maximize yield.

DV Publisher Suite is designed for the increasing demands by buyers and advertisers for transparency and data related to inventory. It also offers to reduce the overhead required to manage third-party data and identify and resolve delivery issues.

“Publishers deserve to be compensated for the quality content and programming they create, and audiences they garner,” said Matt McLaughlin, COO of DoubleVerify. “The DV Publisher Suite provides the measurement, insights and tools to improve ad delivery, enhance inventory quality and drive performance — all with the goal of boosting yield.”

At launch, publishers using the DV Publisher Suite include Hearst, Meredith, Healthline, TechTarget, Univision, Comcast, Mashable and Remedy Health Media.

"DV Publisher Suite will provide granular, real-time brand safety insights across all of our inventory beyond the scope of keywords that an advertiser flags,” said Tara Nanda, senior manager, Business Intelligence of Essence. “We are excited to use these tools to maximize inventory value across display and video and ensure we are meeting advertiser expectations."

Digital analytics company DoubleVerify has launched Video Complete, a new product that enhances brand safety and reduces fraud as more companies increase their spending to reach viewers streaming programming on connected TVs.

In tests with clients, the additional filtering provided by Video Complete reduces the delivery of non-compliant inventory by an average of 40%, even on platforms like CTV where traditional blocking strategies can’t be utilized.

For one client in particular, NortonLifeLock, VideoComplete reduced non-compliant impressions by 96% in campaigns running on CTV, mobile and desktop.

Related: DoubleVerify Adds Brand Safety to Google’s DSP

Jack Smith, chief product officer at DoubleVerify, said that as clients shifted their spending from familiar forms of digital advertising to CTV and mobile video apps, gaps were emerging in the quality controls DoubleVerify provides for clients.

“We looked for a different solution to add an extra layer of protection,” Smith said.

One of the most significant gaps was caused by the inability to block ads in automated buys after bids were made.

Companies look to avoid fraud, brand suitability issues and viewability problems by screening available ads and not bidding on inappropriate ones. When some bad ads slip through, they also cut down on non-compliant ads with software that blocks ads after bids are accepted, but the blocking mechanism isn’t available with CTV.

DoubleVerify’s Video Complete is able to filter ads after bids are accepted and undo those bids if they don’t meet an advertisers’ standards before the ad is rendered and delivered to the consumer. The availability is returned and available for sale to an advertiser with different standards, a benefit for publishers, Smith said.

All of this happens in real time, with filtering and decision making occurring in milliseconds.

“When we add that third layer of protection, we reduced the delivery of inventory that that our advertisers don't want by around 40%,” he said. “So it's a waste reduction of about 40%.”

Smith said DoubleVerify’s most sophisticated clients were aware of the problem and were asking for a solution.

“Given the gaps in post-bid blocking coverage for video advertising, we wanted to put in place proper protection measures across our digital video campaigns and CTV,” said Saquib Pasha, senior director, digital customer acquisition at NortonLifeLock. “By leveraging DV’s Video Complete solution, we were able to substantially reduce non-compliant traffic, helping to improve the quality and performance of our video campaigns.” 

The new Video Complete product is being bundled in with DoubleVerify’s protection offering.  

DoubleVerify aims to help clients procure what it called Authentic Impressions, which are brand suitable, geographically correct, viewable and fraud free. With Video Complete the rate of Authentic Impressions delivered for clients improved by about 20%, Smith said.

“Clients are trying to see how they can align CTV with their overall video quality and performance strategy,” he said.

As money flows into areas where clients need additional protection, DoubleVerify is speeding up its efforts to find solutions.

“We do have to accelerate that to make sure our CTV product maintains it lead in the market,” Smith said.

DoubleVerify said it launched its Authentic Brand Safety system on Google’s demand-side ad buying platform Display & Video 360.

The integration lets advertisers use a single content quality profile that will work across more media, including ad supported streaming television.

“At a time when it has never been more important for brands to align their values with their advertising buys, we are excited to bring the power of Authentic Brand Safety to Display & Video 360,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “With our proprietary Authentic Brand Safety solution, global brands can create a single quality profile that is centrally deployed, managed and optimized – ensuring seamless brand protection, while making execution far more efficient.”

DoubleVerify said that Authentic Brand Safety provides comprehensive brand safety and suitability to advertisers – with symmetry between pre-bid targeting and post-bid measurement criteria. It also gives brands protection in environments where blocking is not supported--such as VAST video.

DoubleVerify’s solution supports a broad number of avoidance categories--more than 75--and languages--over 44--with exclusion/inclusion lists and customization options to address brand-specific concerns.

DoubleVerify said that a group led by Tiger Global Management has made a $350 million investment in the digital media measurement company.

Fidelity Management & Research Co. and funds managed and advised by BlackRock and Neuberger Berman Investment Advisors also participated in the new funding.

Providence Equity Partners, which invested in DoubleVerify in 2017, remains the majority investor.

DoubleVerify said the new funds will be used to purchase shares from existing shareholders. Some will be used to support growth of the company’s business as it moves into media performance optimization and connected TV analytics.

“The support of these high caliber investors speaks to DoubleVerify’s momentum, including new customer growth, product innovation and global expansion,” said DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski.

“We look forward to partnering with Mark and the entire DoubleVerify management team as the Company continues the growth of its business globally,” said John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global.

DoubleVerify expects the new investment round to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. Earlier this month, the Company also refinanced its credit facility and entered into a new $150 million revolving credit facility. 

“The DoubleVerify team has consistently executed across all levels of the business,” added Davis Noell, senior managing director at Providence and chairman of the board at DoubleVerify. “We welcome the investment by Tiger and these other premier investment firms, and we are excited to continue to support the Company.”

Connected TV is hot, attracting the attention of advertisers and media buyers. Eager to combine the measurability of digital video with the appeal of sight, sound and motion on the biggest living room screen, brands are paying top dollar to reach consumers via this medium. It’s also attracting fraud, though, causing concerns about inventory quality, invalid traffic and measurement. At Advanced Advertising, part of Fall TV 2020’s suite of virtual events, top executives from the world's largest media investment company GroupM, which recently issued a brand-safety playbooks, and digital media verification company DoubleVerify, which has made comprehensive CTV measurement a priority, discuss the latest techniques for ensuring CTV media quality and performance, while the industry develops standards for the channel.

Fall TV 2020 interviewed Joe Barone, Managing Partner, Brand Safety Americas, at GroupM ahead of the Sept. 14 Advanced Advertising session, about the topic, the event and trends in the media industry.

Fall TV 2020: Comscore CEO Bill Livek on Impressions-Based Future

Q: What are you looking forward to most out of this conversation? Where are you expecting the conversation to go, and what would you hope audiences will glean from it? 

Joe Barone: From our perspective the key factors to unlocking further growth are technology standardization and transparent contract terms. These are the key takeaways I’d like to make sure are communicated.

Q: By the way, are you approaching your preparation any differently that you might have, if the pandemic had not hit? How (if at all) has the pandemic touched your lens on the space, when you engage in these conversations with other industry leaders? 

JB: The pandemic has accelerated the viewing shift to streaming, increasing the urgency for the factors listed above as well as comprehensive cross-platform audience measurement.

Q: What remain your greatest concerns about brand safety in the year ahead in the advanced TV space? How would you like to see the different players (agencies, brand safety solution providers, brands themselves, et al) in the ecosystem improve the state of play for all of us?

JB: The biggest brand safety issue is invalid traffic. As we move to a standard best practice of measuring IVT, it’s becoming obvious that all secondary markets for CTV inventory are rife with fraud. This awareness may begin to restrict or even reverse the flow of video investment to CTV, especially in light of the CPM premium vs. digital video. Publishers and resellers need to recognize and address this risk through technology standardization, transparent business terms, and 3rd party measurement integrations.

Fall TV 2020: STIRR's Adam Ware on OTT Innovation by Local Broadcasters

Q: When you think about the clients your agency serves, and this area of concern, what do you most want them to know about where the industry is going and what they can expect? 

JB: CTV as user behavior is here to stay. We need clients willing to test and learn and then apply new insights to future investment. And please traffic more than one execution, frequency capping is still a major issue!

For more information about Advanced Advertising and Fall TV 2020, please visit FallTVEvents2020.com.

Connected TV is not only attracting viewers, its attracting fraudsters.

According to DoubleVerify’s 2020 Global Insights Report, fraudulent CTV traffic rates in the first quarter were up 161% from the first quarter of 2019. 

Some of that traffic comes from apps that use public domain content to hook advertisers. DoubleVerify said it detected about 800 fraudulent apps so far this year.

“Fraud follows ad spend — especially within emerging channels like CTV, where measurement technologies are not widely adopted and demand outstrips supply,” said DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski. “It’s interesting to note that bot traffic, the most basic type of fraud, is back in this high-growth environment — which means it’s manageable. We expect CTV will continue to be a strategic area of focus and innovation for the company, as we see the opportunity to develop new performance metrics to build media buyers’ confidence and help accelerate the shift of linear TV dollars to CTV.” 

Fraud can happen whether ads are bought direct or via programmatic technology. DoubleVerify said that the fraud rate was 11 times higher for programmatic buys that are not certified by DoubleVerify than those certified by DoubleVerify. The fraud rate was also higher for direct sales, the company said.

Brand suitability violations detected were up 14%. The increase was biggest on mobile apps. 

The Brand Suitability Block Rate, which describes instances in which advertisers elected to block their ads from serving, also increased for mobile app (+7%), but declined for mobile web (5%) and desktop (4%) — resulting in an overall Block Rate decline of 3% year-on-year. 

“This is occurring as brands are becoming more sophisticated and nuanced in how they execute their suitability policies, with a growing awareness of the need to balance brand protection with the ability to scale and support trusted publishers,” said Dan Slivjanovski, CMO of DoubleVerify.

DoubleVerify found that ads in news content had the highest engagement index, topping sports, personal finance, technology and computing and music.

“We encourage brands for whom news is suitable to strongly consider continued support of trusted news publishers within their media plans — further supported by the high user engagement associated with this content,” said Slivjanovski. “That means refining the use of reach-extending tools like page exceptions that allow advertisers to run on high-value, high-volume news sites and entry pages — like home pages — to maximize scale without compromising protection.”

Over 48 million homes will shift from linear TV to only connected TV (CTV) by 2021, according to eMarketer. As CTV has gained momentum with consumers, advertisers have invested accordingly. CTV ad spend in the US will reach $20.1 billion in 2020, according to Tru Optik — a growth rate of over 50% year-on-year. 

As a result, measuring the quality and performance of CTV buys is increasingly critical. To do that effectively, however, it is important to understand and debunk the most common CTV ad myths among buyers. 

Myth 1: CTV and OTT are the Same Thing

First, CTV and over-the-top (OTT) are not the same thing, though they are often referred to as synonymous. CTV is a television or internet-connected device that enables viewers to access content through applications, some of which may come preinstalled on a TV. Unlike linear TV, CTV includes smart TVs, streaming devices like Roku, TiVo, and Apple TV, as well as gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox. One of the reasons CTV is so appealing to advertisers is that it already has an incredible audience reach. 

OTT, on the other hand, is video content delivered via the internet rather than through cable or satellite, regardless of the device used. Crackle Plus, Pluto TV, and Sling TV are examples of OTT services. They are apps or websites that provide streaming video content while bypassing linear distribution. OTT delivered through CTV is often full screen, immersive, unskippable, broadcast quality, and available to stream on other devices such as smartphones. A recent IAB study found that 76% of OTT streamers watch ad-supported OTT content and 62% of viewers don't mind seeing ads if they aren't paying anything for the content. This signifies that viewers are leaning into advertising on OTT and absorbing content at high rates, which is attractive to advertisers trying to reach highly-engaged audiences. 

Myth 2: CTV Inventory is Scarce, Especially in Programmatic

Many advertisers believe that programmatic CTV inventory is scarce. However, in actuality, CTV inventory boasts substantial scale. Relying on linear TV alone is a missed opportunity for marketers trying to effectively reach audiences at scale. Comscore finds that 80.5 million watch pay TV, 70 million watch CTV and 21 million watch both. Meanwhile, 48.9 million do not subscribe to linear TV at all -- and that number is only growing. In other words, by incorporating a CTV strategy into their media mix, advertisers can reach the “unreachables.” 

In addition, CTV inventory is diverse and growing. Almost all the premium network broadcasts are available programmatically if they are ad-supported, and premium network inventory is becoming increasingly available in an automated way as we see legacy providers launch their own CTV advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) services. Because this inventory can be transacted programmatically, CTV also delivers the targeting benefits of digital, allowing advertisers to cherry pick their most relevant audiences, rather than buying all households as they would on linear TV.

Myth 3: CTV is Not Measurable

Because CTV is a relatively new platform, many advertisers believe that it isn’t measurable. This common misconception may stem from the fact that different technologies are required for CTV measurement than those used for mobile and desktop. In mobile and desktop environments, there is widespread adoption of ads.txt which is an IAB-approved text file that publishers can use to publicly list the companies they authorize to sell their digital inventory. In contrast, there is a limited but growing adoption of apps-ads.txt (a similar file that designates authorized mobile app inventory sellers) within the CTV landscape. As the mobile and desktop landscape has matured, measurement technology for those devices is now well developed and adopted widely. CTV measurement technology, on the other hand, is nascent and adoption of standardized measurement tools and naming conventions is currently inconsistent. 

Quality measurement is definitely possible on CTV and starts with transparency. Advertisers should demand that programmatic  partners be certified for fraud protection on CTV. They should also partner with third-party verification providers who are able to scale across and independently evaluate this emerging medium.

Myth 4: Fraud Doesn’t Exist Across CTV 

Since CTV is a fairly new but evolving platform for advertisers to reach audiences, many believe that it is free of fraud. Unfortunately, however, that is not the case and in fact, CTV is a target for fraud. It is particularly attractive to fraudsters as a result of high CPMs (cost per thousand impressions or ‘mile’). In addition, CTV demand outstrips supply and advertisers are flocking to buy programmatically, which introduces new risks not present in direct buys. In short, bad actors are following the money.

Within the last 12 months, DoubleVerify has detected more than a thousand fraudulent CTV apps and more than 500,000 fraudulent devices are detected each day. CTV fraud can take many forms. Fraudsters can easily create their own CTV apps and release them to open and closed app stores. Today, hundreds of apps exist with few downloads, but millions of impressions. In other cases, bad actors create a layer of ad tech that app creators unknowingly rely on, leading to fraudulent app traffic. Server-side ad insertion (SSAI) is another example. SSAI technology has some amazing benefits, but the same technology can be used to easily generate fraud at scale. Fraudsters can either create their own SSAI servers or route / license these services to garner ad revenue from fake traffic, making it look legitimate. Having direct relationships between buyers and sellers can drastically reduce fraud in these environments. 

Myth 5: All CTV Inventory is Premium and Created Equal

CTV inventory has become synonymous with premium inventory; however, that is not always the case. This is, in part, because app stores have different regulations. 

While some app stores have closed environments and vigorous processes in place to ensure quality, others have an open infrastructure that enables ‘turnkey’ solutions, allowing anyone to make apps available. Because of varying standards across different app stores, apps that have non-brand safe content can be created and are ripe for ad fraud. Programmatic platforms are combating this by integrating CTV certification programs that force users to demonstrate their ability to prevent fraud. 

It's evident that CTV advertising is a highly effective way to reach audiences at scale with personalized messaging across multiple platforms. But to ensure that CTV campaigns are effective, media buyers need to be equipped with the right information so they can optimize their strategies accordingly and avoid fraud. To get the highest return on investment from CTV, media buyers should be sure to work only with trusted partners that can advise which inventory is authorized and have humans to manually check inventory quality. 

SpotX is the leading video advertising platform shaping digital video and the future of TV globally. The company’s solutions enable media owners to monetize content across all screens and streams while providing advertisers with direct access to brand-safe, premium inventory. 

DoubleVerify is a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics. DV’s mission is to be the definitive source of transparency and data-driven insights into the quality and effectiveness of digital advertising for the world's largest brands, publishers and digital ad platforms.

DoubleVerify said it is offering connected TV advertisers a metric that approximates the viewability standards they get when they buy television advertising.

The company said that its CTV Fully On-Screen Completion measurement offering is a strong proxy for CTV, which is attracting more advertisers as viewers flock to over-the-top and streaming programming.

“Viewability measurement in the CTV environment has been challenging for multiple reasons – from technical execution to lack of agreed-upon standards,” said Matt McLaughlin, COO of DoubleVerify. “DV’s innovative approach to measuring ad presentation on CTV is a market first. It extends to both the app and device levels, and represents a close proxy to traditional viewability available to advertisers today. Our new solution offers unique components that address the current viewability challenges for CTV advertisers.”

Recently, DoubleVerify launched a new solution to give CTV buyers full transparency and accurate data on where their campaigns are running across all major CTV devices.

DV’s CTV measurement lets advertisers optimize for DV Authentic Impressions wherever their campaigns run. To be counted as Authentic by DV, an impression must be fully viewed, by a human, in a brand safe environment.

“For advertisers, viewability is table stakes across every digital environment and channel,” said Dan Slivjanovski, CMO, DoubleVerify. “We’re excited to launch this landmark solution, bringing buyers an accurate proxy for traditional viewability.” 

DoubleVerify’s Fully On-Screen Completion measurement capabilities offer both quarterly completion metrics, which help advertisers understand how many impressions were played to completion and identify drop-off points along the way, and fully on-screen metrics, which are a  subset of completion metrics, where DV also has performed a VAST Visibility Certification, confirming that impressions originate from sources (devices, apps, and platforms) that deliver 100% of the ad’s pixels on the screen consistently.

Mark Zagorski, who last month left Telaria following its merger with Rubicon Project, was named CEO of DoubleVerify.

Zagorski succeeds interim CEO Laura Desmond, who continues as a director of DoubleVerify. Desmond filled in after Wayne Gattinella stepped down in March following a report about his private life that was published in the New York Post.

Zagorski was CEO of Telaria, a CTV ad platform that merged with Rubicon Project, the sell side ad platform. He became president and COO of the combined company, which on Tuesday was renamed Magnite.

“Mark’s wealth of leadership experience in the digital marketing space makes him an ideal fit to lead DV, and we are thrilled to welcome an executive of his caliber to the team,” said Desmond. “He is a strong cultural fit and has a proven track record of building and growing businesses globally. We are confident he will continue to drive DV’s considerable momentum in the years ahead.”

Zagorski will be based in DoubleVerify’s New York office and will be responsible for growing the company, which has 550 employees and 18 offices around the world.

DoubleVerify measures the quality and effectiveness of digital advertising. Last month, DoubleVerify launched a tracking product for the booming connected TV market, which the company expects to fuel its growth.

“DoubleVerify is the industry leader in powering media quality and performance – giving global brands the confidence and clarity needed to make advertising investments on every digital platform,” Zagorski said.

“There is a huge opportunity to continue to grow the business, and I am energized and excited to leverage my experience in CTV, data and analytics to make this happen. I look forward to working with the talented DV team to further expand its offering of innovative solutions for advertisers and partners,” he said.

Before Telaria, Zagorski was CEO of eXelate, which was sold to Nielsen in 2015. He became an executive VP at Nielsen, leading the Nielsen Marketing Cloud. Before that he held posts at Modem Media Poppe Tyson, WorldNow and MediaSpan.

“Mark’s industry expertise and experience with both public and private companies will be a tremendous asset to DV as it continues to execute on its growth strategy,” said Davis Noell, managing director at Providence Equity and chairman of DoubleVerify. “I’d also like to thank Laura Desmond for her leadership as Interim CEO and look forward to continuing to work with her on the Board. She and the entire DV team have done an incredible job pulling together and maintaining strong momentum despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”