DoubleVerify (DV) Citi's 2024 Global TMT Conference summary

Macro trends in digital advertising

• Advertisers are cautiously optimistic, with spending shifting aggressively into social, connected TV (CTV), and retail media networks, often at the expense of traditional publishers.

• Performance and measurable ROI are now central, with digital media considered the default and everything being trackable.

• Platforms that can demonstrate clear performance, like Meta and Amazon, are emerging as winners, while others struggle.

• Concerns remain about economic uncertainty and elections, but willingness to spend persists if results are provable.

Expansion and evolution of measurement and verification

• Measurement and verification have expanded from the open web to social, CTV, and retail media, each with unique challenges like transparency, brand suitability, and viewability.

• Short-form video is the dominant format, with high engagement across TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts; advertisers follow creators across platforms.

• Only about 5% of social impressions are currently measured, representing a significant growth opportunity, especially as social is a small share of total revenue but a large share of ad spend.

• Pre-bid and post-bid solutions are being integrated to optimize performance and ROI, with YouTube showing high penetration where both are available.

CTV and retail media network growth

• CTV measurement volumes grew 55%, with YouTube as the largest contributor, and new inventory from platforms like Amazon is increasing impressions and pressuring CPMs.

• The market is shifting from a seller's to a buyer's market, increasing demand for transparency and show-level data, with new partnerships (e.g., NBCUniversal) enabling more granular reporting.

• Retail media networks are rapidly expanding, with over 100 networks now using measurement tags and supply-side revenues growing over 50%.

• Retail media is attracting new digital ad dollars, including co-op and in-store budgets, and offers unique targeting based on purchase data.