DoubleVerify (NYSE:DV) executives highlighted expanding profitability, continued product innovation, and growing traction in social and streaming TV during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call, while acknowledging that fourth-quarter revenue came in below expectations due to late-quarter retail-related campaign pullbacks tied to agency changes.
Fourth-quarter results impacted by retail pullbacks
For the fourth quarter, DoubleVerify reported revenue of $206 million, up 8% year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA of $78 million for a 38% margin. CEO Mark Zagorski said the company delivered a “strong 38% adjusted EBITDA margin” and emphasized that performance demonstrated the strength of its operating model even as revenue lagged internal expectations.
Full-year growth and customer metrics
For full-year 2025, revenue totaled $748 million, up 14% year-over-year. CFO Nicola Allais said growth was driven by double-digit increases across each revenue line, including 15% growth in activation, 10% growth in measurement, and 25% growth in supply-side revenue.
Allais said advertiser revenue (activation plus measurement) grew 7% year-over-year in Q4, driven by 8% growth in volume (measured transactions, or MTM), partially offset by a 3% decline in price (measured transaction fees, or MTF), excluding the impact of an introductory fixed-fee arrangement for a large customer onboarded from Moat. For the full year, billable transactions measured increased 15% year-over-year to 9.5 trillion, while MTFs declined 3% to $0.07, excluding that introductory arrangement.
Customer metrics remained strong, according to management:
- Net revenue retention (NRR) of 109% for full-year 2025
- Gross revenue retention above 95% for the fifth consecutive year
- Average revenue per top 100 customers rose 7% to $4.5 million
- 344 advertisers generated more than $200,000 annually
Zagorski also said there were no new deactivations among the company’s top 100 customers in Q4.
Product momentum in social and streaming TV
Executives repeatedly pointed to social and streaming TV as key growth areas. In Q4, social activation accelerated to roughly 60% year-over-year growth, up from about 20% growth in Q3, according to Zagorski. Management attributed the acceleration to scaling of social pre-bid solutions and product enhancements on Meta platforms, including expanded content-level avoidance across feed and Reels. By year-end, 68 advertisers were live on Meta Activation, up from 56 in the third quarter, including 28 from DoubleVerify’s top 100 clients.
Zagorski said the company exited December with social activation at an annualized run rate of approximately $8 million, ahead of expectations. He also said DV Authentic AdVantage on YouTube entered 2026 with approximately $8 million of expected annual contract value (ACV), with some large CPG customers beginning to scale the solution.
In streaming TV and connected TV (CTV), DoubleVerify discussed a series of product launches in 2025, including Verified Streaming TV measurement and pre-bid controls, automated “Do Not Air” workflows, and program-level intelligence enabled by IMDb data licensing. Management said CTV measurement impression volumes grew 22% year-over-year in Q4 and 33% for full-year 2025. Zagorski also highlighted early adoption of ABS-enabled “Do Not Air” lists, noting that three top-15 customers representing “hundreds of millions” in CTV spend implemented pre-bid controls following general availability in January.
AI positioning and new tools
Management framed AI as a long-term opportunity for DoubleVerify. Zagorski argued the company’s value proposition is rooted in proprietary advertising data and independent analytics, and he pointed to the need for trust and transparency as ad buying becomes more automated and “opaque.” He cited OpenAI’s introduction of advertising as a new digital media environment and referenced eMarketer’s estimate that ad spend on LLMs could exceed $25 billion by 2029, potentially cannibalizing over 14% of search spend.
On product traction, Zagorski said AI measurement tools such as SlopStopper and Agent ID have shown “meaningful engagement rates” and are being tested by six of the company’s largest customers, with a broader rollout planned in coming months. He later told analysts the company is in “early first inning” on AI, pointing to internal efficiency gains from AI that he said have improved productivity and speed in content classification and labeling.
The company also discussed its longer-term “MAP” product vision—integrating independent verification with real-time optimization and outcomes measurement. Zagorski said the initial integrated offering, Authentic AdVantage for YouTube, bundles pre-bid filtering, post-bid measurement, and optimization and helped support the strong growth in social activation. He also cited a 90% greenfield win ratio in Q4, describing it as the highest recorded and indicating wins in areas without incumbents to displace.
Profitability, cash flow, capital return, and 2026 outlook
Allais said the company delivered 82% revenue less cost of sales and adjusted EBITDA of $246 million for full-year 2025, representing a 33% margin. Net cash from operating activities was approximately $211 million, capital expenditures were about $39 million, and free cash flow was roughly $173 million, equating to a 70% conversion rate.
DoubleVerify repurchased 8.4 million shares for about $132 million in 2025, and ended the year with approximately $260 million in cash and no long-term debt. Management said $300 million remains authorized for share repurchases—the largest amount in company history—and expects to deploy repurchases at increased levels in 2026 versus prior years.
For 2026, the company guided to first-quarter revenue of $177 million to $183 million (about 9% growth at the midpoint) and adjusted EBITDA of $48 million to $52 million (28% margin at the midpoint). For full-year 2026, DoubleVerify expects revenue of $810 million to $826 million, implying 8% to 10% growth, and adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 34%.
Allais said the revenue outlook reflects a “measured take” on new product adoption and does not assume an improved macro advertising environment. She also noted that 2026 comparisons are tougher in the first half, given 17% growth in Q1 2025 and 21% growth in Q2 2025, leading management to expect a stronger second-half growth profile.
About DoubleVerify (NYSE:DV)
DoubleVerify, Inc is a leading digital media measurement and analytics company that helps advertisers, publishers and platforms ensure their digital advertising campaigns are viewable, fraud-free and brand-safe. The company’s platform integrates data science, machine learning and proprietary analytics to authenticate the quality of media across display, video, mobile, CTV and social channels. By delivering real-time insights into ad viewability, fraud detection and contextual relevance, DoubleVerify empowers marketers to optimize campaign performance and drive better return on ad spend.
At the core of DoubleVerify’s offering are solutions for viewability measurement, invalid traffic (IVT) detection, brand safety and suitability, contextual targeting and campaign performance analytics.
