Q3 2025 DoubleVerify Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Speaker #2: Ladies and gentlemen , thank you for standing by . My name is Desiree . I will be your conference operator today . At this time , I would like to welcome everyone to the double verified third Quarter 2020 earnings conference call .

Speaker #2: All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise . After the remarks , there will be a question and answer session .

Speaker #2: If you would like to ask a question during this time , simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad .

Speaker #2: If you would like to withdraw your question, press the star one. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tejal Engman, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations.

Speaker #2: You may begin .

Speaker #3: Good afternoon and welcome to DoubleVerify's Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. With us today are Mark Zagorski, CEO, and Nicola Allais, CFO.

Speaker #3: Today's press release in this call may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to inherent risks and changes and reflect our current expectations and the information currently available to us. Our actual results could differ materially.

Speaker #3: For more information , please refer to the Risk Factors in our recent SEC filings , including our form 10-q and our annual Report on Form 10-K .

Speaker #3: In addition, our discussion today will include references to certain supplemental non-GAAP financial measures and should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, GAAP results.

Speaker #3: Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are available in today's earnings press release, which is available on our Investor Relations website at IR.

Speaker #3: Also during the call today , we'll be referring to the slide deck posted on our website . With that , I'll turn it over to Marc .

Speaker #4: Thanks , Daniel , and thank you all for joining us today . Q3 reflected disciplined execution and resilient performance across the business . Revenue grew 11% to $189 million within our guidance range and adjusted EBITDA margin reached 35% .

Speaker #4: Once again above expectations , demonstrating the scalability of our model . We're leveraging automation and AI to drive structural efficiency and profitability , proving Dv's ability to deliver strong margins even in a dynamic ad market .

Speaker #4: During the quarter , market dynamics led to some retail budgets being softer , while growth in our other core verticals , including CPG , remained in line with expectations .

Speaker #4: Upsell momentum stayed strong, led by early demand for our AI-powered DV Authentic Advantage solution, which closed roughly $8 million in annual contract value after only its first few weeks in market.

Speaker #4: Fueled by early adoption from global CPG leaders, we also maintained strong customer retention, with zero churn among our top 100 customers in Q3, underscoring the stability of our largest relationships.

Speaker #4: Core customer engagement and adoption rates remain healthy , and we continue to execute with discipline . At the same time , social and CTV are adding new growth and diversifying our revenue , strengthening the foundation for 2026 to frame the quarter , simply dv's growth drivers , AI driven product innovation , margin expansion and customer success remain firmly in our control .

Speaker #4: And on those levers , we continue to deliver . Today , I'll focus on three themes shaping our progress this quarter and beyond .

Speaker #4: First , innovation how we're harnessing AI and automation to launch new products for the AI era . Advanced content classification and drive greater efficiency at scale .

Speaker #4: Second , diversification . How growth across social streaming TV and programmatic is strengthening the durability of our model . And third , monetization .

Speaker #4: How we're translating that innovation and diversification into sustained revenue growth . Operating leverage and cash flow . Each of these themes builds on the next .

Speaker #4: Starting with innovation at the center of innovation is AI . The engine behind our product development , precision and scale . AI is driving the next major transformation in digital media , fundamentally changing how content is created , distributed and consumed .

Speaker #4: Marketers, publishers, and AI agents themselves are beginning to design advertising strategies around this new layer of engagement, and Divi is already embedded within it, capturing proprietary data that reveals how this ecosystem is taking shape.

Speaker #4: Each month we analyze nearly 2 billion automated agents , crawlers and bots , giving us unmatched visibility into how declared assistants like ChatGPT Claude and Perplexity , as well as undeclared or evasive bots and personal shopping agents shape media performance .

Speaker #4: These interactions represent an untapped opportunity for marketers to Lem engagement that Divi is driving to enhance and monetize . To meet this moment , this week we launched the AI verification offering , a group of tools built to empower advertisers in an AI driven world .

Speaker #4: The suite includes Dv's , agent ID measurement , which in its first iteration identifies measures and classified declared and evasive AI activity . It also features Dv's AI Slop Stopper , which detects and blocks synthetic or manipulated media across the programmatic open web .

Speaker #4: With expansion to social underway within Pinnacle, advertisers will be able to view and act on this data in real time, quantifying AI impact and eliminating waste.

Speaker #4: Prebid . Powering the AI Swap stopper and our broader contextual classification capabilities is our Agentic classification system , which uses generative AI to automatically build and retrain thousands of models using Dv's proprietary data across programmatic and walled gardens .

Speaker #4: Rolling out this technology will enable us to double our classification volume with fewer people , and should achieve a four fold gain in productivity per classification specialist by the end of 2026 .

Speaker #4: It also lets us scale labeling volume by 260% and generate results 2300 times faster than human labeling , all while maintaining human level accuracy at lower cost .

Speaker #4: Bottom line , we're leveraging AI to not only innovate , but also to expand margins , doing more faster with fewer resources , while simultaneously creating new monetization opportunities .

Speaker #4: As AI agents play a larger role in digital advertising . Just as Divi helped define transparency during the rise of programmatic as well as the emergence of ad supported CTV .

Speaker #4: We're now beginning to set the standard for trust and accountability in AI powered media positioning . Divi as the independent benchmark for verifying both human and AI mediated engagement and content .

Speaker #4: Moving to our next growth engine diversification , our progress in AI powered innovation is driving customer adoption in social and CTV . Beginning with social activation , both Divi authentic Advantage and our meta Prescreen solutions are off to a solid starts , underscoring the demand for transparent , performance driven solutions in walled gardens .

Speaker #4: Social within activation is growing at 20% and remains one of our fastest growing sectors . Divi authentic Advantage , which launched on YouTube towards the end of September , is a Divi exclusive solution that unifies Prebid brand suitability .

Speaker #4: Side bids AI optimization and post bid measurement into one seamless , automated workflow . Early adoption has been strong , led by major CPG brands including Kraft Heinz and Haleon .

Speaker #4: Much like our flagship authentic brand suitability product , which was one of the most successful launches in Divi's history . Authentic advantage delivers measurable ROI right out of the gate in early CPG tests .

Speaker #4: This solution , delivered 24 to 34% lower CPMs and 26 to 50% higher impression volumes , while maintaining or improving brand suitability . Continuing on social activation and turning to meta , WI significantly expanded content level avoidance on Facebook and Instagram feeds and reels , nearly doubling our ability to filter out content on behalf of an advertiser's suitability preferences across categories and markets .

Speaker #4: Revenue from meta activation solutions continues to outpace expectations , with 56 advertisers now live and in the early stages of scaling up from 26 last quarter .

Speaker #4: 20 of our top 100 customers now leverage our meta activation solution , up from 13 in Q2 , and usage is beginning to ramp .

Speaker #4: Today , our Prebid solution is attached to roughly 6% of our brand suitable measurement impressions on meta , representing an upsell opportunity . We expect to rise meaningfully as adoption deepens on TikTok .

Speaker #4: We expanded our video exclusion list by 100 times , significantly enhancing advertisers ability to proactively avoid unsuitable content and reducing their rate of unsuitable content by one third .

Speaker #4: Together , these advancements strengthen prescreen protection on the world's largest social and video platforms , and demonstrate our partners commitment to giving advertisers the tools they need to safeguard brand equity and improve contextual relevance at scale .

Speaker #4: While still driving performance . There's been some debate about whether platform native AI optimization tools . Those black box tools that automate targeting creative and attribution could reduce the need for independent verification .

Speaker #4: The reality is , while those systems optimize delivery , they don't disclose where ads run or how suitability is maintained and a sample of AI run social campaigns , we found brand suitability rates to be roughly two points lower than in non AI campaigns .

Speaker #4: As these closed algorithms scale , advertisers are relying even more on DV for the transparency control that platforms don't provide . In our sample , our Prebid protection was applied more than three times as often on AI campaigns than on standard campaigns , evidence that advertisers see higher risk in these black box solutions and a greater need for safeguards .

Speaker #4: The takeaway is clear as platform AI engines become more sophisticated , the need for an independent , trusted verification becomes even more essential to ensure performance , suitability and accountability .

Speaker #4: Work together . Turning to social measurement , we continue to expand post bid coverage across the world's largest social media environments , expanding our AI powered brand suitability measurement to meta threads , giving advertisers independent transparency on yet another fast growing social media platform .

Speaker #4: We also extended our brand suitability measurement on Snapchat to shows and publisher stories , adding to our existing coverage of creator stories and spotlight and giving advertisers greater clarity across more premium inventory .

Speaker #4: Shifting to diversifying revenue through CTV growth , advertisers continue to describe the streaming landscape as fragmented and opaque . They often don't know where their ads run , the quality of the content they appear in , or even if those ads are viewable and paid attention to by a real human .

Speaker #4: In some cases , ads are intended for premium full episode TV experiences end up in mobile gaming apps like solitaire or other non-tv environments .

Speaker #4: This is a problem we estimate impacts roughly 15% of CTV impressions and wastes over $1 billion of media spend each quarter , eroding trust as well as ROI .

Speaker #4: At the same time , advertisers still rely on manual , time consuming and error prone workflows to manage do not air brand suitability lists , leading to misplaced ads and missed optimizations at scale .

Speaker #4: We've said before that Divi has not fully monetized its CTV exposure , and we're now addressing that opportunity head on . With three streaming TV specific product launches this quarter , and with more to come in 2026 .

Speaker #4: On the measurement side , this week we announced the launch of Divi Verified Streaming TV measurement , a market first capability that provides impression level transparency across digital video campaigns , helping advertisers ensure that ads are delivered in high quality TV like environments , not in Outstream players on blog pages or in gaming apps , which too often pass as TV inventory and reseller channels in the open market and private marketplaces .

Speaker #4: We're also extending our verified streaming TV capabilities into activation , launching Prebid verified streaming TV segments across leading programmatic platforms such as the Trade Desk , TDs stack , adapt , Microsoft Curate , and Index Exchange , allowing advertisers to target authentic streaming inventory in open market and PMP buys and avoid wasted delivery to rogue environments .

Speaker #4: Additionally , inactivation . We've launched Prebid do Not air list for streaming TV with an ABS . Modernizing what was once a manual , spreadsheet based process into one that automatically enforces brand compliance policies across streaming platforms at scale .

Speaker #4: And finally , we announced a new deal with entertainment Database IMDb , leveraging authoritative metadata and popularity insights licensed from IMDb to enhance show level transparency and classification for streaming TV .

Speaker #4: This partnership will help fuel a streaming TV . Contextual solutions that will be launching in early 2026 . Together , these innovations strengthen both sides of our CTV business measurement and activation , giving advertisers the visibility , precision and performance they need .

Speaker #4: As streaming becomes the centerpiece of digital media . On measurement , our adoption and continues to accelerate in Q3 , our CTV measurement volumes grew 30% year over year , reflecting the growing scale of our streaming verification footprint and growing advertiser demand for transparency and CTV .

Speaker #4: Turning to programmatic , we continue to see healthy volume growth across open web environments on mobile and desktop . Approximately 65% of the open web media transactions we measured today occur on mobile devices , underscoring the increasingly app centric nature of digital advertising .

Speaker #4: Excluding CTV . Programmatically purchased video and display impressions grew at double digit rates in the third quarter and year to date . In 2025 , reflecting sustained advertiser demand for transparent , measurable and brand suitable media .

Speaker #4: Programmatic display and video impression volumes continue to rise across high quality , content rich publishers and categories like news , lifestyle , food and hobbies where advertisers continue to find engaged , brand suitable audiences .

Speaker #4: On the supply side , growth was also a standout . Again this quarter , up 27% year over year , driven by continued momentum in retail media , which grew 30% year over year .

Speaker #4: Divi's tags are now accepted across 149 of the key global retail media networks and sites , including 18 of the top retail media platforms .

Speaker #4: We also added new platforms and publishers , including AMC , Univision , Comcast , Versant Rumble , Wiley and Rakuten . Viber . As we look ahead , all of these innovations are creating clear catalysts for our largest monetization streams .

Speaker #4: Activation and measurement . Our medium term North Star is to grow social streaming TV and AI verification solutions from under 30% of total revenue .

Speaker #4: Today to roughly 50% , while continuing to efficiently grow our other key sectors . Achieving this revenue mix will provide a more defensible and scalable platform for growth that more closely mirrors global digital ad spend allocation and activation .

Speaker #4: Our social products are already turning adoption into revenue . TV authentic Advantage and Meta Prebid are scaling quickly , driven by advertiser demand for transparent , performance driven tools inside closed platforms in just a few weeks since launch , TV Authentic Advantage has closed nearly $8 million in expected annual contract value .

Speaker #4: While we expect meta Prebid to generate an annualized run rate of at least $7 million by this year's end . Together , we believe these social activation solutions could represent a 120 to $160 million annual revenue opportunity over the long term in streaming TV , we expect our prebid verified streaming TV segments and do not airlift within ABS to add roughly $10 million in incremental annual activation revenue .

Speaker #4: Once fully ramped across measurement , we see upside from our A.I. verification suite . Verified streaming TV measurement and content level transparency from partnerships like IMDb .

Speaker #4: Together , these products are expected to deliver meaningful , incremental revenue as adoption scales . While the digital ad ecosystem continues to evolve .

Speaker #4: Our strategy and product innovations are positioning DV for durable , long term growth . We're deepening relationships with global leaders , including Vodafone , Paramount Pictures , Haleon , Papa John's and Sonos , expanding partnerships across new solutions , markets and media types .

Speaker #4: We've recently also added new enterprise customers like Tesco , Citigroup UK , Henkel , Red bull , Under Armour , Burger King , subway , Popeyes , premiere Inn and Domino's .

Speaker #4: That continue to strengthen our foundation for growth . Our large customer base is also becoming more diversified . The number of advertisers generating over $200,000 in annual revenue grew by 11% year over year to 347 , reflecting broader adoption .

Speaker #4: Higher product penetration and increasing long term value per client . Fueled by our industry leading scale and innovation . Divi continues to differentiate itself from its competitors as the only public independent , scaled verification platform emerging as the benchmark for transparency and trust in the AI era .

Speaker #4: We've built this position through investing $210 million more in GAAP R&D than our closest competitor from 2023 through Q3 2025 to date. This effort has created product differentiation across social and streaming TV, empowering the launch of unique, proprietary offerings such as Divi Authentic Advantage, Divi Verified Streaming TV, Divi Agent ID, DVI, Slop Stopper, and more.

Speaker #4: Additionally, through acquisitions like AI and Rockbox, we've expanded our value proposition beyond verification into AI-powered optimization and outcomes measurements. These are core pillars of our Media Advantage platform strategy, which brings the full power of our data and technology to advertisers.

Speaker #4: Together , these form a broad based , scaled solution . Unlike any in the market that will further distance us from the competition and provide future avenues of growth .

Speaker #4: Divi is innovating and evolving with AI, enabling us to do so at increasing speed and efficiency, helping to expand margins in parallel.

Speaker #4: We are developing unique solutions that differentiate and diversify our revenue into the fast growing sectors of social and CTV . And with new AI verification tools , we are positioning ourselves for expansive growth as the inevitability of LMS centric advertising becomes a source of new monetization opportunities .

Speaker #4: When we kicked off 2025 , we shared with you all that this would be a year of transition and evolution . We've leaned into both weathering variable market conditions while introducing more Tam expanding solutions than at any time in our history , catalyzing future growth opportunities and delivering full year growth ahead of our initial plans as we move into 2026 , our priorities remain clear .

Speaker #4: Execution, innovation, and sustained value creation for our customers and shareholders. We appreciate your continued support as we drive towards an exciting future for Divi.

Speaker #4: With that , let me turn the call over to Nikola . Thank you , Mark , and good morning everyone . Our third quarter results reflect continued double digit year over year revenue growth .

Speaker #4: Solid . profitability and strong cash generation . We delivered approximately $189 million in total revenue in the third quarter , up 11% year over year .

Speaker #4: And within our guidance range , adjusted EBITDA was $66 million , representing a 35% margin and above the high end of our guidance range , driven by cost discipline , operating leverage and .

Speaker #5: AI driven efficiency gains across the organization . As we outlined last quarter , Q3 revenue was essentially flat on a sequential basis , driven primarily by tougher year over year comps .

Speaker #5: As we lapped our strongest quarter of 2024 and further driven by softer retail spend . We expected second half revenue growth to moderate , consistent with our full year outlook for double digit revenue growth , strong profitability , and the scaling of new activation and measurement products focused on social , CTV and AI heading into 2026 .

Speaker #5: Last quarter , we noted that approximately a third of our first half , 19% year over year revenue growth came from new advertisers with most wins from last year contributing approximately one percentage point to the first nine months of 2025 .

Speaker #5: Revenue increased 16% year over year, with a similar contribution pattern to the first half. Approximately a third of revenue growth came from new advertisers, with moat wins from last year contributing approximately one percentage point.

Speaker #5: The majority of our growth continues to come from existing customers , expanding their use of DV solutions in the third quarter , total advertising revenue grew 10% , driven by increased volumes , media transactions measured or mtms increased 12% year over year , while measured transaction fees or mtfs , decreased 4% year over year , reflecting product and geographic mix and excluding the impact of one introductory fixed fee deal activation .

Speaker #5: Revenue grew 10% year over year in the third quarter . ABS , which accounted for 54% of activation revenue , grew 12% year over year , driven by new logo activations , upsell to existing customers and expanded usage among current users .

Speaker #5: 73% of our top 500 customers have now activated ABS , up from 68% in Q3 last year , demonstrating the continued adoption of this premium product .

Speaker #5: Non-abs activation revenue grew 8% , reflecting solid demand for our social activation solutions , partially offset by softer spend from retail advertisers . Measurement revenue grew 9% year over year , with momentum in social partly offset by weaker retail spend .

Speaker #5: Social measurement grew 9% and accounted for 48% of total measurement revenue , while international revenue grew 2% and accounted for 27% of total measurement revenue .

Speaker #5: Excluding the suspension of the one CPG customer at the start of the year , social measurement revenue would have grown 22% in Q3 and 21% year to date .

Speaker #5: Revenue from Rockbox was in line with expectations and is on track to achieve our expected 2025 revenue contribution of approximately $8 million . Finally , supply side revenue grew 27% in the third quarter , driven by growth on existing platforms and new platform and publisher partnerships .

Speaker #5: Moving to expenses . Cost of revenue , increased 14% , primarily due to growth in activation revenue , which carries increased partner costs tied to revenue sharing arrangements , as well as higher data and hosting costs driven by increased usage in Q3 , we delivered an 82% margin on revenue , less cost of sales , and we expect to maintain margins between 80 and 82% in Q4 .

Speaker #5: R&D expenses increased as we continue to invest in AI capabilities , engineering talent and product development , including the integration of Rockbox and continued improvement of Dvo authentic advantage sales and marketing expenses and G&A included cost related to the Rockbox acquisition and other strategic initiatives .

Speaker #5: As noted last quarter , hiring remains disciplined as we realign resources towards growth priorities and continue to optimize for efficiencies . Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $66 million in the third quarter represented a 35% margin , exceeding expectations , driven by cost discipline , operating leverage and AI driven efficiency gains across the organization .

Speaker #5: GAAP net income reflected the impact of higher tax expenses , which is largely driven by the tax impact of our lower share price and Bayer stock based compensation costs .

Speaker #5: Looking ahead to 2026 , we're implementing an updated equity incentive plan that is projected to reduce annual stock based compensation costs by 20% .

Speaker #5: This quarter . We also introduced an adjusted EPs calculation to provide an additional metric to evaluate the business we delivered net cash from operations of approximately $51 million in the quarter .

Speaker #5: Capital expenditures were approximately $12 million in the quarter as compared to approximately $6 million in the same quarter last year . As we accelerate investments in new solutions across social streaming , TV and AI , in terms of capital allocation in the third quarter , we repurchased 3.3 million shares of common stock for $50 million .

Speaker #5: As of November 7th , $90 million remained available on authorized for additional repurchases through September 30th . We deployed $132 million to repurchase 8.4 million shares .

Speaker #5: More than offsetting the anticipated full year 2025 stock based compensation costs . We also deployed $82 million , net of cash , to acquire Rockbox as part of our M&A strategy to diversify our product offering from protection to performance .

Speaker #5: In addition to investing into the business , we will continue to evaluate M&A opportunities and buybacks , including beyond the current authorization as part of our capital allocation strategy to maximize shareholder value .

Speaker #5: In the first nine months of 2025, we delivered net cash from operations of approximately $138 million, compared to approximately $122 million in the same period last year.

Speaker #5: Capital expenditures in the first nine months of 2025 were approximately $28 million , compared to approximately $20 million in the same period last year .

Speaker #5: In the first nine months of 2025 , cash generated from operations after funding capital expenditures totaled approximately $110 million . As compared to adjusted EBITDA of $168 million .

Speaker #5: We ended the third quarter with approximately $201 million in cash and cash equivalents . Our strong cash generation , combined with disciplined capital allocation and share repurchases , continues to enhance long term per share value .

Speaker #5: Turning to guidance, we're updating our fourth quarter outlook to reflect ongoing retail softness in a key seasonal period. We expect revenue to range between $207 million and $211 million, representing 10% growth at the midpoint.

Speaker #5: We expect adjusted EBITDA to range between 77 and $81 million , representing a 38% margin at the midpoint , and continued strong operating leverage while Q4 is our easiest comparison for existing customer growth , it is also our toughest for new customer growth .

Speaker #5: As we lap a period of outsized advertiser , publisher , and platform additions for full year 2025 , we expect to deliver approximately 14% year over year growth at the midpoint and are raising our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance from approximately 32% to approximately 33% , reflecting margin expansion .

Speaker #5: Even as revenue growth normalizes to approximately 10% in the back half of the year . We also expect our full year 2025 margins of approximately 33% to be a base case for full year 2026 , supported by continued cost discipline , AI driven efficiency gains , and the inherent operating leverage in our model .

Speaker #5: For the fourth quarter , we expect stock based compensation to range between 25 and $28 million and weighted average diluted shares outstanding to range between 163 and 165 million shares .

Speaker #5: Looking beyond 2025 upside from the 10% base case revenue growth , we're expecting for the second half of 2025 will be driven by the pace of adoption and scaling of our social activation products , our CTV solutions , alongside the ramp of our new AI offerings .

Speaker #5: As Mark mentioned , our medium term goal is to grow social streaming . CTV and AI verification solutions from less than 30% of total revenue today to approximately 50% , while continuing to expand our other key sectors .

Speaker #5: This evolution will create a more diversified and resilient growth profile and position Divi to capture a larger share of the fast growing digital advertising ecosystem .

Speaker #5: In closing , our results show consistent double digit growth discipline , operational execution and strong profitability . A balance sheet remains robust , with over 200 million in cash and no long term debt supporting innovation , strategic partnerships and share repurchases .

Speaker #5: Divi's business model continues to demonstrate resilience and scalability and will remain confident in our ability to create long term value for our shareholders .

Speaker #5: And with that , we will open the line for questions . Operator please go ahead .

Speaker #2: Thank you . We will now begin the question and answer session . If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question , please press star One on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue .

Speaker #2: If you would like to withdraw your question , simply press star one again . If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone in your device , please pick up your handset to ensure that your phone is not on mute .

Speaker #2: When asking your question , we do request for today's session that you please limit to one question and one follow up question only .

Speaker #2: Thank you . And our first question comes from the line of Maria Ripps with Canaccord Genuity . Your line is open .

Speaker #6: Great . Good morning and thanks so much for taking my questions . First , can you can you maybe help us sort of think through some of the growth drivers for next year ?

Speaker #6: And I know you sort of touched on this a little bit in your prepared remarks , but it would be great to get a little bit more sort of a little bit more detail around some of the drivers there .

Speaker #6: And then if the business performs similarly to this year , let's say growth , hypothetically , how should we think about sort of incremental profitability and cash flow through next year .

Speaker #6: And then I have a quick follow up .

Speaker #7: Yeah . Maria I'll take that question . So as we as we said in the in the remarks , you know , we're looking at a base .

Speaker #5: Case scenario of a 10% growth , which is basically where the second half of 25 is coming out . We're not we're not providing guidance .

Speaker #5: But that's a base case based on what we see today . And that's based on the recurring business that we have . As we said at the beginning of this year , entering this year , which we've always noted as a transition year , the upside will come from all the new solutions that we're putting in market for social , for CTV , which we've been discussing .

Speaker #5: And now for AI solutions and the upside to the base case will depend on the ramp for the adoption for those new products .

Speaker #5: And we've been very consistent with that story . And we see that flowing into 2026 as well . In terms of margins , we are raising the overall margin for 2025 to 33% , and we're considering that a base case for 26 as well .

Speaker #5: The upside on that margin number will come from adoption of AI tools and solutions that allow us to be more efficient in the business .

Speaker #5: I would say our strategy remains to reinvest in the business for new solutions , but AI tools will allow us to be more efficient in how we go after those .

Speaker #5: Those opportunities .

Speaker #6: That's very helpful . And then and then you mentioned several streaming TV , sort of product launches later this quarter . Could you maybe share a little bit more color around that sort of maybe expected adoption rate ?

Speaker #6: And any thoughts on monetization ?

Speaker #4: Sure . So as Nicola noted , we look at our growth drivers going into next year as being focused really on social CTV and AI specific tools on the social stuff .

Speaker #4: You know , obviously we you know , we talked a lot about authentic advantage and meta prebid . And we see , you know , triple digit millions coming out of that over the over the lifetime of those products .

Speaker #4: But CTV is something where , you know , we arguably been hammered on for years , which is , hey , you know , this is a fast growing segment .

Speaker #4: Why aren't you guys , you know , driving more revenue from it ? We're seeing great volume growth . So this quarter CTV grew at over 30% or 30% in a volume perspective .

Speaker #4: But where we haven't been able to really extract the value is kind of on the commensurate C CPM or percentage of media . I think we're finally getting to the point with the new products that we've launched that we're going to start to be able to do that .

Speaker #4: So this V1 of CTV measurement includes what we call verified streaming TV . And as we noted in the call , you know , we estimate around 15% of CTV impressions don't end up any place near a real CTV type or streaming quality , high quality experience that could be as much of $1 billion a quarter in spend .

Speaker #4: What we're able to do now is very clearly identify the fact that an impression ends up in a high quality CTV environment , or streaming player environment , not in an app or a blog post , or an outstream player someplace .

Speaker #4: And do that both on a prebid and a post bid fashion . So I think a we're starting to lean in now to this quality initiative around CTV .

Speaker #4: And I think , you know , Jeff Green said something really interesting on the Trade Desk call last night . He said there will always be more supply than demand when it comes to kind of open markets .

Speaker #4: And I think that's that is starting to take place in CTV , where with the emergence of Amazon and Netflix , there is lots and lots of CTV supply .

Speaker #4: So the ability to make sure that you're getting the cleanest , highest quality supply is something that's becoming more and more important to advertisers .

Speaker #4: And we're providing tools that allow them to do that . The other tool we've launched is automated Do Not Air lists , which I think is the first step towards a much finer targeting capability for advertisers to to block certain types of content as well as on a program level to exclude those programs from any type of open market or PMP buy .

Speaker #4: So this is the first step in a in a much broader suite of CTV products that are going to enable us to actually extract the kind of value out of that segment that that we should have and that we can .

Speaker #4: .

Speaker #6: Great . That's very helpful . Appreciate the color .

Speaker #4: Sure .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Mark Murphy with J.P. Morgan . Your line is open .

Speaker #8: Thank you so much . I'd be interested if you could shed more light on the softness that you have mentioned in retail . And , you know , for instance , is it concentrated within a handful of customers ?

Speaker #8: Is it something that is broader based and then do you sense like , would you connect the dots between the low end consumer pressures that are becoming evident in the US economy and what you're seeing , or is it are you seeing it kind of up into the high end as well ?

Speaker #5: Yeah . So , Mark , I'll take the question . The , the the softness is across the vertical and as , as you know , retail is a large vertical for us .

Speaker #5: So it represents a large share of our top 100 spenders . So it's not it's not concentrated on specific accounts . It has been a disruptive year .

Speaker #5: You know with with both tariffs and and other factors in the market . And it is impacting the retailers whether it's you know our our base of clients are generally large distributors of retail .

Speaker #5: So it does impact them . But we are seeing the impact across the entire the entire vertical .

Speaker #8: Okay . Thank you for that . Nikola . And then for Mark , how do you think about trying to project the timing for open AI perplexity , anthropic , etc.

Speaker #8: to , you know , begin their own advertising at scale and , you know how aggressively do you think your customers might push them to make sure that double verify is is showing up in those venues ?

Speaker #4: Yeah , it's a great question . And , you know , interestingly enough , we've we've seen this story play out before , particularly on connected television .

Speaker #4: And the most recent example is Netflix , who , you know , for years said they're never going to have advertising . They're never going to have advertising .

Speaker #4: And then literally out of the blue decided they were going to have advertising . And in that case , you know , within 90 days of that announcement , we had already been engaged , was building a product and was , you know , we're ready to launch that product with them .

Speaker #4: So , you know , we think that the LMS , you know , movement into advertising is going to be one that's going to be pretty quick .

Speaker #4: It will be I think it's going to be broad based . So it's not going to be one of them . We'll go into it .

Speaker #4: I think they will all go into it . And from what we've seen in the past is as soon as they engage with advertisers , the first thing advertisers are going to want to know is , you know , how am I going to drive ROI from this ?

Speaker #4: And the second thing they're going to want to know is , how trust anything that's occurring in this engagement ? And I think that's where we play a big role , whether it's social platforms like meta , TikTok , YouTube , where we play a verification role , the open web , CTV , I think , you know , the , the LMS are going to be the the next venue for us to actually provide verification trust and control for advertisers .

Speaker #4: The products that we just launched are kind of a first step in giving our advertisers much more transparency of the kind of engagements that are occurring out in the open web with LMS .

Speaker #4: And I think , you know , starting from that base , we're going to be in an interesting position to actually start to now play a larger role when the advertising rolls out across those platforms .

Speaker #8: Thank you .

Speaker #9: Thank you .

Speaker #4: For sure .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Raimo Lenschow with Barclays . Your line is open .

Speaker #10: Hey , thank you . Can I stay on the the the

Speaker #10: direction that Mark can I started . Nikola , if you think about the you talked about the base case for next year , the 10% , which is kind of what we're seeing this year .

Speaker #10: Can you speak to like what are the the assumptions around economy etc. , that we're doing there ? It's like stable . Is it worth maybe putting in extra buffer in can you speak to that , that your thinking there and then mark one for you .

Speaker #10: Obviously your industry looks like it's changing because more is gone now . One of your other public competitors might be going , how do you think about the impact to the industry overall ?

Speaker #10: Thank you .

Speaker #5: Yeah . So I'll take the first question . You know , I would say we are we're not expecting a dramatic change from what we're seeing right now in the macro , but having said that , what we're seeing in the macro this year has been pretty disrupted .

Speaker #5: You know , we had advertisers that kept spending through uncertainty in the first half . We're now feeling some of the impact on on the retail vertical , based on what's actually happening in the in the macro .

Speaker #5: So it the assumption for next year is that it is not materially different than what we're seeing today . And that is a year where we will achieve 14% growth .

Speaker #5: But it’s 10% in the second half, which is where we were expecting all the time.

Speaker #10: Okay .

Speaker #4: And you know , regarding the kind of the landscape , you know , I think there's a few things to think about . Obviously , you know , less scaled competitors with the with the , you know , the departure of moat in the last 12 months .

Speaker #4: But also, you know, our direct competitor now going private does create a different marketplace with regard to kind of pricing dynamics.

Speaker #4: You know, there are different businesses now. There are some that are heavily loaded with debt, and they are going to have to think about how that impacts pricing dynamics for their products in the marketplace.

Speaker #4: And they're , you know , the competitive field looks different with the fact that you've got a company here in Divi that's kicking off a ton of cash that has no debt and has the ability now to continue to invest in product development .

Speaker #4: Obviously , we've just launched a slew of products to invest in M&A to build out a broader platform and to keep focused on on revenue growth and market growth .

Speaker #4: As you know , this is this the dynamics of the market keep changing . So I do think , you know , it puts us in a very advantageous position right now with regard to , you know , the ability to invest , the ability to maintain price and the ability to kind of continue to grow our solution set both organically and inorganically .

Speaker #4: And so I think , you know , we've always said , you know , we're in this to win it . We're now $150 million of revenue larger plus than our closest competitor .

Speaker #4: And I think we can continue to extend that gap over time .

Speaker #10: Okay . Perfect . Thank you .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Youssef Squali with Securities. Your line is open.

Speaker #11: Thank you very much . Good morning guys . So maybe one quick follow up to this 10% base case growth for 2026 . Nikola , is the assumption that continues to be pretty soft the way it is .

Speaker #11: It has been . Or do you expect that to to worsen or to maybe improve . And then maybe this could actually be related , maybe not , but can view is a top customer .

Speaker #11: It's been acquired by Kimberly-Clark . One is Kimberly-Clark is can you still spinning at the same level as as before . Just kind of what's going on there ?

Speaker #11: Thank you .

Speaker #5: Yeah . So I'll take the first part again . Just to be clear , we're not providing guidance for 26 . I think the idea around a base case of ten is what we're seeing in the second half of 2025 , and we've all the drivers that are already mentioned around uneven spend and a a pretty disrupted macro environment .

Speaker #5: You know , where essentially assuming that we can maintain that 10% base case in 2026 , it's a base case off of which we can grow based on how we can sell our new products .

Speaker #5: Again , we will end up this year at 14% growth in a macro that was very disruptive quarter on quarter . So the 10% does not assume a dramatic difference in the macro .

Speaker #4: And you know , with regard to kind of kenvue and let's just talk about the broader healthcare segment in general , you know , in consumer products in general .

Speaker #4: We had strong growth last quarter in CPG and in healthcare , both of which grew , you know , in double digits year over year .

Speaker #4: And , you know , with regard to that specific customer , we continue to see growth . Kimberly-Clark is not a current customer of ours , but we've had , you know , strong engagement with them in the past .

Speaker #4: We have strong relationships at Kenvue . And , you know , we are assuming that that relationship will continue moving forward . So we've been really good in the past about continuing to maintain relationships in light of agency changes .

Speaker #4: And in light of kind of structural changes at companies . So Kenvue is a client that we we just won this year . They've continued to grow with us .

Speaker #4: They're solid partner . They're expanding their use of our solutions . And we don't see any change to that in the short term .

Speaker #11: Okay . Good to know . Thank you both .

Speaker #4: Thank you .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Laura Martin with Needham and Company . Your line is open .

Speaker #12: Good morning . My first one is on client base . Love all the new products . Do you Mark ? I think Wall Street really excited about SMBs coming into the CTV space and sort of expanding the Tam .

Speaker #12: My question is your client base is historically been very large . Do you see any of these new products as maybe potentially garnering new and maybe lower coming down the size scale of products ?

Speaker #12: And then my second one is on almost every ad tech company we cover . We've asked them this question about traffic . Are they seeing diminution in traffic ?

Speaker #12: And they all say , no , no , no , we're not seeing any demise of traffic , even in spite of Google doing answers .

Speaker #12: And then when you ask them , but is some of that bots , they say , oh no , no , we have verification for impressions and we know which are humans or which are bots .

Speaker #12: I assumed that was you doing that , but are there new competitors doing that ? Since it sounds like you're just now introducing gen AI verification solutions ?

Speaker #4: Let me . Thanks for the question , Laura . I'll take the latter half of that . First , the we've always been able to identify basically we call non-human traffic , right .

Speaker #4: The idea around what we call either CVT or give give is more benign . Those are your usual crawlers . They could be search crawlers .

Speaker #4: Any type of other kind of positive or neutral crawlers, and then CVT, which we consider kind of fraud or negative engagement activity.

Speaker #4: So that's always been able to be kind of verified and cleanly kind of identified and in most cases it gets blocked or is unpaid for what we've launched now is a much more greater level of transparency .

Speaker #4: And I think this is really interesting because there's greater engagement with ads and even with content with Llms and in some cases , personal agents .

Speaker #4: Right . And those have always been kind defined as GI , which is something in advertiser shouldn't pay for . Right ? It's not a human , but what if that agent or that crawler or that bot is actually doing something positive and is looking to buy a product ?

Speaker #4: Is looking to find a coupon ? Those are engagements that right now that the the universe of the ad tech world has basically said , all right , don't engage .

Speaker #4: Right . It's we're not going to pay for this . But what about the future ? What about when an advertiser does want to engage with an agent from one of the llms who's going to decide and what information do they have on that ?

Speaker #4: That's the kind of granularity that we're starting to provide , which is what is the bots motive , what is where is it coming from ?

Speaker #4: And right now , again , I think advertisers are still in the in the learning phase , but in the future it could be something where they do want to engage .

Speaker #4: And , you know , do want to render or pay for the ad . So I think it's a level of granularity and that we're able to provide now with this new tool that gives us the basis from which to launch new solutions in the future , in which agents may be talking to agents and bots may be talking to bots , and advertisers might want to be part of that engagement .

Speaker #4: On the first part of your question , you know , the the growth of SMEs and the CTV world , I think , you know , like we have in the programmatic space with our ability to kind of be part of the Trade Desk buying tool , be part of Dv360 , buying tools , where we insert our data directly into those , and we know that in those cases , upwards of 15 to 20% of our engagements every month are from non scaled non engaged customers who literally click a box and say apply DV rebid to my buy .

Speaker #4: As more buyers come into CTV universe and they're buying through platforms , we think there's an opportunity in the same manner where they can apply DV for example verified streaming TV segments to our buy or apply a do Not Air list to my buy very seamlessly .

Speaker #4: So I think , you know , the the entrance of SMEs into the CTV world is an opportunity for us in the same way that we get upside from that through the programmatic buying platforms will be inserting our solutions into the buying platforms for SMBs on CTV as well .

Speaker #4: And , you know , more scale is better , more opportunity is better . And I think since we are a CPM based business for the most part , as more impressions get pushed through , CTV , that's a good thing for us .

Speaker #12: Thank you very much .

Speaker #4: Sure .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Matt Condon with citizens . Your line is open .

Speaker #13: Thank you so much for taking the questions . My first one , Mark , just as we sit here today and you said you've had discussions with advertisers just around meta Prebid .

Speaker #13: And you think about 2026 , just how are those conversations developing and how are you thinking about that product scaling in 2026 . And then similarly , with just Divi Authentic Advantage , it seems like it's off to a very good start .

Speaker #13: Can you just talk about discussions there and also just scaling throughout 2026 ?

Speaker #4: Yeah . So on both of those solutions , you know we've got you know pretty high hopes for continued growth in scaling on the meta prebid solution .

Speaker #4: It's a product that we launched earlier this year . And it's gotten better and better over time . We've expanded the number of blocklists that we're able to push through .

Speaker #4: We've expanded the categories that we're able to refine the filtering around , and that's helped catalyze a pretty significant growth rate . I think we mentioned in the call we're now approaching a $7 million run rate .

Speaker #4: And , you know that continues to scale . And we've got some pretty large some of our largest CPG customers already starting to scale against that .

Speaker #4: So as we look at that rolling into next year , you know , we see pretty significant upside coming from that solution . And as we noted on our innovation day , you know , we believe that Prebid business can be as large as our post bid business on meta , which is currently around a $40 million a year business .

Speaker #4: So we feel good about that . It's beginning to scale . Well , and our customers are leaning in on the authentic advantage front .

Speaker #4: I mean , this is a brand new solution we just brought to market in September , and it's going gangbusters . Like we love what we've seen from the initial the initial tests where we're increasing .

Speaker #4: Scale decreasing CPMs and making brand suitability better all in one package on YouTube . That is our we've already booked almost $8 million in in ACV for that product in the first few weeks .

Speaker #4: And we think that can be a real home run for us . Very similar to to where ABS was it hits a lot of bases for advertisers .

Speaker #4: You know , we've had a pre-screened business on YouTube for a while , but one of the challenges always was when I filter out inventory , what's left costs more .

Speaker #4: We've been able to address that by saying you can filter out inventory. That's not great for you, and it may increase or maintain your brand suitability or brand safety.

Speaker #4: Standards while compressing costs gives advertisers more reach , allows their spend to be more effective . And I think it's it's really resonating .

Speaker #4: So we see that scaling up well into 2026 and beyond . And you know , we framed , you know , our prebid or authentic advantage products to be , you know , triple digit millions over the life of that solution .

Speaker #4: And I think we're well on our way there .

Speaker #13: Thank you .

Speaker #9: Thank you .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Justin Patterson with KeyBanc . Your line is open .

Speaker #14: Great . Thank you . Good morning . I was hoping you could expand on international some more . If we go back to the Innovation day .

Speaker #14: I know some of your go to market changes were designed to just simplify the selling process over there , so I'd love to hear about just how that's trending in more detail .

Speaker #14: And what actions you might take to make international more material in 2026 . Thank you .

Speaker #4: Yeah , thanks , Justin , for the question . You know , I think international has been has been a really very variable area for us .

Speaker #4: We had , you know , two years ago we had very soft international growth . Last year was relatively strong . This year is kind of in the middle .

Speaker #4: And I think we have kind of put in together a strategy that will enable us to continue to scale there better . We what we've looked at are localized sales resources in region , but built on a centralized go to market plan that's allowed us to scale efficiently , which is , as you can see , in kind of our margins .

Speaker #4: We continue to improve , but also build local relationships . There . You know , the one thing that that we have found is from region to region , the the the product needs and where folks are leaning in are very different .

Speaker #4: You know , you've got APAC , which is a very social driven market , which has lower cpnz . You've got North America , which obviously is a very video and CTV driven market with higher CPMs .

Speaker #4: And you've got Europe , which is somewhere in the middle , depending on the region . So what we've done is really focused on leaning into specific product suites and specific markets that align with the kind of media they're buying .

Speaker #4: There . And ultimately , you know , one of the things that we put out there is our North Star is , you know , we want 50% of our revenue coming from social CTV and new AI focused solutions .

Speaker #4: And I think a big part of that is scaling our international business around social and getting , you know , those new products to market that make social buys .

Speaker #4: A particularly across video and social video , I YouTube much more acceptable in markets where things like CPMs are much lower . The way we've done that is look at different pricing models .

Speaker #4: And one of the things we did talk about on Innovation Day was a percentage of media model , which we've now launched on our social solutions .

Speaker #4: So on meta Prebid , as well as on Authentic Advantage . And that gives us the ability to sell those solutions in markets where CPMs are lower .

Speaker #4: But still get good reach and good revenue upside opportunity .

Speaker #14: Thank you .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Matt Swanson with RBC Capital Markets . Your line is open .

Speaker #15: Yeah , great . Thank you . Mark , you just mentioned briefly the different pricing models . And obviously this has been a big year for innovation .

Speaker #15: There's a lot more product we've come up also with some kind of bundling strategies . Could you just talk about how you're thinking about go to market and just making sure that your sales force is maybe it's more of a shift to value based selling of solving some of these problems that are arising for your customers .

Speaker #15: But just how you're thinking about pitching the value proposition as you expand what you're offering .

Speaker #4: Yeah , you know , one of the challenges when you launch a lot of products are , is that you got a lot of products , right ?

Speaker #4: And , you know , our customers are really looking for simplification , simplification of their engagement , but also simplification of , you know , how they buy media .

Speaker #4: And this is one of the reasons why , you know , some of the AI based kind of black box solutions are doing so well , whether it's Advantage Plus or Pmax etc.

Speaker #4: , you know , the ability for an advertiser just to set it and forget it , buy something and drive . ROI is really important .

Speaker #4: And I think, you know, we're thinking the same way with our solutions, where things like Authentic Advantage are products where you can set a brand safety or suitability floor or target.

Speaker #4: But then let the solution run and drive , you know , CPMs down and drive volume up and reach up . So from a from a market kind of implementation practice , we're kind of following that , that solution set from a , you know , go to market and sales process .

Speaker #4: The idea here is a making bundles more digestible . So rather than have 17 different features that we sell for 17 prices , particularly on the measurement side to bundle our solutions up and enable , you know , an advertiser who's buying across CTV to kind of get everything that we offer on CTV for a fixed price and to do the same across social and open web , etc.

Speaker #4: . So bundling on the measurement side , flexibility on pricing on the programmatic or buy side , when it comes to filtering and prebid , these are ways that we're kind of easing the introduction of a numerous , you know , suite of tools that continues to grow but has value in different markets for different types of customers .

Speaker #4: So it's a lot that we're introducing . And I think the way that we're going to , you know , the way that we are making it digestible is making pricing , you know , adaptable to the market and making bundles much more .

Speaker #4: Part of how we sell things .

Speaker #15: Thank you .

Speaker #9: Thank you .

Speaker #4: Sure .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Andrew Marek with Raymond James . Your line is open .

Speaker #16: Hi . Thanks for taking my questions . So we heard your commentary around the EBITDA margin outlines , but maybe within that , how do you think about potential flex in places like product development or tech costs from having to invest in AI solutions like Agentic and Slap Stopper as that space and the potential AI threat landscape evolves at a at a rapid pace .

Speaker #16: And then maybe for Mark , just how you're setting up the teams to respond to AI landscape innovations in as nimble a fashion as possible .

Speaker #16: Thank you .

Speaker #5: Yeah . So I'll take the first question around investment . So so the profile of the companies that we have been able to invest and achieve , the growth that we have within a margin range of 33% , right .

Speaker #5: And what's happened with the the opening of the AI tools is that it allows us to reinvest faster into new opportunities because we're able to to achieve what we are doing already in the core business more efficiently .

Speaker #5: So AI tools allow us to classify more effectively and do it in a more cost efficient basis . And with that in mind , we will be able to essentially invest into the new categories more efficiently and still , as we said at the beginning of the call , I feel confident that we can achieve as a base case of 33% margin , so we're able to reinvest in the right categories more efficiently .

Speaker #5: Now that the AI tools are available to us .

Speaker #4: And and first of all , I want to thank you for being the first analyst to say slop stopper on this call , which we are hoping someone would ask about .

Speaker #4: But , you know , our philosophy around AI is , is pretty straightforward , where AI first AI always and AI everywhere . And that has to do really with three main areas of focus .

Speaker #4: Our operations , our current solutions . And then building out solutions for a new AI enabled ad tech ecosystem . What Nikola just mentioned was kind of the the second part of it , which is how do we make our solutions better , more granular and more efficiently , do so .

Speaker #4: And we talked about how we're doing that with labeling . And if you think about labeling , what that is , is just kind of the contextualization of content , which is the base of everything we do , whether we call something suitable or viewable , etc.

Speaker #4: , that has to do with labeling through AI . We're doing that faster and more accurately than we ever have before , allowing us to more than quadruple the an individual labeler can handle and increase the speed in which it's done .

Speaker #4: By over 2000 times . I mean , think about that . This is in a , you know , process that's taken us less than a year .

Speaker #4: We've been able to get these kinds of achievements that will ultimately make a better product , a better core product , and allow us to do so at a much more efficient rate .

Speaker #4: And that's why we've been able to kind of lean into both investment volume that actually increasing margins . I think that's that's super important to understand .

Speaker #4: And then on that , you know , the third leg , which is building products for an AI universe , I think that's a place where we've just started because most of the AI enabled universe isn't really ad driven yet .

Speaker #4: So what we've done is start looking at , you know , the impacts of AI so far on that space , whether it's the volume of crawlers and agents or the AI generated content that slop stoppers trying to keep advertisers away from , that is an opportunity for us to continue to grow our position as a transparent , as a transparency and verification leader .

Speaker #4: The same way we have in , you know , all of the other media spaces that we've gone after . So , you know , AI is infused in who we are as a business .

Speaker #4: It's infused in what our efficiency and operational capabilities are in the future . And it's infused in the new products that we're going to be building for in a new environment that we'll be building for in the future .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Brian Pitts with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Speaker #17: Thanks for the question mark . Maybe a quick one on TikTok with an increasingly likely TikTok will be allowed in the US if the company needs to launch a separate app .

Speaker #17: How much headwind could it be to DV going forward , or will all the products essentially be transferred very easily ? You know , with that app staying in the US , are you seeing more demand from advertisers for TikTok products ?

Speaker #17: Any color would be great . Thanks .

Speaker #4: Yeah . So , you know , we you know , TikTok currently is our third largest social platform after meta and YouTube , which make up over 80% of our of our volume .

Speaker #4: And around 50% or so of TikTok volume . For us is us . So 50% outside of yes , 50% in US . So , you know , the impact on the business , although it's growing really fast , it's still relatively small on our social , on our social footprint .

Speaker #4: That being said , I think our products are would likely be relatively easily transferable to the new solution . They exist via APIs and via a block list that you know are relatively transferable from place to place .

Speaker #4: And if you remember , we actually do this in multiple languages across multiple instances of TikTok . You know , and I think that's kind of flexibility enables us to kind of move this into any new app .

Speaker #4: That environment that comes to play . So we're not overly concerned about that . We've been flexible before with TikTok and with all the social platforms , and I think we'll be able to make that transition relatively easily when it comes .

Speaker #17: Thanks for the color .

Speaker #4: Sure .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Arjun Bhatia with William Blair . Your line is open .

Speaker #18: Perfect . Thank you so much . I had two quick questions . First , let me just go back to the retail sort of weakness .

Speaker #18: Nikola , is there any way to just quantify how big of a headwind that was in Q3 and then how you see that kind factoring into your guidance in Q4 as well , given it's , you know , obviously , the strong holiday season and then from from Mark , I'm curious , just as you think about the meta ramp , you have 56 advertisers already .

Speaker #18: When you think about growth there , how much of it's going to come from the existing kind of advertisers scaling up their usage and volume versus kind of adding new advertisers ?

Speaker #18: Thank you .

Speaker #5: Yeah . So , Arjun , the first part , so , you know , as we said , Q3 Q3 results reflect some disruption on the retail spend .

Speaker #5: Right . And it is our largest . It's one of our largest industry verticals . So it does have an impact on our on our results .

Speaker #5: It it into Q4 , Q4 is a high retail spend season . So guidance does reflect sort of more muted spend from retail going into a season that would otherwise be strong for them .

Speaker #5: You know , regarding 2026 , I'll go back to what I was saying earlier in the call , which is we feel 2025 was a very disrupted year in terms of of macro drivers .

Speaker #5: We had started the year guiding to ten . We'll end up achieving a 14% growth . So within a disruptive macro off of a base case of ten , we're still able to achieve 14 .

Speaker #5: And going into 26 we're not anticipating macro to necessarily do any worse or any better . And that's what's kind of in the 10% base case .

Speaker #4: Yeah . And Arjun on the on the question on on meta . You know , we've mentioned in the last two calls that we're you know , we're pleasantly surprised and scaling ahead of expectations on that product .

Speaker #4: We know any new product takes time to scale , especially one that's within a walled garden and has specific limitations that need to it needs to grow into an and , you know , in this case , you know , the 56 customers that we have on that platform , nine are are new to measurement .

Speaker #4: So they were not using us on the measurement side and came to us to do both measurement and prebid . I think that's that's a great sign of new customers , but a vast majority of them , you know , the other 47 are upsells .

Speaker #4: And that's where we're going to see the real volume growth . You know , customers are just starting to scale , just starting to launch that in specific markets .

Speaker #4: And but some of those , you know , those upsells are some of our biggest CPG customers and some of the biggest spenders on social .

Speaker #4: So , you know , we see volume growth primarily coming from current customers based on upsells . And that's that's a good thing because that means , you know , we're getting the low hanging fruit .

Speaker #4: We're getting the folks who are spending who we haven't been able to tap into those social budgets yet . And now we have a solution on there .

Speaker #4: Arguably largest social spend platform that we can start to monetize .

Speaker #18: Perfect . Very helpful . Thank you .

Speaker #9: Got it .

Speaker #2: Next question comes from the line of Tim Nolan with SSR . Your line is open .

Speaker #5: Oh great .

Speaker #19: Thanks for fitting me in here. I've got... I'd like to come back to the topic of CTV again, if that's okay.

Speaker #19: You you had a press release several days ago about your work with Roku . You mentioned Netflix on the call . My question really is how penetrated are you across the CTV platforms ?

Speaker #19: How difficult is it to provide coverage across both the open and the walled garden ? CTV services , and then just kind of stepping out a bit more broadly .

Speaker #19: What is your view of the role that DV can play in TV measurement in general , given everyone complains about how bad the measurement is or how inconsistent it is , or how much is changing , just what is the role that DV can play across this evolving landscape ?

Speaker #4: Thanks for the question . With regard to kind of penetration , I mean , we are working with all of the top ten streaming TV platforms , so everybody from Netflix to Disney to , you know , Warner Brothers and you know , and you know , the rest of the folks , Paramount , etc.

Speaker #4: . So with regard to provide basic verification , viewability , impression counting , etc. , we're there . So we have the relationships , we have the integrations , etc.

Speaker #4: with regard to kind of getting into the measurement business and measurement business in the TV or CTV world usually means reach and frequency measurement .

Speaker #4: I don't think that's a space that that we plan on entering . I think for several reasons . The first is I think it's becoming increasingly less important to advertisers who are looking to drive outcomes .

Speaker #4: And they look at CTV as just another outcome engine , the same way search or display or social is . So I think , you know , being in the measurement of that , I don't think , you know , being in the measurement of reach and frequency is a place where there's lots of people competing over a piece of pie that I think is going to eventually shrink .

Speaker #4: But I do think we can play a role on something that's increasingly important , which is evaluating quality , driving greater transparency and enabling , you know , better and more granular targeting .

Speaker #4: And those are areas where , we've leaned in . I think our new solutions are the first step in getting further down that path .

Speaker #4: And those are areas as more and more impressions are being bought through Pmps or through open marketplaces , as the level of inventory increases , I think the ability to drive greater transparency , to drive greater trust in that engagement is going to be incredibly valuable .

Speaker #4: And that's a role that DV is playing and will continue to play and expand that role over time .

Speaker #19: Oh , that's great . Thanks , Mark . I meant measurement in a very broad sense , which I think you did address in your answer .

Speaker #19: Thank you .

Speaker #5: Sure .

Speaker #2: And our last question comes from the line of Omar Dashefsky with Bank of America. Your line is open.

Speaker #20: Hi . Thanks for squeezing me in . You know , earlier this fall , President Trump ordered his health department to look into direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising .

Speaker #20: And I was wondering if you had any updates on whether that's potentially affecting some of your pharmaceutical clients, and whether it affects programmatic advertising at all.

Speaker #20: You know , if you saw any effect in the quarter and if that's contemplated in your fourth quarter , guide .

Speaker #4: It's a great question . We've you know , we work with a significant number of of health care and pharma companies . So everybody from Lilly to , to Novartis to Pfizer and to be , you know , to be blunt , we've not seen , you know , significant drag or friction on any of their advertising .

Speaker #4: As a matter of fact , the lean in to GLP drugs has been a real catalyst for advertising growth . And in in discussions with them , you know , it doesn't seem like there's any indication that that is going to slow down at all .

Speaker #4: You know , that being said , any type of regulatory is obviously out of our hands and out of their hands . But as of right now , the , you know , the indications are spend continues to be strong on healthcare .

Speaker #4: It grew double digits for us last quarter , and it's grown , you double digits for us all throughout the year . And you know , as of now we look at , you know , a forecast in which we don't see significant headwinds against pharma advertising anytime soon .

Speaker #20: Thank you .

Speaker #2: That concludes the question and answer session . I would like to turn the call back over to our CEO , Mark Zagorsky . Line is open .

Speaker #4: Thank you all for joining us this early morning . We are laser focused on disciplined execution , continued innovation and delivering sustainable growth .

Speaker #4: And long-term value for our shareholders. We look forward to seeing many of you at the conferences in the coming months.