NEW YORK—DoubleVerify, a major platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, has announced plans to acquire Scibids Technology SAS (“Scibids”), a provider of AI-powered digital campaign optimization for $125 million in cash and stock.
The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter.
The deal will expand and strengthen DV’s solutions for real-time, campaign optimizations. DV plans to combine its media quality and performance data in such areas as viewability, contextual and attention signals, with Scibids’s AI technology and real-time optimization algorithms.
DV is billing this as a “first-of-its-kind joint” that will allow DV’s offerings to span the media transaction end-to-end, from activation to measurement, and provide advertisers real-time campaign optimization, without the use of third-party cookies.
In announcing the deal, DV also stressed that the acquisition expands DV’s offerings and technical capabilities from the realm of proxy for performance to actual ad KPI achievement and tangible business outcome – fully in line with advertiser goals.
“The acquisition of Scibids is a decisive step in our journey to power superior campaign outcomes that started with developing and delivering the industry standard in media quality insights and has evolved into putting that data to work for advertisers,” said Mark Zagorski, DoubleVerify CEO. “The combination marries DV’s proprietary data with Scibids’ AI-powered optimization technology, letting us empower brands with unparalleled insights and control over their advertising performance.”
Scibids builds AI tools that automate and optimizes an advertiser’s programmatic buying of digital ad campaigns. Leveraging DSP impression level data feeds (including price), first party data and measurement data provided by the brands or their agencies, Scibids AI dynamically generates custom bidding algorithms for clients aligned with the advertiser’s KPIs and desired outcomes. Scibids’ clients include all major holding companies, independent agencies, and top global brands that include Allianz, Dell and Spotify, the companies reported.
“DoubleVerify is a company that shares our commitment to independence, innovation and maximizing media performance, and we’re thrilled to take our partnership to the next level,” said Remi Lemonnier, CEO & Co-Founder of Scibids. “This partnership will amplify the capabilities of our customizable AI technology and expand its impact across the digital advertising ecosystem to strengthen the open web. We look forward to working with the entire DV team to deliver new opportunities and maximize campaign outcomes for our global advertisers and partners."
More specifically, DV said the acquisition will create offers that will provide advertisers these benefits:
- Maximize business outcomes and ROI across all addressable paid media bought programmatically, by incorporating DV’s granular metrics in multidimensional dynamic optimization.
- Ensure continuous optimization through the integration of DV’s impression-level media quality and performance data, and Scibids’ proprietary AI technology in optimization algorithms.
- Streamline manual efforts and drive operational efficiencies by employing automated bidding across leading DSPs, including Google’s DV360, The Trade Desk, and Xandr, to name a few.
- DV recently announced an exclusive commercial partnership with Scibids together with the launch of DV Algorithmic Optimizer – a cutting-edge solution that supercharges attention metrics with customizable AI. In-market campaign tests with a number of Fortune 500 brands demonstrated the efficacy of DV Algorithmic Optimizer, with results on average showing a 63% increase in attention levels and a 95% increase in impressions won across several campaigns. The acquisition will expand DV's ability to deliver real-time campaign optimizations leveraging its comprehensive media quality and performance data.
“Through our combination with Scibids, DV will lead the industry in dynamic campaign optimizations that drive real business outcomes,” added Zagorski. “The acquisition lets us redefine the verification space and offer a continuous feedback loop between activation, measurement and optimization – powered by AI technology and the most trusted impression-level media quality and verification data in the space.”
Under the terms of the agreement, DV will acquire Scibids for $125 million, subject to customary adjustments, consisting of approximately $66 million of the purchase price payable in cash and the remaining consideration payable in DV common stock. The terms of the transaction include potential additional consideration based on achievement of certain performance milestones.
