Linda Lee

Linda Lee asked how customer conversations have evolved with the increasing interest in AI solutions and if DoubleVerify has observed any changes in customer approaches.

Answer

Mark Zagorski (CEO) noted that while agentic-based tools are early, advertisers primarily want to ensure their buys are safe and effective. DV's role remains driving trust and transparency, whether interacting with DSPs or future AI agents. He also emphasized that DV's AI tools are human-guided for contextualization and brand suitability, which customers value. A growing concern for advertisers is 'AI slop,' which DV addresses with solutions like SlopStopper.

Linda Lee asked how customer conversations have evolved with the increasing interest in AI solutions and whether DoubleVerify has observed any changes in customer interest or approaches.

Answer

CEO Mark Zagorski noted that while agentic-based buying tools are still early, advertisers primarily want to ensure their ad buys are safe and effective. DoubleVerify's role remains consistent: driving trust and transparency, whether interacting with DSPs or future AI agents. He emphasized that DV's AI tools for contextualization and brand suitability are always guided by human oversight, which customers value. Additionally, advertisers are increasingly frustrated with 'AI slop' content, a problem DoubleVerify is addressing with solutions like SlopStopper, similar to its approach with made-for-advertising sites.

Linda Lee of William Blair inquired about new CMO David Lee's action plans and their integration with the sales team. She also asked for an update on which industry verticals are performing best from a churn and down-sell perspective.

Answer

Executive Sharat Sharan detailed that the new marketing strategy, under CMO David Lee, is focused on a solutions-based, ROI-driven approach tailored to specific verticals like technology, financial services, and life sciences. This aligns with sales to improve pipeline generation, with early indicators showing improvement. On verticals, Sharan noted that life sciences and financial services now represent one-third of the business and exhibit higher gross retention rates. He cited a recent win with a major international financial services firm as proof of the strategy's success in diversifying the business and securing mission-critical use cases.

Linda Lee, on behalf of Arjun Bhatia, asked about the potential size of the customer win-back pool, the expected momentum for these clients, and the outlook for downsell and churn rates.

Answer

CEO Sharat Sharan stated that while it's hard to quantify the total win-back pool, he expects momentum to continue into 2025, particularly from the technology sector. CFO Steve Vattuone addressed churn, noting that in-period gross retention improved by high single digits year-over-year in Q3, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of better trends. He added that downsells were near a three-year best, and multiyear contracts reached an all-time high, indicating stabilization.