DoubleVerify Buys Fellow Verifier OpenSlate for $150M

DoubleVerify, a company that helps its clients make sure their ads do not run in places featuring objectionable material, is purchasing OpenSlate for $150 million.

As The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday (Nov. 10), the purchase is part of a larger effort by DoubleVerify to expand its offering. OpenSlate similarly helps marketers ensure their ads run in contents advertisers consider safe.

The deal is expected to wrap this quarter, with DoubleVerify offering $125 million in cash and $25 million in stock.

By adding OpenSlate, DoubleVerify will be able to expand its services to YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. As it stands now, the company helps advertisers avoid negative content when they purchase ad space on the open web, but not on closed platforms like YouTube.

DoubleVerify can determine the safety of ad campaigns on social media, but the addition of OpenSlate’s capabilities gives clients the peace of mind that digital ads aren’t paired with unsafe content on these platforms at all.

“As more and more ad dollars go digital, they’re going into connected TV, they’re going into social video,” Mark Zagorski, DoubleVerify’s chief executive, told the Journal. “It’s important for us to provide that same level of confidence and security around places where everybody spends their time.”

OpenSlate CEO and founder Mike Henry said his company was faced with a choice this year to either raise money to fuel growth or become part of a larger organization.

“From the perspective of our clients, the decision became a little easier,” he said. “They don’t want to work with a dozen different measurement companies. Media buying is increasingly complicated, especially in the social space.”

Read more: Rising Ad Spend on YouTube, Search, Shopping Drive Record Q2 Results at Google

Digital ad spending was jumpstarted during the pandemic, as Google noted in its earnings reported earlier this year.

“Our strong revenue performance in the second quarter reflects lapping the impact of COVID on our business, elevated consumer online activity, and broad-based strength in advertiser spend, as well as the benefits of excellent ongoing execution by our teams,” Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat told investors in July.

DoubleVerify went public in April, with its stock opening 30 percent above its IPO price, valuing the firm at more than $5 billion. With the purchase, the 65 employees at OpenSlate will join DoubleVerify’s team of 760 workers.