Trust Index Shows that Ongoing Verification and Remediation Reduce Noncompliance and Increase Brand Safety

NEW YORK - DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and real-time decisioning, today published its 2H 2011 Trust Index. The report highlights the positive impact that verification has had on the ad-serving industry in increasing accountability, transparency and insertion order compliance. It shows how campaign compliance is further strengthened when combined with blocking and remediation.

As part of the Trust Index research, DoubleVerify analyzed campaigns across more than 30 platforms and 150 networks and identified the most compliant ad networks from July to December 2011 as (alphabetically): 24/7 Real Media, aCerno, AudienceScience, Epic Marketplace, Microsoft Media Network, RocketFuel, Specific Media, ValueClick, and Yahoo! Network Plus and interclick from Yahoo!. Advertising platforms that were most compliant include (alphabetically): Cadreon, a part of the Mediabrands Audience Platform, MediaMath, and Xaxis.

“DoubleVerify is making a significant impact on the online-advertising industry,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify.  “Verification and remediation continue to play a vital role in increasing industry transparency as well as driving displayadvertising compliance and campaign ROI.”

The Trust Index’s analysis of the second half of 2011 highlights the enormous improvements to noncompliance that comprehensive verification, combined with active remediation and blocking, brings to a campaign. Once remediation and verification take full effect, incident rates drop dramatically. Campaigns starting after July 1, 2011, saw a 25 percent drop in noncompliance rates after verification services started. By adding weekly remediation, campaigns showed a 46 percent improvement in average rate of noncompliance over campaigns using only verification. Blocking is another valuable way for providers to reduce noncompliance — one campaign saw 7 times higher average rates of compliance for the partners on which blocking was used.

In both 2H 2011 and 2H 2010, trends pointed to greater noncompliance at the end of the year, with 2H 2011 traffic increasing by more than 57 percent. The weeks surrounding Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw jumps in traffic up to 23 percent above the 2H 2011 average and noncompliance rates 12 percent above average. This increase in noncompliance was considerably larger on unverified traffic.

 Other highlights include:

• 44 percent of ads on verified campaigns were served below the fold (compared to 47 percent in 1H 2011)
• 13 percent of advertising pages included multiple ads for the same campaign (compared to 14 percent in 1H 2011)

DoubleVerify examined metrics from hundreds of advertisers, thousands of verified campaigns and more than 200 billion impressions to produce this bi-annual report, which can be downloaded at www.trustinadvertising.info and www.doubleverify.com/trustindex.

 About DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and real-time decisioning. It is the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks, demand side platforms, exchanges and publishers looking to ensure quality advertising environments, campaign transparency and performance. DoubleVerify handles over 60 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers, advertising networks and platforms. A World Economic Forum 2012 Technology Pioneer, DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors inDoubleVerify include JMI Equity, Institutional Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

DoubleVerify Signs Break Media, Collective Media, Specific Media, ValueClick and more for Verification and Decisioning Services

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and real-time decisioning, today announced its newly inked partnerships with twelve ad networks and platforms. These partners join DoubleVerify in continuing its industry mission to create more trust, transparency and accountability in the online advertising industry by utilizing its verification, brand safety and page quality targeting and decisioning services.

Publishers, ad networks, exchanges, DSPs and agency trading desks have come to recognize the value of verification and page quality targeting in strengthening relationships with advertisers and agencies and improving ROI of online campaigns. With an outstanding customer service team and superior technology, DoubleVerify proved that it is the partner of choice to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and campaign performance for Break Media, Collective Media, Criteo, CPX Interactive, Epic Marketplace, Lucid Media, Punto Fox, Rocket Fuel, ShareThis, .FOX Networks, Specific Media, and ValueClick.

“By providing the leaders of online advertising with technology solutions that boost accountability and transparency for their customers, we are ensuring increased performance and improved return on investment for the online advertising industry as a whole,” said Oren Netzer, co-founder and chief executive officer of DoubleVerify. “More and more of our partners are closely integrating our solutions as part of their reporting and preventative tools and technology. This synergistic approach is becoming the standard in how digital campaigns are run.”

DoubleVerify’s best-in-class technology and customer service was the driving force for Collective Media, CPX Interactive, Criteo, Lucid Media and ValueClick in using the company’s BrandShield Connect API for their brand safety and page quality targeting needs. A vital tool to protecting a brand’s reputation, BrandShield Connect integrates with ad network, DSP and ad exchange systems, and identifies undesirable and unwanted web pages to prevent incidents before they occur. The solution can be customized based on black list sites, white list sites, inappropriate page content categories and targeted geographies.

“Brand safety has been a longstanding Specific Media promise to clients who entrust us with creating positive associations and a quality environment for them,” said Jon Schulz, Specific Media executive vice president. “We take this commitment very seriously and uphold the Specific Media brand guarantee by layering our own internal controls with the technology of experts in this area, such as DoubleVerify.”

It is a challenge to maintain the quality of publishers and inventory when ad networks and ad platforms operate at a massive scale. To maintain high growth, it is essential to continually add quality inventory for advertisers to buy. Additionally, publisher sales andinventory development teams need automated tools to manage publisher prospecting and advertising performance. DoubleVerify’s Navigator helps new partner Epic Marketplace grow its business, keep its costs stable and gain better insight into publisher prospects.

“Screening our publishers is an important aspect of keeping our network quality high, which is why we decided to partner with DoubleVerify,” said Charlie Nowaczek, chief operating officer at Epic Marketplace. “Using DoubleVerify’s solutions will help us to effectively identify, vet, qualify and score high quality inventory in the current real-time decision making environment and in turn, serve better targeted ads for our advertisers.”

DoubleVerify’s technology is applied to more than 60 billion online ad impressions per month, continually monitoring the complex digitaladvertising ecosystem to ensure that ads appear where and how advertisers paid for them to appear.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensurebrand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerifyverifies over 60 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers, advertising networks and platforms. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include JMI Equity, Institutional Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Otilia Otlacan: We last spoke in August 2011, right after the launch of Navigator. What has happened for DoubleVerify since, any achievement that you are particularly proud of?

Since August of 2011, DoubleVerify has had several achievements. Since then, the World Economic Forum named DoubleVerify a 2012 Technology Pioneer — the award recognizes the work of young and innovative companies believed to significantly transform the way business and society operate. We are incredibly proud of the achievement as we continue to strive to bring greater accountability, brand safety and transparency to the online advertising industry. Additionally, we continued to expand in Europe — we opened a London office in 2011. Recently, we announced our partnership with AppNexus to enable ad buyers in the RTB world to use our data to proactively target brand-safe, compliant impressions. Considering the speed at which RTB is transacted every second of the day, our insight into ad impressions helps campaigns scale with maximum safety and accountability. In regards to our business vitality, we have more strategic partnerships and renewed contracts to announce, proving that we are the partner of choice to ensure brand safety, measurement and ROI in online advertising.

Otilia Otlacan: The ad verification space is getting tighter and tighter, with a number of big names competing vigorously. What is DoubleVerify’s position in this landscape?

DoubleVerify has remained a leader in verification and has become an industry standard. We work with all the major agencies to apply some level of verification on all major campaigns. Many advertisers rely on us for deeper reporting and measurement of online media and ad impressions. We verify over 60 billion ad impressions each month. Using this insight, we’ve been able to transition our offerings to deliver more than just verification and reporting. We are harnessing the insight into action, powering the targeting of impressions based on our data. We know what advertisers want to target and we know what impressions have performed the best – and we are linking the two sides closer together. This is an expansion into services and technology that help target and measure brand-safe impressions in the world of RTB and programmatic buying.

IAB’s news regarding guidelines for the conduct of ad verification reaffirms the need for verification and better measurement tools and methods in the industry. They’ve recognized that measurement technology has not matched the rate of innovation in ad buying. DoubleVerify has been the pioneer that is bringing measurement up to speed in the real-time advertising world and we are continuing to see enormous growth among advertisers, ad networks, platforms and publishers using our technology.

Otilia Otlacan: With buyers spending ad budgets over an increasing number of web properties, how can a platform like DoubleVerify assist on prevention on top of verification and auditing?

We have always offered a preventative ad blocking solution that keeps brands from appearing with unsavory, or non-compliant content. Keep in mind that content can be perfectly brand-safe or appropriate for a wide audience, but it may not comply with a brand’s requirements – such as international audiences, below-the-fold placement, placement next to competitors, etc. Additionally, our agreement with AppNexus shows we are turning insights into proactive solutions. Initially working with CPX Interactive and Dedicated Media on their AppNexus buys, we can help find the inventory they want, which results in less discrepancies and make-goods after the buy. The partnership with AppNexus is our first of several planned RTB environment integrations.

Otilia Otlacan: What type of content is most difficult to work with? Any news on the video formats getting any friendlier?

When DoubleVerify launched page-level classification to categorize content, we found that user generated content and news content changed very frequently. Considering the scale of these sites, advertisers need to have the system in place to adjust according to how these sites change content.

If you consider the Concordia cruise ship story – it’s general news that people are reading about — commentaries and reports were continually created. If you were a cruise company or a travel company, you may not want your brand to appear next to these stories. However, if you have a major campaign running with a lot of spend with many different ad networks and publishers, you need to be able to keep the campaign going while precisely identifying the content and pages you don’t want to be on. Considering the scale of the buy, only technology can handle the problem proactively. Our crawlers — used in our technology — are always on and are able to prioritize pages that change the most. With these advanced crawlers, we are able to verify 60 billion ad impressions a month.

DoubleVerify has a video solution that is similar to tracking ad impressions with our crawlers. We are able to locate where the video ad is playing, the content it is next to, etc. It will become even more useful as advertisers invest more with video this year — according to an eMarketer study, online video ad spend is expected to increase by 40% in 2012. Adoption of video ad impressions is growing, and is similar to tracking and verifying display impressions, as more advertisers, networks and platforms use this solution the more effective it becomes.

Otilia Otlacan: The DoubleVerify Trust Index for the second half of 2011 is expected later this quarter if I’m not mistaken. Can you give us a little preview; shall we expect significant movements from the previous issue?

In the Trust Index for the second half of 2011, which we will soon release, we have been closely monitoring the benefits of verification and how this technology contributes to a more trustworthy environment in the online advertising space. By comparing the difference between when campaigns use verification, when they stop verification, and what happens after, our data shows that non-compliance reemerges once verification is removed. This underscores the importance of verifying every impression throughout a campaign to make sure it is as effective as possible.

Otilia Otlacan: What are you working on at the moment?

We are focused on our real-time bidding environment solutions. With this integration, our clients have the ability to utilize our pre-bid decisioning solution. Additionally, we are developing a solution that will evaluate and tie many different measurement metrics to provide practical and actionable guidance for the ad buyer and seller.

DoubleVerify is also focused on continuing our international growth. We are growing the customer base in London and we want to bring verification standards and improved measurement in the region.

About Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify

Oren Netzer founded DoubleVerify in 2008 determined to bring needed accountability and transparency to online advertising, believing revenue and profit would flow throughout the system once all players could be assured of its integrity.

A 10-year veteran at the executive level with leading online advertising technology firms, Oren was General Manager and Chief Operating Officer for CheckM8, an online ad serving and rich media technology provider, overseeing product development, operations and customer support, as well as managing its Israeli product development offices.

Oren graduated from the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel with a degree in computer science and studied electrical engineering at The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

CPX Interactive and Dedicated Media are the First to Leverage Data from DoubleVerify to Ensure Brand Safe Impressions When Buying Through AppNexus

NEW YORK – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and real-timedecisioning, today announced the availability of its brand-safety targeting and advertiser brand profiles for real-time bidding (RTB) exchange environments. The company’s technology brings more transparency and accountability for RTB impressions, providing ad buyers with increased protection and improvedtargeting in ad exchanges. CPX and Dedicated Media are the first to benefit from this differentiator through AppNexus, the world leader in real-time advertising technology.

DoubleVerify is making its data available to agency trading desks, ad networks and DSPs,with seamless integration and activation. In the first of several planned RTB environment integrations, DoubleVerify’s data can be applied to campaigns running through the AppNexus platform. Ad buyers can work with DoubleVerify to:

- Increase performance for ad campaigns through customized brand-safety targeting profiles based on advertiser preferences

- Provide campaign specific brand-safety targeting parameters, general brand-safety tiers and specific sets of advertiser and industry profiles to identify the right impression for advertisers’ pre-bid

- Proactively find the inventory and placement advertisers want, and avoid unacceptable inventory without complex inventory management

- Deliver higher performing campaigns through robust targeting for advertisers in less time with tremendous cost-efficiency

DoubleVerify handles more than 60 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of Fortune 500 advertisers, ad networks and platforms. This experience allows the company to develop profiles that are honed and customized for advertisers, as well as extend the power of its data to adapt to the current advancements in buying technology.

“DoubleVerify strives to bring transparency and accountability to the industry. For the first time, advertisers and DSPs can access our data before bidding to ensure maximum ROI on campaigns,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “By working with DoubleVerify in RTB environments, bidders can buy brand safe inventory at scale, with confidence, and avoid paying for impressions that are not targeted, safe or relevant for the brand. Our pre-bid decisioning solution is powered by our robust data set of billions of impressions each month, allowing us to proactively find brand-safe, precisely targeted, high-quality pages and sites that match the specific criteria of ad buyers.”

“We at AppNexus we pride ourselves on providing both advertisers and publishers with innovative, flexible technology to maximize their business. This integration with DoubleVerify will mean our clients have access to additional solutions to ensure higher performing campaigns,” says Ari Paparo, Senior Vice President of Product for AppNexus.”

By using DoubleVerify targeting for brand-safety and advertiser specific profiles, exchange bidders have anextra measure of protection through a proactive approach in identifying thehighest performing content and placement on pages. Advertisers who use online media verification for campaigns are seeing dramatic increases in ROI by cutting wasted impressions and maximizing media spend. This makes the investment vital for running effective campaigns for top-tier brands.

“Our advertising clients look to us for guidance in finding value in exchanges. By aligning our technology platform with the right partners, we are maximizing the effectiveness of RTB,” said Mike Seiman, CEO of CPX Interactive. “Having the foresight to know what impressions are right for advertisers gives us a key advantage and differentiator in the market. This is the advantage of our integration withdata from DoubleVerify.”

“We believe that the most effective advertising comes from the intersection of the right ad, targeted to the right person, in the right environment. In fact, we’ve built our reputation upon exactly that,” said Ryan Becker, VP, Business Development and Operations at Dedicated Media. “As a result of this partnership, we’ve added another layer into our SMART decisioning engine that uses DoubleVerify data to ensure thehighest quality and best performing inventory for our clients.”

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and real-time decisioning. It is the top choice ofmarketers, agencies, ad networks, demand side platforms, exchanges and publishers looking to ensure quality advertising environments, campaign transparency and performance. DoubleVerify handles over 60 billionadvertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers, advertising networks and platforms. A World Economic Forum 2012 Technology Pioneer, DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors inDoubleVerify include JMI Equity, Institutional Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, FirstRound Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Common Methodologies for the Evaluation of Campaigns Will Promote Growth, Consistency and Greater Transparency in the Interactive Advertising Buying and Selling Process

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released the final version of “Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification.” This advanced framework, developed in conjunction with the Media Rating Council (MRC), will ensure a common set of methods and practices for ad verification, ultimately providing vital assurances to marketers and publishers alike that companies engaged in the verification of interactive advertising campaigns can themselves be audited against a common, transparent standard.

“These guidelines introduce a transparent and auditable approach to ad verification practices in the industry,” said Steve Sullivan, Vice President, Advertising Technology, IAB. “While ad verification in principle is valuable to the digital advertising industry, the lack of accountability created tension between the publishers and marketers. We developed these guidelines to introduce a level of consistency into campaign assessments commensurate the industry’s standards for impression measurement.”

The guidelines provide a detailed set of common methods and practices for verification of online advertising, useful to verification vendors and users of verification services (both buyers and sellers). They include mobile, e-mail or lead generation campaigns of all types and address a wide range of topics, including:

- Ad-serving prevention (“ad blocking”) carries larger implications to the buyer and/or seller because the intended ad serving transaction is interrupted. The guidelines recommend that ad blocking may be used in instances where the relevant domain or page-level URL is already on a blocking list, for competitive separation and fraud prevention. Ad blocking should only be built into ad serving systems, so decisions are made pre-serve.

- Nested iFrames are often recognized as legitimate technology, but because of browser operational/security considerations, there is limited visibility into the legitimacy of iFrames filled with content from outside the parent domain. For that reason, the guidelines recommend ad verification vendors have procedures to classify and report whether advertising served into iFrames from other domains has been appropriately executed. In addition, the general nature of the verification tools used to view iFrame content should be disclosed. Moreover, it is recommended that the industry minimize the use of nested iFrames.

- Geo-targeting IP-based processes can vary in quality based on the geo-targeting vendor used. The guidelines recommend geo-targeting vendors subject their processes to independent auditing and that natural differences in geo targeting accuracy between vendors be taken into account.

“Consistent and transparent conduct of ad verification is vital for deepening confidence in the industry and driving the advancement of digital advertising,” said George Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the Media Rating Council. “We believe the issuance of these guidelines represent a major step toward achieving these goals.”

For a copy of the Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification, please visit www.iab.net/ad_verification.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

Integration with Adometry TagScan™ Gives Ad-Juster Publisher Partners Automated Tag and Page Testing to Reduce Display Ad Delivery Discrepancies and Secure Data

San Diego, CA – Ad-Juster, Inc. today announced it has partnered with Adometry™, Inc., the leader in cross channel attribution, verification and optimization solutions, to give digital publishers improved visibility and control over ads running across their sites. As part of the agreement, Ad-Juster will integrate its delivery data collection service with Adometry TagScan™. This will help Ad-Juster publisher partners ensure that third-party data from ad exchanges, ad networks, trading desks and direct ad buys do not interfere with site performance by introducing latency, distributing malware or collecting unauthorized data.

Adometry TagScan gives publishers the transparency and controls needed to enforce policies and identify issues, both before trafficking ads and with ongoing monitoring of their sites. TagScan can alert ad operations teams before issues are escalated or become crises. Publishers working with Ad-Juster can now seamlessly enable TagScan to monitor ads running through their systems and alert them of any policy violations – all without the need to import ad creatives.

“Tag management is a key part of digital campaign success, and our integration with Adometry’s TagScan is an important step in providing the ‘why’ to specific tag-related discrepancy situations,” said Mike Lewis, President of Ad-Juster, Inc.

“Our goal is to improve the performance of online advertising for digital publishers, advertisers and agencies,” said John Dietz, vice president of Product Management for Adometry. “By teaming with Ad-Juster, we are helping its publisher partners prevent data leakage, protect against malware, and improve site performance for the advertisers they serve.”

About Adometry
Adometry, Inc. provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

About Ad-Juster
Ad-Juster is the world’s only 3rd party reporting and discrepancy management tool. Ad-Juster currently provides actionable data to over 60 digital agencies, networks and publishers. Ad-Juster automatically identifies and reports ad delivery discrepancies – helping manage one of the digital ad world’s most painful problems. See Ad-Juster.com for more information.

Trust Index Recognizes Best Performing Ad Companies – Ad Networks are Proving to Be Brand Safe, and Advertisers are Finding Value in Top Platforms

NEW YORK – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, today published its 1H 2011 Trust Index.  The report found a significant reduction of non-compliance among the industry’s best-performing ad networks and platforms.  The findings illustrate that advertisers and networks are continuing to standardize their brand protection and compliance practices, ensuring their online media spend brings the highest return on investment.  The worst-performing online advertising companies continued to demonstrate inconsistency in their ability to comply with advertisers’ preferences.

According to the report, the most compliant ad networks from January to June 2011 were (alphabetically): AudienceScience, Casale Media, Dedicated Media, Epic Marketplace, interclick, Microsoft Media Network, Specific Media, Spectrum, a Centro product, Undertone, and Yahoo! Network Plus. Advertising platforms that were most compliant include (alphabetically): DataXu, Invite Media, The MIG’s Zeus Advertising Platform.

As advertisers have increasingly demanded verification to be included with third-party buys from ad networks, exchanges, DSPs and agencytrading desks, the Trust Index has provided advertisers with in-depth data about partner compliance and brand safety trends in online advertising.  Other key findings from the report showed:

-      In the first half of 2011, the non-compliance rates for ad networks were at their lowest ever, since 18 months ago. The best-performing networks had an average non-compliance rate of 0.6 percent, but the bottom tier’s rate was 26 percent (compared to 2 percent and 35 percent respectively in 2H 2010).
-      The most compliant ad platforms (DSPs and agency trading desks) maintained an average non-compliance incident rate of 4 percent, and the lower tier platforms decreased their average non-compliance rate to 20 percent – showing that ad exchanges can provide great value when verification is applied.
-      All publishers saw decreases in the average international traffic incidents in their campaigns. Top performing publishers had a 0.1 percent non-compliance rate. The publishers that struggled most had an incident rate of 18 percent, which is an improvement from 40 percent in 2H 2010.

“The Trust Index has emerged as the industry standard for measuring advertising compliance and is a strong indicator of the positive impact media verification has had in online ad campaigns. Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen the continual decrease in the incidence rate of non-compliance when verification is applied,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Advertisers, networks and platforms that actively and consistently use verification on all of their campaigns and inventory are experiencing vast improvements in brand protection. This further indicates that online advertising needs to integrate verification on a long-term basis so that trust is permeated throughout the ecosystem.”

The Trust Index examined the industry’s overall progress against non-compliance. In analyzing how non-compliance on specific campaigns changed over time, DoubleVerify saw that advertisers who monitored, remediated and blocked non-compliant impressions witnessed a 53 percent decrease in inappropriate content and an 86 percent decrease in internationally targeted traffic (up from 77 percent in 2H 2010).

Other key highlights around advertising delivery normsinclude:
-      47 percent of ads on verified campaigns were served below the fold (compared to 37 percent in 2H 2010)
-      14 percent of advertising pages includedmultiple ads by the same advertiser (compared to 11 percent in 2H 2010)
-      5 percent of ads in verified campaigns were shown alongside a competitor’s ads (same as in 2H 2010)

DoubleVerify examined metrics from hundreds of advertisers, thousands of verified campaigns and more than 150 billion impressions to produce this bi-annual report, which can be downloaded at: www.trustinadvertising.info and www.doubleverify.com/trustindex.

Methodology
DoubleVerify used a robust set of data analysis tools to analyze online advertising campaign activity across more than 150 billion advertiser campaign impressions from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011. Multiple types of non-compliant incidents were analyzed, including instances of ads served off white lists, on black lists, alongside inappropriate content, multiple ads from the same advertisers, ads alongside competitors’, ads served below the fold and ads served to out of geographically targeted audiences. Incidents were then weighted according to the severity of the impact that the incident had on the brand’s compliance score.  The data in the analysis was carefully normalized to the best of our ability. Advertising delivery providers into three main categories: advertising networks, platforms and publishers. Impression thresholds were applied to each group to ensure the highest level of accuracy.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 40 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers, advertising networks and platforms. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include JMI Equity, Institutional Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Actionable Insights Help Advertisers and Agencies Improve Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by 20-50 Percent

AUSTIN, Texas – Adometry™, Inc., the leader in cross channel attribution, verification and optimization solutions for online advertisers, today announced the release of new campaign optimization features of the Adometry Ad Analytics SaaS Solution Suite. The optimization capabilities are the first to help online marketers improve advertising campaign performance by identifying how specific interactions between display and search channels impact conversions. In addition, the new features dynamically recommend ways advertisers and agencies can adjust campaign investments across channels in order to maximize future budget allocation and improve Return-On-Ad-Spend (ROAS) by 20-50 percent.

Unlike current optimization methods, which rely on manual methods to derive insights from attribution reports, the Adometry solution automates the advertising campaign analysis and optimization process for thousands of different attribution and campaign variables. This ensures marketers are leveraging the most accurate optimization recommendations to drive higher overall conversions and boost campaign performance.

Additional details on the new campaign optimization features from Adometry include:

- Automated Cross Channel Optimization and Media Mix Allocation – Leverages Adometry’s unique fractional attribution methodology to dynamically recommend specific campaign adjustments, including identifying the ideal mix of search and display advertising investments that will maximize overall conversions. These recommendations provide for significant and measurable improvement in overall campaign effectiveness and ROAS.
- Campaign-Oriented Customization – Allows agencies and advertisers to customize optimization recommendations based on specific advertising campaign goals, such as increasing brand awareness, improving reach, and driving conversions. In addition, it utilizes campaign constraints to ensure that resulting optimization recommendations are actionable. The interface provides advertisers with built-in campaign goal criteria and allows them to design their own.
- Actionable UI Dashboard – Provides graphical representations and views of campaign performance that make it easier for advertisers to review data and recommendations in order to take action on future campaign investments.

“Today’s manual approach to campaign optimization does not provide advertisers with the accurate intelligence they need to understand how campaigns are performing or where they can be improved,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Adometry. “Our new optimization capabilities allow advertisers to automate the entire process so they make the right decisions on future ad investments and improve results.”

To learn more about the Adometry actionable campaign optimization features, visit Adometry’s Ad Analytics SaaS Solution Suite. For more information on Adometry, visit www.adometry.com or follow us on Twitter: @Adometry.

About Adometry

Adometry, Inc. provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

Prestigious Global Award Recognizes DoubleVerify’s Innovation in Bringing More Trust, Compliance and Accountability in Online Advertising

NEW YORK – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, today announced that it has been selected as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2012.

The World Economic Forum recognizes the work of young and innovative companies believed to significantly transform the way business and society operate.  The Technology Pioneers 2012 are drawn from a broad range of fields, including information technology and new media, energy and environment, and life sciences and health.  These pioneers are known as business leaders that impact the world and provide social influence in their fields.  Hundreds of applications are received from around the world in this rigorous selection process, where over 50 technology experts judge the potential pioneers.

“The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer award is highly revered across the globe, and we are excited and proud to be part of this elite community,” said Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify. “As a technology innovator that aims to strengthen trust, accountability and transparency in an emerging industry, we recognize that verification and compliance are the keys for the global growth in this sector.”

The World Economic Forum award is a significant milestone for DoubleVerify that adds to the momentum of the company in 2011. Since launching in 2008 the company has developed the standard for online media verification for brand marketers and ad agencies, as well as for ad networks, DSPs, exchanges and publishers.  Earlier this year the DoubleVerify expanded its operations to include companies and audiences outside of the United States, and opened an office in the United Kingdom. Additionally, over the course of the past twelve months DoubleVerify has grown its work force substantially from 30 employees in July of 2010 to 160 employees today.

DoubleVerify was chosen along with twenty-four other innovative start-ups from across the globe, to be recognized in this year’s class of Technology Pioneers.

“The Technology Pioneers are an important World Economic Forum community,” said Olivier Schwab, Director, Head of Technology Pioneers, World Economic Forum. “Being true pioneers in designing and developing innovative new technologies, these companies demonstrate the kind of positive transformation and leadership that will shape industries and society as a whole for years to come.”

Earlier this week, DoubleVerify announced that it received $33 million in financing led by JMI Equity and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), two of the premier later stage venture capital and private equity firms in the United States focused on investing in rapidly-growing software, Internet and business services companies. Other participants in the round included previous investors Blumberg Capital and First Round Capital. This investment brings the company’s cumulative financing to $47 million.

About DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include JMI Equity, Institutional Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Series C Funding Round Entrenches DoubleVerify as the Global Standard for Online Media Verification and Compliance

New York – DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com), the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, announced that it received $33 million in financing led by JMI Equity and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), two of the premier later stage venture capital and private equity firms in the United States focused on investing in rapidly-growing software, Internet and business services companies. Other participants in the round included previous investors Blumberg Capital and First Round Capital. In conjunction with the financing, Bob Nye of JMI Equity and Dennis Phelps of Institutional Venture Partners have joined the company’s board of directors. This investment brings the company’s cumulative financing to $47 million.

Since the company’s launch in 2008, DoubleVerify has developed the standard for online media verification for advertisers, agencies, ad networks, DSPs, exchanges and publishers. Using its proprietary, patent-pending technology, DoubleVerify has driven accountability and transparency for the online advertising ecosystem by tracking actual delivery of campaigns to verify that they are in compliance with the advertisers’ insertion order terms, conditions and buying guidelines. DoubleVerify is utilized by more than 200 of the leading Fortune 500 marketers, all six of the major agency holding companies, and is accepted and integrated with all major publishers and sell-side platforms.

“Despite the growing complexity of online advertising, DoubleVerify has bridged the gap between what advertisers expect and what ad selling channels deliver, raising the accountability, trust and ROI in the industry,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “We are excited about the new addition of JMI Equity to our core group of investors. Their pedigree and track record for growing digital media will be an asset in further establishing our leadership in online media verification and will help us drive more innovation in online measurement, advertising accountability and planning to ensure the trust and viability of this segment.”

DoubleVerify’s growth is exemplified by multiple accomplishments this year:

-    DoubleVerify verifies an average of more than 40 billion impressions per month
-    The bi-yearly Trust Index highlighted the most compliant ad networks, DSPs and agency trading desks to partner with for buys
-    Within the past 12 months, the company has jumped from 30 employees to 160 today, with 50 more being added to offices in New York, Israel, and London by the end of the year
-    BrandShield 2.0 for ad blocking and Navigator for ad networks and exchanges represent continued innovation of tools and technology for the variety of companies in the segment

“DoubleVerify created the online media verification category, and has successfully grown to become the leader in that category,” said Bob Nye, Vice President at JMI Equity. “The company has been extremely successful in developing and utilizing new solutions to build trust and transparency for companies in the online advertising ecosystem. It has the potential to expand into all aspects of media measurement, accountability and compliance across the globe.”

“We have watched DoubleVerify rapidly become a pivotal part of the online advertising ecosystem, creating real accountability and trust among brand marketers, agencies, networks and publishers,” said Dennis Phelps, General Partner at Institutional Venture Partners. “We are proud to be part of DoubleVerify’s rapid ascent as it brings forth more innovation that benefits all parties in this space.”

Verification is now an integral part of many media buys, which is largely driven by DoubleVerify. Advertisers who work with DoubleVerify use its technology to verify virtually every impression in their online advertising campaigns. The company’s solutions have become ubiquitous both in the United States and Europe, with more potential expansion into other global regions. The new funding will help fuel DoubleVerify’s global growth and allow it to make strategic acquisitions that will help enhance its product set and strengthen its market leadership.

“The online advertising industry is innovating at a much faster rate than most technology segments,” said David Bell, former CEO and Chairman of The Interpublic Group and current member of DoubleVerify’s Board of Directors. “This is why DoubleVerify’s technology and solutions are essential in driving the growth of online advertising, helping it become more efficient and effective through online media verification and compliance.”

About DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include JMI Equity, Institutional Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

About JMI Equity

JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software, internet and business services companies. Founded in 1992, JMI Equity has invested in more than 100 businesses in its target markets and has over $2.1 billion of committed capital under management. JMI Equity provides capital for growth, recapitalizations, acquisitions and buyouts. Representative investments include DoubleClick, iContact, Eloqua, Internet Brands, Undertone and ServiceNow. For more information on JMI Equity, visit www.jmiequity.com.

About Institutional Venture Partners (IVP)

With $3 billion of committed capital, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is one of the premier later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms in the United States. The partnership is currently investing IVP XIII, a $750 million later-stage fund focused on investments in rapidly growing media and technology companies. Founded in 1980, IVP has invested in over 300 companies, 88 of which have gone public. IVP has a 30 year IRR of 43.2% and is one of the top performing firms in the industry. IVP specializes in venture growth investments, industry rollups, founder liquidity transactions and select public market investments. Since its inception, IVP investments include such notable companies as ArcSight (HPQ), Aspect Communications, ComScore (SCOR), Concur Technologies (CNQR), Danger (MSFT), Digital River (DRIV), HomeAway (AWAY), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Kayak, LegalZoom, LivingSocial, MySQL (ORCL), Netflix (NFLX), Polycom (PLCM), Seagate (STX), Synchronoss (SNCR), Tivo (TIVO), Twitter and Zynga. For more information, visit http://www.ivp.com or follow IVP on Twitter at @ivp.

Recent AdXpose® Acquisition Enables Truly Comprehensive End-to-End Campaign Validation; AOL Canada Signs as First Publisher Client for comScore’s Powerful Audience Validation Tool

TORONTO, Canada – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, announced the availability of AdEffx Campaign Essentials™ in Canada, comScore’s campaign audience validation tool used by digital marketers, agencies and publishers alike to verify the accuracy of audiences targeted in digital campaigns. The service features an interactive dashboard with several highly sought functions for digital media planning and evaluation, including daily reporting of campaign demographics and traditional post-buy metrics such as Reach / Frequency and GRPs.

“Digital ad spend in Canada reached $2.2 billion in 2010, marking a significant milestone as it surpassed daily newspaper ad revenues for the first time,” said Brent Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix Canada. “Second now only to TV, the need for enhanced accountability in online campaigns has never been greater. Validating the target group delivery and return on investment for digital display, classified and video advertising is paramount if the industry is to continue to grow and ultimately challenge the number one placeholder.”

comScore AdEffx Campaign Essentials was first introduced in 2009 to the United States, and today is also available in Europe and Canada. The recent acquisition of AdXpose®, the Seattle-based leader in campaign verification, optimization and brand safety, further enhances comScore’s Campaign Essentials offering by enabling the development of a truly comprehensive, end-to-end validation solution. Campaign Essentials and the AdXpose offerings are currently both available in Canada, providing marketers, agencies and publishers with the ability to leverage key synergistic benefits of the solutions, such as:

- Measurement of the actual audience composition reached and the frequency for specific media buys
- Effectiveness of impressions that were actually seen, as opposed to those that were served tracking pixels but never actually seen by a consumer
- Optimizing placements and creatives based on performance, using real-time bidding platforms and online campaign alerting
- Comparing the performance of online and offline media plans using the same post-buy measures used in TV, such as reach, frequency and GRPs
- Creating custom segmentation to allow for reporting of specific audience target groups
- Evaluation of the safety of ad placement and effectiveness of brand messages in different contexts
- An understanding of consumer engagement with ads

Clients Voice Support for Campaign Essentials

AOL Canada recently signed on as the first publisher client of Campaign Essentials in Canada, representing the necessity of campaign validation from all players in the market. “AOL`s commitment to lead the online industry in innovation and exceptional client service starts with pairing our initiatives with the right tools and technology,” said Graham Moysey, general manager of AOL Canada. “Campaign Essentials aligns perfectly to help us achieve these goals by delivering targeted, real-time campaign results to our esteemed customers.”

“In our business, knowledge is power. Daily intelligence from tools like Campaign Essentials can be a very powerful asset for marketers to maximize results and minimize waste. By working to offer digital performance tracking tools that have long been the standard in the TV business, comScore has taken a necessary step for the industry. This product addresses the increasing need for the analytical tools that will help us understand and verify campaign delivery and performance in a real-time environment.”

– Jennifer Holgate, SVP Digital, Starcom MediaVest Group

“The outcome of our campaigns measured by comScore Campaign Essentials helped to reaffirm some of our current thinking with regard to our digital media strategies. It provides us with new insights that were never previously available in the Canadian marketplace. We are able to more clearly demonstrate the reach of our online campaigns successfully aligned with our demographic target. A better understanding of who we’re able to reach online is critical to making intelligent media buys.”

– Karl Flanders, VP Media, Saatchi & Saatchi Canada

For more information about comScore AdEffx Campaign Essentials, please email learnmore@comscore.com.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Tremendous Growth of Companies utilizing the “Ad Choices” Icon via Evidon Continues as Opt-Out Rates Remain; More than 80 million US internet users served ads with Ad Choices Icon delivered by Evidon each day

Greenlight Program Ensures Exponential Spike at IAB Deadline in Late August

NEW YORK – Evidon, the leading provider of compliance services for the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA), announced that it has served the 50 billionth impression of the Advertising Choices Icon on behalf of licensees of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) and its industry self-regulatory program, The company announced that more than 80 million unique users are served ads with the Ad Choices Icon delivered by Evidon each day. The specific 50 billionth creative unit was served on the morning of Friday, July 29. Even as the program’s growth and the number of companies working with Evidon have both accelerated, the opt-out rate on impressions served by Evidon remains extremely low.

“We’ve been operating at scale for nearly a year now, so this number – which is largely comprised of brands and agencies who are just getting started – is about to get a whole lot bigger,” said Scott Meyer, Founder and CEO of Evidon. “With more than 130 brands, agencies, publishers, networks, and technology providers as clients, and with so many of them having joined our Greenlight program and having pledged to be fully compliant by the IAB deadline of August 28, we expect to see this number go through the roof by Labor Day.”

Evidon Data

Below is a snapshot of aggregate data from the more than 80 million unique users who see the icon every day, thanks to the scale of delivery provided by Evidon, which routinely exceeds 500M impressions/day and is growing:

In aggregate, there have been roughly 2.3 million interactions with Ad Choices Icon served by Evidon across more than 50 billion advertising impressions.

Evidon has handled roughly 500,000 opt out requests for these 50 billion impressions

“The industry self-regulatory program is designed to give users as much transparency as possible as simply as possible,” said Stu Ingis, Partner at Washington, DC law firm Venable, and Counsel to the DAA. “We’re watching this very closely as the program scales with specific focus on consumer awareness of and interaction with the icon.”

Research

Additionally Evidon announced that it has selected Knowledge Networks (KN), a leader in innovative online research that represents the full U.S. population, to examine consumer perceptions of the Evidon InForm experience for consumers. Multiple studies, beginning with Evidon’s own baseline research last November, (http://blog.evidon.com/tag/better-advertising/), have suggested that consumers overwhelmingly favor the new transparency that the industry self-regulatory program provides. Knowledge Networks will enhance and enlarge this research with far more granularity and depth.

About Evidon

Selected by the Digital Advertising Alliance to power its online behavioral advertising self-regulatory program, Evidon (formerly Better Advertising) enables a more trusted environment for everyone in the online ecosystem. It gives businesses an easy, standard way of providing evidence of compliance with industry guidelines, and consumers more transparency into and control over how their information is used online. By empowering consumers and earning their trust, businesses build their brands, participate in OBA with confidence and generate results. For more information, please visit: www.evidon.com.

Following DoubleVerify’s launch of Navigator earlier this week, I had a Q&A session with Oren Netzer, the company’s CEO, who explained the product in more detail.

Otilia Otlacan: You have just announced the launch of Navigator, an end-to-end monitoring and reporting solution for ad networks and platforms. What would you say was the #1 driver behind the launch, what in the current landscape has made it a necessity?

Oren Netzer: Ad networks and ad platforms operate at tremendous scale. They serve billions of impressions every month, and they can do this by continually adding valuable online media inventory for advertisers to buy. However, when operating at this scale, it’s virtually impossible to monitor for compliance of every single impression you serve ads to, while also reviewing new sites and publishers you may want to ad to your network or platform. Navigator is a technology solution necessary to maintain the hi-growth of these types of businesses while minimizing costs.  Networks and platforms can use it to maintain the quality of publishers they work with.

Otilia Otlacan: We’re seeing a trend in switching advertisers / agencies from networks to exchanges. Do you think ad networks could catch up with exchanges in terms of transparency, with the help of Navigator or similar solutions?

Oren Netzer: I think advertisers are pushing for more transparency on all fronts, from both networks and exchanges. Navigator provides the best solution for this issue. For DoubleVerify, it’s not about networks catching up to exchanges. It is about the whole industry catching up to agency and advertiser expectations. We can help these companies boost transparency by monitoring for fraud, review existing inventory and generally ensuring that ads are where they are supposed to be.

Otilia Otlacan: Navigator’s benefits for ad networks and exchanges are quite straightforward. What’s in it for publishers, can they also leverage Navigator?

Oren Netzer: Navigator ensures that quality publishers and web pages (brand-safe, above the fold, etc.) are monetized at the highest level. Navigator offers ad networks and exchanges transparency and insight into each publisher through in depth analyses and categorization.  When publishers are classified at premium or acceptable tiers for advertisers, demand, monetization and CPMs for those publishers increases as well as the overall revenue opportunity for all involved.

The reality is that advertisers and agencies, which are employing ad networks and exchanges, value transparent and quality impressions. Additionally, ad networks and exchanges are more inclined to onboard publishers that are classified within the premium or acceptable tiers, because Navigator makes it easier and faster to sell inventory via networks and platforms.

On a secondary level, because we carefully classify the nature of content, we can discern, down to the page-level, if certain impressions within a publisher are compliant or not. Even if a publisher has non-compliant content on certain pages, we can ensure that the brand-safe pages get ads and are fully monetized. This is a boon for news, entertainment and UGC publishers, whose content will vary greatly.

Otilia Otlacan: I understand that DoubleVerify Navigator is tracking the ad placement (i.e. above the fold) as part of the publisher screening process. What other factors should we look at when deciding if a publisher is trustworthy?

Oren Netzer: Sometimes, ads are delivered in undesirable environments so the nature of the content has to be considered – is it unsavory or illegal? Does the publisher condone bad activity? Another factor is the method of serving ads. Do publishers stack ads on top of each other to get multiple impressions with the same space? Do they minimize the size of the ad to hide it, essentially, but still get credit for the ad serve? Do they put competitive brands on the same page because they both pay high CPMs? It is important to see if all of these parts are taken into consideration.

Otilia Otlacan: The demand for ad and media verification services appears to accelerate day by day. Can you share with us how does DoubleVerify fit in and what’s in the pipeline for the remainder of the year?

Oren Netzer: DoubleVerify is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance verifying over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of the leading Fortune 500 marketers.  With the opening of our UK office in June, we are expanding our business there. Our clients in the UK currently employ our solutions to narrow non-compliance due to inappropriate content and irrelevant international audiences.

Later this year, you can expect updated industry-wide reports that measure how industry players are handling trust and compliance for advertisers. Additionally, we will continue to offer the Ad Options Icon as the industry’s easiest solution for adopting consumer protection and privacy on behaviorally targeted ads.

Find out more about DoubleVerify Navigator here: http://www.doubleverify.com/solutions/ad-networks/.

About Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify

Oren Netzer founded DoubleVerify in 2008 determined to bring needed accountability and transparency to online advertising, believing revenue and profit would flow throughout the system once all players could be assured of its integrity.

A 10-year veteran at the executive level with leading online advertising technology firms, Oren was General Manager and Chief Operating Officer for CheckM8, an online ad serving and rich media technology provider, overseeing product development, operations and customer support, as well as managing its Israeli product development offices.

Oren graduated from the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel with a degree in computer science and studied electrical engineering at The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Navigator Proactively Maximizes Quality and Growth of Inventory and Profitability

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, today announced the launch of Navigator, an end-to-end monitoring and reporting solution to help ad networks and platforms quicken and expand publisher on-boarding while continually monitoring their network and ensuring brand safety and quality inventory for ad buyers.

Navigator is comprised of tools that help networks and platforms build a trustworthy environment that delivers the highest level of brand protection while also maximizing ROI. Navigator provides insight on publishers that are in the process of being added to a network or a platform’s business. It also provides recommendations on other sites to add that meet the required quality levels. Once publishers are on-boarded, DoubleVerify’s technology constantly monitors and tracks ad tags to identify problems and prevent fraud and misuse of tags to help ensure the quality, integrity and authenticity of ad inventory.

“Networks and platforms have continually innovated on ad buying and selling, but there hasn’t been a way to comprehensively understand the compliance level of the sites and pages in their ecosystem. This limited insight makes it difficult to detect non-compliance and fraud at scale,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Navigator furthers our mission to bring trust, transparency, accountability and compliance to the online advertising ecosystem by offering ad intermediaries new, first-in-market tools to address their challenges and business needs.”

DoubleVerify’s Navigator helps ad networks and platforms grow their business, keep their costs stable and gain better insight into publisher prospects. Ad networks and ad platforms manage hi-growth businesses by continually adding inventory for advertisers to buy. It is a challenge to maintain the quality of publishers and inventory when operating at a massive scale. Publisher sales and inventory development teams need automated tools to seamlessly manage publisher prospecting and advertising performance.

Navigator is powered by DoubleVerify’s crawlers, or “Virtual Visitors,” which visit 40 million pages each month, gathering information from more than 7 million domains and cataloging billions of web pages. Working in tandem with the DoubleVerify Tracking Pixel, the Virtual Visitors contribute to a vast, global database that is updated on a daily basis. Leveraging this intelligence, the company has developed proprietary content classification methods and categories to help advertisers, networks and platforms understand site content across the web.

DoubleVerify’s proprietary algorithm classifies site content desirability of content to determine what is safe for all brands, what may be appropriate, but not appeal to conservative brands, and what content may be problematic.

“Screening our publishers is an important aspect of keeping our network quality high, which is why we were one of the first to partner with DoubleVerify,” said Chris Pirrone, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Epic Marketplace. “With Epic’s evolution toward a demand side network that includes both premium RTB and direct inventory, using DoubleVerify’s new tools will help us to properly find, vet, qualify and score high quality inventory in the current real-time decision making environment.”

“With DoubleVerify’s Navigator suite, we can enhance our trusted environments for our advertisers.” said Jason Carlisle, SVP Media at AudienceScience. “Combining this technology with our Audience Delivery System, we are able to give clients, who are the largest advertisers in the world, the ability to find their audiences anywhere online with complete confidence.”

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. –Adconion Direct (www.adconiondirect.com), the standalone performance solutions business unit of Adconion Media Group, announced it will use TRUSTe’s OBA compliance platform to ensure brand safety and adherence to the ad privacy self-regulatory requirements. This will be done via TRUSTe’s partnership with AdXpose to deliver a best-in-class OBA compliance solution for ads in the U.S.

By partnering with TRUSTe’s TRUSTed Ads compliance platform, Adconion Direct actively seeks and employs industry best practices regarding online advertising and tracking in its quest to adhere to the high standards as outlined in the OBA self-regulatory guidelines. As the largest provider of OBA compliance services, TRUSTe offers the most recognized privacy brand, 14 years of deep privacy expertise and the most comprehensive compliance monitoring platform. This combination of capabilities will allow Adconion Direct to deliver accurate privacy notices reliably across billions of ad impressions while at the same time offering easy-to-understand privacy information and choices to consumers.

“Ad verification and delivery are an integral aspect of our business” said Brian Baumgart, President of Adconion Direct. “We are pleased to leverage TRUSTe’s OBA solution so that we can provide our advertisers and consumers alike with enhanced campaign transparency, choice and accountability.”

“We are excited to work with Adconion Direct to enable OBA compliance capabilities across their diversified and global media footprint,” said Chris Babel, CEO TRUSTe. “Our research has shown that transparency and choice can serve as powerful tools to help advertisers build deeper trust with their consumers. Through our partnership with AdXpose, we can uniquely position Adconion Direct to deliver this trust to advertisers through a blend of high quality media and the most advanced compliance and brand safety technologies.”

“We are extremely pleased that our partnership to date with Adconion Direct has blossomed,” said Ryan Polley, COO of AdXpose. “Continuing the relationship with our OBA solution further demonstrates Adconion Direct’s commitment to providing its customers with the industry’s leading technology for the verification and delivery of ad campaigns across its network.”

Adconion Direct’s partnership with AdXpose has improved the safety and performance of digital ad campaigns. AdXpose helps block suggestive keywords and prevents ads from appearing on inappropriate sites. It also provides insights and analytics that help the advertisers and agencies who work with Adconion Direct to make more informed media buying and campaign planning decisions.

About Adconion Direct
Adconion Direct (www.adconiondirect.com) is a multi-channel digital distribution platform spanning Display, Email and Social Media, for agencies and advertisers looking for quality and scalable results, backed by a global media company with significant worldwide reach. Committed to continuously deliver results, deep insights and innovative distribution options to market, Adconion Direct is an ideal performance partner of choice for agencies and advertisers alike.

Adconion Direct is the standalone performance solutions business within Adconion Media Group, (www.adconion.com), one of the largest independent global audience and video content networks, reaching nearly 325 million unique users worldwide – one-quarter of the total global Internet population. Currently, Adconion has 16 offices in 8 countries around the world. It is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), is one of the first companies to be IAB certified with its first ever Ad Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance program and is a founding member of IASH Europe.

About TRUSTe
TRUSTe is the largest provider of OBA compliance services, serving notices on more than 10 billion ad impressions per month and the leading provider of online privacy solutions with a broad suite of privacy services to help businesses build trust and increase engagement across all of their online channels – including websites, mobile applications, advertising, cloud services, business analytics and email marketing. Over 4,000 web properties including those from top companies like Apple, AT&T, Disney, eBay, Facebook, HP, Microsoft, Nationwide, Pfizer and Yelp rely on TRUSTe to ensure compliance with evolving and complex privacy requirements. TRUSTe’s mission, based on a “Truth in Privacy” framework, is built on a solid foundation of transparency, choice and accountability regarding the collection and use of personal information. TRUSTe’s privacy seal is recognized and trusted by millions of consumers as a sign of responsible privacy practices. For additional information on TRUSTe and its offerings, please visit http://www.truste.com/ads.

About AdXpose
AdXpose is the leader in digital advertising analytics solutions. The company’s SaaS technology provides advertisers and publishers with greater transparency and confidence in the quality, safety, and performance of their digital advertising campaigns. The actionable optimization metrics captured by AdXpose solutions help its customers realize increased ROI, more profitable margins, and measurable ad effectiveness. AdXpose is headquartered in Seattle, WA, with offices in New York City, and is backed by Draper Fischer Jurvetson and Ignition Partners. For more information, visit www.adxpose.com.

Partnership will ensure Media Contacts’ clients benefit from best in class delivery transparency and brand protection

New York, NY and London, UK – Media Contacts UK, the interactive media network of Havas Digital, today announced a partnership with DoubleVerify, the pioneer and market leader in online advertising verification and compliance. DoubleVerify, which has a sales and support team in London, will provide ad verification and compliance services to the agency’s clients.

Looking to provide superior performance for its clients, Media Contacts conducted a rigorous vetting process to select DoubleVerify as its preferred partner. The tests proved that DoubleVerify’s technology excelled in delivering accountability and transparency for advertisers. DoubleVerify proved to Media Contacts that it is the partner of choice to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and compliance.
“At Media Contacts, we always focused on making campaign performance as transparent as possible for clients, but theblack box nature of digital technology delivery, to date, makes it difficult to see where some ads actually appear,” says Chris Swarbrick, Head of Ad Operations at Media Contacts. “We were very excited about the development of ad verification technology and believe this should become a standard of digital delivery. We’ve signed a Master Service Agreement with DoubleVerify to makethis a reality in the UK. Our partnership enables us to track whether or not clients’ ads are running on compliant sites, in desirable positions, and to the right audience. Clients, in turn, benefit from the security of knowing where their ads are and improving optimisation through greater transparency.”

DoubleVerify runs campaigns worldwide with its suite of verification and compliance services. As the global leader in ad verification and the pioneer in the category, the company verifies more than 35 billion impressions per month.

In early findings among U.K. advertisers, DoubleVerify is discovering that up to 25 percent of online ads are not compliant. Some advertisers have also seen that 7.4 percent of ads are being served to users outside of the U.K. who are not intended targets.

“It’s our mission to bring trust and accountability to online advertising globally so that the entire industry can grow,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “This partnership with Media Contacts is furthering our mission by increasing our offerings in new markets.”

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

About Media Contacts
Media Contacts is a top 5 UK digital specialist, which is part of Havas Digital.

We are a globally recognised leading digital agency that provides a broad spectrum of online media solutions. We deliver brilliant results for our clients through an array of services that include Display Advertising, Search, SEO Mobile, Data, Affiliates and Social Media.

With over 80 specialist digital staff, Media Contacts brings together expertise, proven strategic insight and Artemis™, our advanced proprietary technology platform, to maximise impact for our clients’ interactive media investment. Since 1997, Media Contacts is the trusted partner of more than 400 clients, including the market leaders of many industries, in 52 offices throughout 43 cities, across Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

We make a promise to our clients that a level of brilliance will always be delivered in everything we do. Our clients include: TUI, EDF Energy, IG Group, EBLEX, Shearing’s, Hyundai & Kia, Magners, BBC, Camelot, Nationwide, AXA, First Choice, Credit Suisse, Hotels.com and National Express.

Sophisticated Attacks Target Video, Display, and Search Campaigns to Commit Fraud

AUSTIN, Texas – Adometry, Inc. (formerly Click Forensics) announced that the Adometry Malware Lab has discovered a new highly sophisticated advertising fraud scheme targeting online video, display and search advertisements. The coordinated attack, called “ad hijacking,” uses similar malware and infection delivery methods to create a network of computers aimed at committing advertising fraud through different kinds of advertisements and channels. The ad hijacking attack affects online advertisers, ad networks, and publishers. More details of the Lab’s findings can be found at: http://blog.adometry.com/.

“In the past, advertising fraudsters have mainly set their sights on the search advertising industry,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Adometry. “This is the first attack we’ve seen that coordinates advertising fraud across many different online ad channels.”

The Adometry Malware Lab first identified the new ad hijacking scheme and malware delivery method in November 2010. Rather than requiring a user to download malware via a fake anti-virus program, the malware injects itself into the rootkit of a user’s computer through an advertisement on a popular web site or simply when a browser visits a particular web site. Once it successfully infects the computer, the malware receives instructions from a host to perform multiple kinds of advertising fraud, including search hijacking, display advertising impression inflation, and video advertising fraud. The attacks are conducted in the following ways:

Search Hijacking – when a user enters an organic search term, the malware program re-directs the browser through different ad networks and arbitrage companies. Visitors can end up on sites they had no intention of visiting, and advertisers pay for unintentional and invalid clicks. Alternatively, visitors can reach their intended destination after being rerouted through several arbitrage networks, resulting in advertisers paying for audiences they would otherwise have for free. In addition, the malware program can be instructed to auto-click on specific ads on certain publisher sites and networks even when a browser session is inactive.

Video Ad Fraud – the malware hijacks an organic search and redirects the user’s browser to a web page that displays a video ad. The video plays and the advertiser is charged for the impression, which can command premiums of $30-$50 per thousand impressions (CPM).

Display Impression Inflation – hidden in the background from the user, the malware can direct the computer’s browser to various publisher pages that show display ads in order to generate fraudulent ad impressions. The user never sees these impressions, but advertisers pay full price for seemingly valid impressions because a “real” visitor generated the traffic.

Between November 2010 and May 2011, the Adometry Malware Lab has tracked the advertising scheme across many online ad networks and publishers. While difficult to quantify, the frequency with which Lab machines were infected indicates that tens or hundreds of thousands of computers are likely infected, generating millions of invalid clicks and advertising impressions per month. The Lab has found only one antivirus program capable of identifying and preventing the ad hijacking scheme’s malicious malware program from being installed.

For more information on Adometry, visit www.adometry.com or follow on Twitter: @Adometry.

About Adometry

Adometry, formerly Click Forensics, provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

Adometry is a trademark of Adometry, Inc. Click Forensics is a registered trademark of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, announced BrandShield 2.0, a real-time page-level and geo-level blocking solution. Advertisers and agencies can now ensure that ads are served to pages with approved and safe content. A vital tool to protecting a brand’s reputation, BrandShield identifies undesirable and unwanted web pages to prevent incidents before they occur. The solution can be customized based on black list sites, white list sites, inappropriate page content categories and targeted geographies. These features also can be utilized by ad networks, demand side platforms and ad exchanges through the BrandShield Connect API.

DoubleVerify’s ability to accurately see through multiple layers of i-frames enables it to identify the placement of an ad 96% of the time, making its technology superior to competitors who can only verify an ad about 30% to 60% of the time. In a six-week test DoubleVerify conducted this year with three Fortune 500 brand advertisers, it analyzed campaigns across 244 million impressions and found that:

- Precise identification of content allowed for more ads to be served on brand-safe pages. Publishers added 25% more inventory when page-level blocking was used versus domain-level blocking. One entertainment site served 600,000 more impressions that would have been blocked with domain-level restrictions.

- Geo-blocking was effectively applied to every continent according to each advertiser’s criteria, with impressions blocked from Canada (35%), European countries (26%), Australia (5%), Asian countries (5%) and Africa and other regions (29%). This is an effective feature for pharmaceutical marketers who may be restricted from advertising in some countries. Research published in DoubleVerify’s Trust Index found that unintended international impressions can reach as high as 40 percent of total ads served on every campaign.

“Page level ad blocking will provide advertisers with the highest level of brand safety and compliance, even on sites that contain a mix of different content types, while allowing ad networks and publishers to better monetize ad inventory,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “To boost transparency and accountability in the industry, we’ve built our solution to specifically address this problem. With DoubleVerify delivering a 96% see-through rate, the rate at which ad impressions can be accurately located and verified, we can evaluate site and page content and make the best real-time judgment to protect an advertiser’s brand. The precision in the technology protects the interests of all companies in the online ad ecosystem.”

BrandShield enables marketers and agencies to control where their brand appears. Before an ad is served to a page, DoubleVerify analyzes the site content with a proprietary crawling technology and compares it with the agency campaign guidelines to ensure that the page meets certain criteria. DoubleVerify identifies for more than 75 possible inappropriate content categories. With BrandShield 2.0, DoubleVerify added more granular categories such as natural disasters, aviation accidents and financial crisis, among others. This is an advantage for some of the most active online marketers such as finance and airline companies whose ads are continually served on negative content pages because of unsophisticated contextual targeting methods. Marketers have three ways to block undesirable content:

Domain-level – block ads from appearing on certain domains
Page-level – instead of blocking an entire domain, marketers may allow only appropriate pages to display the ad within a domain
Geo-level – block ads from being served to unintended international audiences
By working with DoubleVerify, ad networks and publishers can ensure that impressions are qualified before campaigns are served. This boosts monetization for publishers with frequently changing content such as news, user-generated content and blogs. Page-level blocking gives advertisers the precision and control they need to serve ads on these sites, while keeping with the brands’ compliance standards. DoubleVerify ensures that no impressions are wasted and that every appropriate page and ad unit is monetized.

“Our partnership with DoubleVerify continues to provide our clients with a truly best in class solution,” said Michael Katz, CEO, interclick. “With interclick, they know that they are reaching only the most desirable consumers while DoubleVerify ensures they are reached exclusively in the most coveted environments.”

“In online advertising there is still some uncertainty around whether specific websites or web content add value to an advertiser’s brand, or in fact hurt the brand. BrandShield 2.0 helps alleviate that uncertainty by verifying ad placement based on every page,” says Mitch Weinstein, vice president and director of Digital Ad Operations at UM. This type of protection makes sure that our clients are showing up on premium, relevant content that is brand safe.”

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Ad-Juster, Inc. and Fivia SA, have signed a partnership agreement allowing Fivia clients to use Ad-Juster’s third party delivery data collection service to automatically load third party numbers into Fivia products for billing reconciliation and discrepancy management.

“The demands of Internet advertising cross all boarders and Fivia and Ad-Juster have joined forces to meet those demands”, says Jesse Poppick, VP of Business Development for Ad-Juster, Inc., “Together, Fivia and Ad-Juster can provide toptier improvements to the work-flow of publishers, agencies and networks.”

“Fivia is very happy to be able to offer Ad-Juster data directly into AdFront, our première order management system,” adds Fivia Co-Chief Executive Officer Geoffroy Guena. “The AdFront platform is the only order management solution that addresses the needs of multi-national businesses, providing multi-currency capability and multi-language capability. Adding Ad-Juster 3rd party data as well, sets a new bar in the order management marketplace”.

The partnership is non-exclusive, but it does give publishers who are already using Ad-Juster and AdFront an immediate benefit from data integration. Existing Fivia clients will be offered a discount on Ad-Juster, when they become new Ad-Juster clients. Both companies are looking forward to broadening the reach of critical data throughout the international digital advertising ecosystem.

About Fivia
FIVIA SA is the oldest provider of automated inventory, order and billing management software for the media / advertising industry. AdFront, the result of over +10 years of research and development, is the most powerful software solution on the market for workflow automation, contract and financial management – designed specifically for the needs of Internet advertising. See www.fivia.com for more information.

About Ad-Juster
Ad-Juster is the world’s only third party reporting and discrepancy management tool. Ad-Juster automatically pulls delivery data from all third parties into one report: totally eliminating time spent collecting this data manually. Ad-Juster also automatically identifies and reports ad delivery discrepancies – helping manage one of the digital ad world’s most painful problems. See www.ad-juster.com for more information.

Former Razorfish Executive and Ad Agency Veteran Reflects AdXpose’s Latest Commitment in Courting Madison Avenue

New York, NY – AdXpose, the market-leading verification and optimization company, announced that Jeff Lanctot, former Chief Strategy Officer of Razorfish, has been named to the company’s Board of Directors.  The appointment is effective immediately and comes at a time when the company is rolling out an enhanced version of its award winning analytics service for ad agencies.  The announcement was made during IAB’s annual Networks & Exchanges Marketplace conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in New York City.

“AdXpose is focused on increasing our presence on Madison Avenue and arming ad agencies with technology that creates real value for their clients,” said Kirby Winfield, AdXpose CEO.  “Agencies need assurance that their campaigns are not only safe from inappropriate placement, but that they are visible, engaging, and efficiently optimized.  The addition of Jeff Lanctot to our board represents our strategic focus on our agency partnerships and solutions.”

As a member of the Board of Directors, Lanctot will provide guidance and counsel on AdXpose’s approach to developing key relationships within ad agencies, and best practices in servicing the unique needs of the digital media buyer.

“AdXpose is changing the way online media is bought and sold,” said Lanctot.  “The digital media world has evolved rapidly and at the same time continues to be opaque and challenging for agencies.  AdXpose transparency and efficient media valuation are straightforward benefits agencies are adopting to increase their value to their clients.”

A veteran of the advertising world, Lanctot most recently served as managing director for Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group, where he was charged with developing partnership and business development strategies for APS by working with Microsoft’s partners in the advertising industry.  Prior to joining APS, Lanctot was Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Razorfish, where he oversaw partnership and investment strategies as well as the development of the company’s capabilities in the U.S. and abroad.  Lanctot has also been a recipient of numerous industry accolades, including Advertising Age’s “Media Maven” Award, MEDIAWEEK’S “Media All-Star” Award, B2B Magazine’s “Best & Brightest Media Strategist” Award and was twice named one of Media Magazine’s “50 Most Influential People in Online Advertising.”

Lanctot joins the company as it launches a new wave of features targeted at the digital media agency.  AdXpose has enhanced its core brand safety offering with a new release of its patented Affinity Scoring semantic technology, which weighs and determines likely meanings of text on Web pages.  In addition, AdXpose’s new CPM Calculator allows media planners and buyers to monitor the CPM pricing paid for each impression in a campaign, and measures the “Real CPM Value” of each impression based on a weighted algorithm which takes into account historic InView® and engagement data for the relevant placement.  The AdXpose tool generates allocation recommendations, making it simple for buyers to move dollars from inefficient tranches of inventory to those that produce the most value for their specific campaign.

About AdXpose
AdXpose is the leader in digital advertising analytics solutions.  The company’s SaaS technology provides advertisers and publishers with greater transparency and confidence in the quality, safety and performance of their digital advertising campaigns.  The actionable optimization metrics captured by AdXpose solutions help its customers realize increased ROI, more profitable margins and measurable ad effectiveness.  AdXpose is headquartered in Seattle, WA, with offices in New York City, and is backed by Draper Fischer Jurvetson and Ignition Partners.  For more information, visit www.adxpose.com.

NEW YORK, NY — DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, announced its expansion into the United Kingdom today with the opening of a new London location. Michelle Lawrence, formerly of MPG Media Contacts in London, will head the UK office as director of sales. DoubleVerify leads the international market for online media verification and compliance services, working with the world’s biggest advertisers, publishers and ad technology companies to verify more than 35 billion worldwide impressions per month.

“Further developing DoubleVerify’s offering in new markets is a big focus for the company in 2011 as interactive advertising continues to grow around the world,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “It’s our mission to bring trust and accountability to online advertising globally so the entire industry can grow. We’re excited to have Michelle on board and are proud to build upon our presence in the UK.”

DoubleVerify runs campaigns worldwide with its suite of verification and compliance services. The company offers brand safety monitoring, ad blocking and compliance solutions that bring additional accountability to online advertising — benefiting advertisers, ad networks, publishers, DSPs and exchanges alike. DoubleVerify monitors for non-compliance, including: instances when multiple ads from the same advertiser were served, when ads were served alongside a competitor and when ads were served below the fold. In the U.S., the company’s Trust Index indicated that up to 30 percent of online ads are not-compliant. In early findings among UK advertisers, DoubleVerify is discovering that this is the case for up to 13 to 25 percent of their ads. Some advertisers have also seen that 7.4 percent of ads are being served to users outside of the UK who are not intended targets. DoubleVerify serves several markets, including Europe, Australia and Latin America.

Prior to DoubleVerify, Lawrence was the Digital Group account director at MPG Media Contacts in London. There, she developed digital marketing communications strategies and was responsible for all digital business elements across the group. Lawrence held previous posts as Digital Group media director at Horizon Media and account/media director at Carat, both in New York. Lawrence held similar positions at ID Media (Interpublic Group), Register.com and Digitas, where she got her start. Lawrence holds a B.S. in business administration from Boston University School of Management.

“Online advertising in the UK is just as complex as the U.S. and there’s a clear need for a company like DoubleVerify to help marketers accomplish their goals and keep their brands secure online,” Lawrence said. “I’m thrilled to help spread DoubleVerify’s mission in the UK and I believe that with increased trust in the marketplace, the industry can prosper across the globe.”

In the U.S., DoubleVerify also helps advertisers, ad networks, DSPs and publishers adhere to industry standards around protecting consumer privacy. The company is currently preparing to expand its Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) product internationally as additional markets create programs to manage and regulate behaviorally targeted ads.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and AudienceScience, the largest audience aggregator in the world and early innovator of online advertising technology, announced a partnership to offer verified and compliant online ads to AudienceScience advertisers. AudienceScience’s Audience Delivery System, a comprehensive global media solution, comprises the AudienceScience Gateway, the premier audience targeting and data management platform, delivering efficient and effective online advertising, and AudienceScience Connect, the industry’s first media transaction platform enabling streamlined and transparent premium media buying and selling, including state-of-the-industry Real Time Bidding support, will integrate with DoubleVerify’s BrandAssure solution for online media verification. DoubleVerify ad tags used for verification seamlessly integrates the company’s Advertising Option Icon for self-regulation, which has been approved by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA).

Looking to further its vigilant efforts to ensure trust, compliance and accountability to the industry, and provide superior performance for clients, AudienceScience conducted a rigorous vetting process to select DoubleVerify as a preferred partner. DoubleVerify was chosen for its solution that seamlessly integrates media verification and Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) compliance with the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Program. This is in keeping with AudienceScience’s Quality Data Guarantee and its insistence on the strictest privacy compliance measures in the industry. DoubleVerify, with the 2-in-1 solution, was a clear choice for AudienceScience and its clients.

“Through our partnership with DoubleVerify, our clients have yet another reason to trust that their brands are in the right hands with AudienceScience,” said Jeff Hirsch, president of AudienceScience. “Our advanced technology and superior data ensure campaigns are targeted to the right audience and adhere to the Self-Regulation Program guidelines. Our partnership with DoubleVerify will only heighten the integrity of the already quality campaigns we’re running for the biggest advertisers in the world.”

DoubleVerify is the only company that offers a robust, all-encompassing solution for marketers, ad networks, DSPs and publishers to ensure media verification, as well as OBA compliance mandated by the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Program. DoubleVerify’s verification technology, which is applied to more than 35 billion online ad impressions per month, continuously monitors the complex digital advertising ecosystem to ensure that ads appear where and how advertisers paid for them to appear. Its OBA compliance solution protects consumer privacy and boosts advertising accountability through the Advertising Option Icon in online advertisements and on web pages where data is collected and used for behavioral advertising. The icon informs consumers of the nature of ads and opt-out choices.

“Transparency and accountability are increasingly important in online advertising. Campaign tracking is now more complex as agencies, ad networks and DSPs run ads in mass quantities. Furthermore, self-regulation is now a mandate from the industry and government regulators. Third-party media verification and consumer disclosure through the Ad Options Icon are positive steps towards building trust all around with the consumer and with the companies working in the ecosystem,” said Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DoubleVerify. “We’re thrilled to have an early innovator and industry leader like AudienceScience as a media partner and look forward to providing our services to their advertisers and agency partners.”

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

About AudienceScience:
AudienceScience is the largest and most trusted audience aggregator in the world. As an early innovator of online advertising technology, AudienceScience continues to revolutionize the industry, enabling universal access to audiences and driving digital marketing success. The Audience Delivery System, a comprehensive global media solution, comprises the AudienceScience Gateway, the premier audience targeting and data management platform, delivering efficient and effective online advertising, and AudienceScience Connect™, the industry’s first media transaction platform enabling streamlined and transparent premium media buying and selling, including state-of-the-industry Real Time Bidding support. With 300 billion data insights daily into over 386 million people worldwide, AudienceScience makes it simple to find, reach and achieve one-to-one marketing at scale. Since 2003, AudienceScience has delivered over 250,000 targeted campaigns for clients including American Airlines, Financial Times, Gannett, New York Times Digital, Nikkei.com, T-Com, Orange, Terra, Telecom Italia and Wall Street Journal Digital. For more information, please visit http://www.AudienceScience.com and follow @AudienceScience on Twitter.

New Vice President of Finance from DoubleVerify, Senior Director of Agency Sales from MediaMath, and Business Development Manager from PointRoll Join New York Headquarters

NEW YORK – Peer39, a leader in the semantic advertising industry, announced three key additions to its New York headquarters. Ronit Dvir-Bacalu will join Peer39 as vice president of finance from online ad verification company DoubleVerify. Ross Sandler joins as senior director of agency sales from MediaMath, and finally, Erik Johnson joins the team as business development manager from PointRoll.

Ronit Dvir-Bacalu was vice president of finance at DoubleVerify, where she was in charge of the domestic and international accounting management of the company. Prior to DoubleVerify, Dvir-Bacalu held the same role at AFI-USA and served as audit manager and senior auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York and in Tel Aviv. Dvir-Bacalu has more than 12 years of finance and accounting experience and is an alumna of the College of Management in Israel.

With more than 12 years of digital advertising experience, Ross Sandler will be charged with overseeing relationships with trading desks, agencies and marketers at Peer39. Most recently Sandler was at MediaMath where he initiated and built relationships with the industry’s largest agencies and marketers.  Prior to his tenure at MediaMath, Ross held a number of sales and management roles at DoubleClick, Revenue Science and PointRoll.

Erik Johnson comes to Peer39 with multiple years of experience in the advertising industry. He was most recently at PointRoll where he served in several roles including the channel development manager. In this role he worked with key publishers to drive rich media partnership growth.

“Demand for our page-level intelligence continues to grow as brands see more success from the scale, efficiencies and effectiveness of our semantic targeting technology,” said Andy Ellenthal, CEO of Peer39.  “Given our strategic partnerships and traction in the online advertising space, Peer39 will continue responding to our fast market adoption by adding industry professionals who share our vision for creating a new, innovative form of online advertising. We’re excited to bring on these three seasoned executives to help us continue to build our New York headquarters.”

Peer39 helps advertisers define and control the environment in which their ads appear by analyzing pages across multiple websites and providing data on the quality, safety, and category of each page. These attributes work together to define the true meaning of a page, allowing advertisers to select only the right ones for their brand and message.

About Peer39
Peer39 has developed proprietary semantic advertising technology that provides page level intelligence that accurately and efficiently matches online ads to content. The company’s patented natural language processing and machine learning algorithms are able to derive Quality, Safety, Language, and Category attributes from web pages, thus empowering networks, exchanges, publishers, SSPs, DSPs and emerging advertising platforms to boost monetization. By processing tens of thousands of URLs per second and enabling over 3 billion ad requests daily, Peer39 provides a cookie-less data solution built to address the real-time needs of today’s online advertising ecosystem. Headquartered in New York City, Peer39 maintains a research and development center in Israel. Peer39 Labs conducts primary research in semantic analysis and targeting technologies resulting in numerous patents covering its technology and business practices. Peer39 is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Council for Accountable Advertising, and is an OnMedia Top 100 winner and was chosen by MIT’s Technology Review as one of 10 Web Startups to Watch.  For more information, please visit www.peer39.com or follow us on Twitter at @SemanticizeMe.

Program Gives Advertisers Confidence Certified Ad Networks & Exchanges Provide Safe Environments for Brands

First 17 Companies Receive Compliance Seal

NEW YORK – To enhance buyer control over ad placement and context, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the in-market debut of the Ad Network & Exchange Quality Assurance Certification program, a first-of-its-kind compliance mechanism and the only industry-endorsed certification program that exists today. Only companies that undergo rigorous training, conduct an intensive internal audit and assign a compliance officer to ensure they maintain the IAB’s Quality Assurance Guidelines (QAG) will receive a compliance seal from the IAB. The seal, which can be placed on the company’s website and marketing materials, certifies that the company is adhering fully to the only industry established criteria as outlined by the QAG, finalized in June 2010.

The IAB also announced the first 17 ad networks & exchanges that have completed the training and received the seal:

24/7 Real Media
Adap.tv
Adconion
AOL/Advertising.com
AudienceScience
BrightRoll
Burst Media
Casale Media
CONTEXTWEB
CPX Interactive
Google
Specific Media
SpotXchange
TubeMogul
ValueClick Media
YuMe
Traffic Marketplace

“IAB congratulates this first wave of companies and looks forward to announcing additional compliant companies in 2011,” says Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO, IAB. “The Ad Network & Exchange Certification Program is the next step of the Quality Assurance Guidelines and gives marketers an extra level of comfort that companies carrying the IAB seal are brand safe and deliver what they promise. Buyers who want to ensure they are getting the highest level of quality assurance can now look for the IAB compliance seal and know they are dealing with an ad network or exchange that has made a commitment to transparency, accountability and trust in advertising.”

“We are grateful to the IAB for creating the Ad Network & Exchange Certification Program. Knowing that the IAB is making sure ad networks & exchanges with a compliance seal are following the Quality Assurance Guidelines is very reassuring,” says John Montgomery, COO, North America, GroupM Interaction. “If an ad network or exchange has an IAB compliance seal, we can trust they are working with our agency and the brands we represent to deliver ads to relevant audiences in appropriate content. This commitment will now be a very important factor when we are considering campaigns.”

Seven other IAB member companies are currently enrolled in the Ad Network & Exchange Certification Program, and along with those that have received their seals, they represent more than two thirds of the top 25 ad networks ranked by comScore based on site traffic or audience.

IAB is allowing buyers to file complaints via the IAB website about compliant companies that might be falling short of their commitment to maintain the highest industry-established standards of quality. The IAB will then investigate with an independent third party under the direction of a Steering Committee of IAB member ad networks and exchanges, which can result in revocation of the seal. The guidelines and contact information for the compliant companies can be found at: http://www.iab.net/ne_guidelines

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

- Mpire Officially Changes Corporate Name to AdXpose, Reflecting the Success of its Flagship Analytics Solution
- Raises $3 Million toSupportAdXpose’s Continued Growth
- Kirby Winfield Elevated to CEO;Ryan Polley Assumes New COO Position
- AdXpose Revenue and Impressions Grew 150% Each Quarter in 2010

Seattle, WA – Mpire, the market-leading verification and optimization technology company, announced that it has changed the company name to AdXpose, officially assuming the brand name of its highly successful flagship ad analytics offering, and hasraised $3 million in capital to support the company’s growth.  The funding round was led by existing investor Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

In addition, the company announced that it has elevated President and Chief Revenue Officer Kirby Winfield to the position of CEO, and that Senior Vice President of Strategic Development Ryan Polley will assume the newly created position of COO.As part of the move, Winfield will join the company’s board of directors.

“We are very excited about our company’s rapid growth over the past 12 months – it is a clear testament to the efficacy of our AdXpose solution and the success that it has generated for our customers’ campaigns,” said Winfield.  “With such strong industry demand for AdXpose from major brands, ad agencies and publishers, we now need to scale up our operations, including hiring staff and opening new offices.This new round of funding will give us more than enough capital to meet our customers’ needs.”

Today’s changes come after a year of strong growth for AdXpose. As the ad verification and optimization space continues to flourish,AdXpose saw an average 150% quarter-by-quarter increase last year in terms of revenue and impressions optimized.In other 2010 accomplishments, AdXpose:

- Signed more than 100 new customers, including top ad networks Adconion and interclick; leading platforms AdMeld, ContextWeb and MediaMath; major publishers United Online and Cox; and subsidiaries of all 5 major agency holding companies
- Increased InView® impression rates of its customers’ online ad campaigns by more than35%
- Increased ad engagement rates of its customers’ online ad campaigns by more than106%
- Reduced  non-compliance of its customers’ online ad campaigns by more than 78% within the first 30 days
- Became the only ad verification provider to natively integrate into all leading global ad serving platforms
- Developed a substantial OEM reseller footprint within major ad servers including AOL’s ADTECH
- Created the industry’s first mobile ad verification solution
- Expanded its international presence in the European Union and Asia Pacific regions
- Filed for three additional patents addressing its unique event capture and analytics technologies
- Increased headcount by more than 50%

“As the ad verification and optimization industry grows, AdXpose will continue to advance this new online ad paradigm,” added Winfield.  “Today’s announcement reflects our commitment to helping ad buyers and sellers together become more efficient in safely and accurately valuing and delivering digital media.”

About AdXpose
AdXpose is the leader in digital advertising analytics solutions. The company’s SaaS technology provides advertisers and publishers with greater transparency and confidence in the quality, safety, and performance of their digital advertising campaigns. The actionable optimization metrics captured by AdXpose solutions help its customers realize increased ROI, more profitable margins, and measurable ad effectiveness. AdXpose is headquartered in Seattle, WA, with offices in New York City, and is backed by Draper Fischer Jurvetson and Ignition Partners. For more information, visit www.adxpose.com.

Allows Site Owners to Tailor User Experiences to Their Brands & Streamline the Privacy Process

NEW YORK, NY – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, introduced a new version of its Privacy Manager as part of its OBA Compliance solution. The Privacy Manager allows consumers to set preferences for behaviorally targeted ads and lets DoubleVerify customers customize a user’s experience to match their sites’ look and feel. When consumers are served behaviorally targeted ads from DoubleVerify’s OBA Compliance solution, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Advertising Option Icon appears. Once users click on the Icon, the Privacy Manager launches and empowers them to either opt-out of behavioral targeting or set preferences for what information can be used for targeting. The Privacy Manager includes hundreds of companies and provides additional information on their privacy practices, in addition to an opt-out where available.

Consumers also encounter the Privacy Manager when visiting a website that uses DoubleVerify’s OBA Compliance solution. The Privacy Manager can either be linked to the DAA’s Icon on a site or through a publisher’s privacy policy. DoubleVerify’s Privacy Manager allows websites to control the appearance of the user-facing experience to match their brand and site appearance.

“The Privacy Manager feature in our OBA product exemplifies how we support of the DAA’s Self-Regulatory program. We’re making it very simple for companies across the board — advertisers, intermediaries and publishers — to adhere to industry privacy standards for behavioral advertising so we can prove to government agencies that the online advertising industry can self regulate,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Because of its ease of implementation, DoubleVerify’s OBA solution helps advertisers and publishers comply with the DAA’s standards with a click of a button. It is our responsibility to provide this service to consumers and imperative that the online advertising industry increases the transparency and accountability around its practices.”

DoubleVerify’s OBA compliance solution is a one-tag technology which, for customers of verification, uses the same ad tag it uses for its suite of verification solutions, enabling advertisers and publishers to comply with industry standards simply by checking a box on the system’s interface. The solution includes the placement of the Icon, the management of the disclosure information, the link to the user privacy manager and opt-out mechanism, as well as detailed evidence and reporting on compliance.

Since being certified by the DAA to provide OBA compliance services, DoubleVerify has placed it on more than 5 billion impressions per month across numerous ad campaigns. The company is offering its OBA solution at no charge until June 2011 to speed the adoption of the DAA’s Self-Regulatory program before potential regulatory legislation from the government is passed.

Meanwhile, individual industry organizations are beginning to enforce compliance with the self-regulatory program. The DMA’s deadline for compliance was January 31, 2011. The Better Business Bureau’s March 31, 2011 deadline is fast approaching and the Interactive Advertising Bureau set a date of August 29, 2011 as part of its recent Code of Conduct initiative for members. Because of DoubleVerify’s wide reach and hassle-free implementation, its OBA Compliance solution is the fastest and easiest method of compliance with the self-regulatory program.

For more information on DoubleVerify’s OBA Compliance solution, visit: http://www.doubleverify.com/solutions/regulatory-compliance/

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Adometry Validate™ Only Real-Time Solution to Verify 100% of Impressions Served for DoubleClick Ad Exchange Advertisers

OMMA Metrics 2011
NEW YORK – At the OMMA Metrics conference, Adometry (formerly Click Forensics, Inc.), the leading provider of ad analytics, announced that it is the first ad verification and attribution vendor certified by Google to provide campaign verification and effectiveness measurement across the Google Display Network (GDN) for ad inventory bought through Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Google had not previously allowed third-party verification across GDN inventory, only recently approving the use of DoubleVerify, a point solution for monitoring brand safety. Now, by including the Adometry tag on their ad campaigns, advertisers buying GDN inventory through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange have a more robust solution for audience verification, attribution, and campaign effectiveness measurement.

Adometry Validate provides more than simple brand safety capabilities, including:

- Moves beyond monitoring of inappropriate content to provide verification of entire campaigns, including effectiveness, reach & frequency, and demographic targeting
- Reports are delivered in real-time via a browser-based interface, rather than through weekly spreadsheets
- Unlike other offerings that only verify samples of a campaign, Adometry verifies 100% of ad impressions

Adometry Validate is the core module of the Adometry Ad Analytics suite, which has processed billions of clicks and impressions for dozens of the world’s largest advertisers and ad networks. Adometry Ad Analytics combines ad verification, dynamic attribution and campaign optimization in a tightly integrated platform, giving advertisers a comprehensive way to measure and manage campaigns across the entire online advertising ecosystem.

“Verifying brand safety alone is not enough,” said Steve O’Brien, vice president of Marketing at Adometry. “Transparency in the online ad exchange world is about more than just verifying the content of sites where ads are served. Advertisers need to know which campaign attributes are working and why, in order to make adjustments to maximize ROI.”

Since 2006, Adometry has delivered cross-platform ad campaign measurement and optimization solutions for top online advertisers, publishers and ad networks in the display and cost-per-click advertising markets. Each month, the company processes billions of ad impressions, which it uses to refine and develop sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that track and enhance ad campaign performance and effectiveness. The company’s SaaS offerings are ideally suited to meet the scalability and performance demands of real-time online advertising campaign management.

For more information on Adometry, visit www.adometry.com or follow us on Twitter @Adometry.

About Adometry

Adometry, formerly Click Forensics, Inc., provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

Extends media reach further across the US and globally

CRANBURY, N.J. – Adsend, Omnilab Media’s advanced web-based asset delivery company announced the acquisition of CertiFyle, a leading US-based provider of advertising validation and delivery services. The acquisition brings together two successful companies to better provide integrated print media services for corporations, advertising agencies and print publishers.

Adsend USA’s president Al Edwards said, “For those placing advertisements in newspapers or magazines, it takes tremendous time and commitment to prepare every ad to each publisher’s specifications. Adsend has earned its reputation with customers for reliable and secure ad submissions to newspaper publishers. Customers appreciate the ease-of-use of our direct cloud-based service from their desktop. Now, with the addition of CertiFyle’s experience in magazine advertisement delivery and validation services, we represent even greater value to our customers.”

CertiFyle founder Larry Greybill, who will continue to work with Adsend said, “This is very good news for the industry. Adsend, with CertiFyle’s added functionality, now represents a more advanced service for advertisers and agencies placing print advertising across newspapers and magazines.”

Since its inception in 2002, CertiFyle has focused on serving advertisers and agencies with the delivery of print advertisements in magazines worldwide. Over the past 17 years, Adsend has become one of the world’s largest ad validation and digital delivery services with a stronghold in ad submissions to newspaper publishers. The acquisition will net Adsend a newspaper and magazine publisher database of over 15,000 publications globally, including Fortune 100 publishers. It will also further bolster Adsend’s customer base.

Adsend Global CEO Grant Schuetrumpf said, “Adsend is USA’s largest print advertising validation and delivery network. The real beauty of this acquisition is providing our clients a greatly expanded service to source advertising specifications and reach as many national and international publications as possible, all from the desktop, from anywhere in the world.”

Adsend is part of the $100+ million AUSD turnover Omnilab Media group that specializes in managing and delivering rich media content for the advertising and entertainment industries. Today top agencies and brand owners in the US, Europe, Africa and Australasia use Adsend to manage and deliver display advertising to over 15,000 newspapers and magazines, and Tracksend to securely deliver millions of digital assets every month.

Omnilab Media managing director Christopher Mapp said, “Our vision for Omnilab Media is very much centered around smart acquisitions that make good business sense for our international client base. Adsend’s acquisition of CertiFyle further extends our footprint in the US and is an excellent fit with Omnilab Media’s global business strategy.”

Further announcements on Adsend’s future expansion and technical upgrades are expected in the near future.

Al Edwards concluded, “This is a very interesting time for the advertising and publishing industries. Ultimately this is good news for our customers who will quickly see the added value and benefits this acquisition brings them.”

About Adsend

Adsend is part of the Omnilab Media group of companies. Adsend facilitates communication between advertisers and publishers with its secure browser-based file transmission product used by thousands of worldwide advertisers and publishers since 1995. www.adsend.com

About Omnilab Media

Adsend is part of Omnilab Media, Australia and New Zealand’s largest privately owned vertically integrated media company, incorporating five key media business arms: content development, professional media services, media infrastructure and technology, content sales & distribution partnerships, property and listed investments. Omnilab Media has a turnover in excess of $100 million AUSD per annum and employs over 500 of the very best creative and technical talent across a portfolio of 17 media businesses. www.omnilab.com

DoubleVerify Increases Brand Safety for Ad Buyers and Sellers through Verification Services on Google Display Network

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, announced that it has secured approval from Google to provide verification across Google Display Network (GDN) inventory bought through Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Up to now, Google has not allowed third party verification across GDN inventory bought through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Verification was previously allowed on GDN inventory purchased directly from Google, but not on GDN inventory bought through Google’s ad exchange, until today. Now, advertisers buying GDN inventory through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange may include a DoubleVerify verification tag on campaigns.

This move signals the continued acceptance and adoption of DoubleVerify’s ad verification technologies and the importance of verification in driving the popularity and growth of advertising exchanges and automated buying. Google acceptance of verification in exchange inventory will help increase adoption and usage of ad exchanges even further, as brand safety improves for advertisers. A study with agencies conducted by DoubleVerify last year showed that more than 72 percent of ad buyers chose brand safety over scale when planning media campaigns. The study also found that more than 98 percent of media buyers indicated that third-party verification of their campaign was important. Additionally, more than 89 percent of buyers indicated they will be more willing to spend or shift budget to ad networks that offered third-party verification.

“Transparency and accountability are increasingly important in online advertising as more and more campaigns are being are being purchased and delivered via automated systems like ad exchanges, trading desks and DSPs,” said Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify. “Advertisers can buy more when they know their campaigns are safe and accountable. We’re thrilled to have Google as a partner and look forward to providing our services to clients buying at scale on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange.”

DoubleVerify’s AdAssure and BrandAssure products will be immediately approved for use on the Google Display Network bought directly from GDN and through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. The services will provide clients with timely and extensive reporting around the placement of their ads.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Comprehensive Audit of Data & Inventory Validates interclick’s Commitment to Brand Safety

New York, NY  – Mpire’s AdXpose, the leading provider of online display verification and optimization, announced the results of a brand safety and performance analysis conducted which ranks interclick among the highest quality solutions.   AdXpose evaluated interclick using an all-inclusive methodology comprised of placement, time in-view, transparency, geographic, category and demographic data, as well as 10 types of brand safety.

According to the analysis, interclick consistently performed in the top-tier across numerous campaigns, compared to other DSPs and networks in the same media buy.  In recent campaigns where AdXpose was implemented for major financial and technology brands, interclick scored significantly above the industry average, increasing Return On Ad spend (ROAS) by minimizing risk and delivering reach in brand-friendly environments. interclick also scored well above the industry average in geographic and technographic targeting, and registered zero brand safety violations in January 2011.

“Trust is more important than ever in the online advertising space, and AdXpose delivers the holistic insights around transparency and audience interaction essential for each and every ad impression,” said Kirby Winfield, Mpire CEO. “With this perspective, we can strongly attest to interclick’s commitment to brand safety.”
interclick’s proprietary data valuation platform, Open Segment Manager (OSM), offers quantifiable insight into data that drives optimal outcomes for marketers. Through its integration with AdXpose, interclick verifies each data segment through AdXpose’s patent-pending real-time event capture.  Additionally, interclick implemented AdXpose’s proactive brand safety and verification features to block any potential conflicts in real-time.

“Connecting our clients with consumers in premium environments has always been a pillar of our success”, said interclick CEO Michael Katz. “Implementing AdXpose has allowed us to independently verify our commitment to bringing the safest and most trusted solutions to market”.

About Mpire
Mpire’s AdXpose is the market-leading advertising optimization technology that is evolving traditional online advertising into a more relevant and engaging medium for publishers and advertisers.  The patent-pending and award-winning technology is the first and only verification and optimization suite that gives brand marketers and agencies transparency and confidence anywhere their ads run across the Internet including exchanges, ad networks, and direct publisher placements.  AdXpose has helped advertisers and platforms verify and optimize billions of campaign data points captured in real time.  Agencies representing the major holding companies, multiple Demand Side Platforms, and more than 20 percent of the comScore Ad Focus Top 40 Properties currently use AdXpose technology. For more information about AdXpose, visit www.adxpose.com.

About interclick, inc.
interclick, inc. (Nasdaq:ICLK) is an audience intelligence company providing solutions for data-driven advertising. Combining scalable media execution capabilities with unique analytical expertise, interclick delivers exceptional results for marketers. The Company’s proprietary Open Segment Manager (OSM) platform organizes and valuates billions of data points daily to construct the most responsive digital audiences for major digital marketers. For more information, visit http://www.interclick.com.

DoubleVerify Analyzes Progress Against Non-Compliance; Finds Improvement From Leading Online Ad Networks, Publishers, Ad Exchanges and DSPs in 2H 2010

NEW YORK, NY – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, released findings from its 2H 2010 Trust Index. The report increases trust and accountability in the market by providing data around compliance and brand safety in online advertising. The most compliant ad networks from July to December 2010 were (listed alphabetically): AOL’s Advertising.com, AudienceScience, Casale Media, Dedicated Media, interclick, Microsoft Media Network, Specific Media, Traffic Marketplace and ValueClick Media. Advertising platforms that were most compliant include: Invite Media, The MIG’s Zeus Advertising Platform and VivaKi’s Audience on Demand (AOD).

To identify the top performers in the industry, DoubleVerify analyzed networks and platforms based on benchmarks of non-compliance, including: instances of ads served out of inclusion lists, in exclusion lists, alongside inappropriate content and ads served to international audiences. Compared to 1H 2010, the 2H 2010 Trust Index noted marked improvement in incidents of non-compliance from the industry’s best-performing companies and continued inconsistency from the worst-performing companies. DoubleVerify examined metrics from hundreds of advertisers, thousands of verified campaigns and more than 150 billion advertising impressions to produce the bi-annual report, which can be downloaded at: http://www.doubleverify.com/resources/research/trust-index-2h-2010/

“The Trust Index is a measure of how our industry is performing when it comes to compliance and accountability — two pillars that are critical in building trust and growing online advertising,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “The improvements in non-compliance rates we’ve seen so far are a reflection of the increased use of verification services that help vendors improve their campaign traffic quality. Meanwhile, a larger conversation is surfacing around how all online ad players have to work together with everyone’s best interest in mind to make online advertising more trustworthy — advertisers, ad technology companies and publishers. We believe the efforts we are undertaking this year will shape our industry for the future and ultimately bring more investment into the space overall.”

DoubleVerify utilized additional data points in its study of the overall progress against non-compliance, including: instances when multiple ads from the same advertiser were served, when ads were served alongside a competitor and when ads were served below the fold. The Trust Index also details the overall average of non-compliance as well as the standard deviation of each group of industry players, showing how much variation there is from the “average.” The high standard deviation suggests that there is still a lot of inconsistency in campaign compliance, where two campaigns being bought with the same media seller can yield very different compliance results.

Key findings from the 2H 2010 Trust Index include:

- In 2H 2010, the most compliant advertising networks had an average rate of 2 percent incidents of non-compliance. Compared to 1H 2010, the most compliant networks’ campaigns experienced less variability of non-compliance (from 17 to 9 percent standard deviation) while the least compliant networks experienced greater variability (from 29 to 38 percent). This shows consistency among the top performing networks.
- The most compliant ad platforms showed an average of 3 percent incidents of non-compliance — outperforming the lower tier of players by almost 9 times. In this top performing group, the standard deviation of non-compliant campaigns decreased significantly from 30 percent in 1H 2010 to 6 percent in 2H 2010.
- International targeting compliance varied greatly among publishers. The top 10 performing publishers saw an average of 0.01 percent of campaign impressions served internationally with a standard deviation of just 6 percent. The bottom performing publishers saw an average of 40 percent of campaign impressions served internationally and an 18 percent standard deviation.

DoubleVerify also analyzed how non-compliance on specific campaigns changed over time. Advertisers who worked with DoubleVerify to monitor, remediate and block non-compliant impressions witnessed a 67 percent decrease in inappropriate content and a 77 percent decrease in internationally targeted traffic (up from 72 percent in 1H 2010).

Additional highlights around advertising delivery norms include:

- 37 percent of ads on verified campaigns were served below the fold (compared to 44 percent in 1H 2010)
- 11 percent of advertising pages included multiple ads by the same advertiser (compared to 10 percent in 1H 2010)
- 5 percent of ads in verified campaigns were shown alongside a competitor’s ads (compared to 4 percent in 1H 2010)

Methodology
DoubleVerify used a robust set of data analysis tools to analyze online advertising campaign activity across more than 150 billion advertiser campaign impressions from July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. Types of non-compliance analyzed include instances of ads served out of inclusion lists, in exclusion lists, alongside inappropriate content, multiple ads from the same advertiser, ads alongside a competitor, below the fold ads and ads served to international audiences. The data in the analysis was carefully normalized to the best of our ability. Advertising delivery providers were categorized into 3 main categories: Advertising Networks, Platforms (includes DSPs, ad exchanges and trading desks) and Publishers. Impression thresholds were applied to each group to ensure the highest level of accuracy.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies more than 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Now Adometry, Company Continues Expansion Into Online Display Ad Verification and Attribution

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics, Inc. announced that it has acquired display ad verification technology provider Adometry of Redmond, Washington. In addition, Click Forensics announced it has changed its company name to Adometry. The moves are designed to support the continued expansion of the Click Forensics product line for the display advertising market.

In February 2010, Click Forensics launched a beta version of its cross-channel ad analytics suite for online display advertisers, which was tested by some of the world’s top brands and ad inventory providers. The integrated offering is designed to help advertisers, agencies, ad networks and publishers to manage audience verification attribution and campaign optimization through a single platform.

“The key challenge online marketers face today is accurately measuring and improving the performance of their online ad campaigns as they flow across a changing landscape of ad networks and web sites,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics and the new Adometry. “With the addition of ad verification technology from Adometry, our ad analytics suite integrates all the pieces of display campaign measurement and optimization in a single offering for brand advertisers.”

Over the past year, Click Forensics has continued to build out its technology offerings for display advertisers. The solution suite, which helps brands measure and improve the performance of their online display campaigns, complements Click Forensics ad analytics technology for PPC marketers. Online marketers can also use the two offerings together to manage their hybrid display and PPC campaigns.

“We’re excited to join forces with the Click Forensics team,” said John Dietz, founder of Adometry. “The company works with the world’s top online advertisers, publishers and ad networks. Our technology will enhance the current capabilities Click Forensics provides to display advertisers as we work together to build out new features for its powerful ad analytics suite.”

For more information, visit www.adometry.com or follow us on Twitter: @Adometry.

About Adometry, Inc.

Adometry, formerly Click Forensics, Inc., provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

Click Forensics is a registered trademark of Click Forensics, Inc. Adometry is a trademark of Adometry, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

New Analytics Offering for Display & Search Advertising Tracks Audiences and Performance Across Online Channels

OMMA Global Conference & Expo
SAN FRANCISCO – Adometry (formerly Click Forensics, Inc.) launched the industry’s first integrated ad analytics suite designed to help online advertisers measure and optimize campaign performance across different ad networks, publishers and media properties. The Adometry Ad Analytics suite, which has processed billions of clicks for dozens of the world’s largest advertisers in beta testing and production modes, combines ad verification, dynamic attribution and campaign optimization in a single solution. This unique approach gives advertisers a comprehensive way to measure and manage campaigns across the entire online advertising ecosystem.

“As the number of middlemen between display advertisers and audiences continues to grow, brands need ways to identify exactly where and when their campaigns deliver results so they can maximize return on ad spend,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Adometry. “Our new cross-platform ad analytics suite allows them to do just that by tracking the quality of impressions and unique attributes contributing to success across different systems and networks.”

Adometry Ad Analytics is specifically designed to solve the unique problems online advertisers face when running display campaigns across a variety of platforms, such as publisher web sites, ad exchanges, Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) and blind ad networks. Key features available in the Adometry Ad Analytics suite include:

Ad Analytics Validate™: helps brands and agencies verify the reach and frequency of online campaigns, validating when and how often display campaigns reached their desired target audiences. In addition to providing all the functionality of ad verification and brand safety solutions, Validate goes a step further by helping advertisers pinpoint specific demographics reached, how they were reached, and which ad networks and publishers performed best.
Ad Analytics Attribute™: dynamic cross-channel attribution uses predictive modeling and machine learning to help brands move beyond ineffective last-click attribution measurement and arbitrary fractional measurement techniques. Dynamic attribution measures not only ad lift, but also identifies which combination of campaign settings – such as site visits, search ad clicks, and social media engagement – are contributing best to conversions. Attribute analyzes budget, frequency and placement data, ROAS, conversions, and reach in order to adjust campaign delivery and optimize the mix of media properties that best suit ad campaign goals. This produces better results for display campaigns.

According to an October 2009 report by Forrester Research Inc. entitled “The Forrester Wave™: Interactive Attribution, Q4 2009”: “With the science of attribution measurement getting more attention from all stakeholders, the market is poised to embrace a fundamental shift away from last-click measurement and toward a more robust form of attribution measurement that affords credit across all interactive media types, channels, and interactions.”

Since 2006, Adometry has delivered cross-platform ad campaign measurement and optimization solutions for top online advertisers, publishers and ad networks in the display and cost-per-click advertising markets. Each month, the company processes billions of ad impressions, which it uses to refine and develop sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that track and enhance ad campaign performance and effectiveness. The company’s SaaS offerings are ideally suited to meet the scalability and performance demands of real-time online advertising campaign management.

For more information on the new Adometry Ad Analytics suite, visit www.adometry.com/launch. For more information on Adometry, visit www.adometry.com or follow us on Twitter: @Adometry.

About Adometry

Adometry, formerly Click Forensics, Inc., provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

Adometry is a trademark of Adometry, Inc. Click Forensics is a registered trademark of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Admeld and others use AdXpose to safeguard brand identity in the emerging mobile advertising marketplace

Seattle, WA – Mpire,the market-leading verification and optimization technology company, today announced the expansion of its award winning AdXpose Analytics® suite to address the fast growing mobile advertising marketplace, making it the first ad verification provider to audit and report against mobile ad campaign compliance, and protect brands from exposure to inappropriate content.

The new feature set, currently in beta testing, allows customers to view all existing AdXpose metrics, including placement,impressions, time in-view, geography, category, demographic, and brand safety metrics, as well as device type, operating system, and browser, through a mobile-only lens.

“Digital advertising is rapidly evolving into a multi-screen model, where a single creative type may be delivered across display, mobile, and video vehicles,” said Ryan Polley, SVP Strategic Development at Mpire.  “AdXpose is the only service provider that can monitor, report on, and optimize campaigns across all of these types of media.”

As the fastest growing marketing medium, U.S. spending on mobile advertising increased 79 percent over the last year and promises to eclipse $1 billion by the end of 2011, according to IDC Research.

AdXpose customers may now verify that their mobile campaigns are adhering to their brand safety standards as well as optimizing the performance of these campaigns by using AdXpose’s proprietary InView technology to maximize the number of ads seen by mobile users.

“Ad verification is every bit as critical on mobile as it is online,” said Ben Barokas, Co-Founder & CRO, Admeld. “Our clients expect a high level of transparency and control across all their inventory, and mobile verification has been elusive up to this point. We think that AdXpose is an important part of moving that goal forward.”

With the vast majority of ad inventory purchased indirectly through networks and exchanges, one of the biggest challenges for marketers is understanding where the ads actually appeared, whether they were viewed by the intended audience, and on what medium they were viewed. Through Mpire’s new mobile ad solution, marketers will now be able to apply the same verification and optimization technologies for both their mobile and display campaigns, giving them greater insight into the effectiveness of their multi-channel campaigns.

About AdXpose®
AdXpose® Analytics help advertisers and platforms verify and optimize billions of campaign data points captured in real time. Agencies representing the major holding companies, multiple Demand Side Platforms, and more than 20% of the comScore Ad Focus Top 40 Properties currently use AdXpose® technology.

About Mpire
Mpire is the market-leading advertising optimization technology company that is evolving traditional online advertising into a more relevant and engaging medium for publishers and advertisers. Its patent-pending and award-winning AdXpose® is the first and only verification and optimization technology suite that gives brand marketers and agencies transparency and confidence anywhere their ads run across the Internet, including exchanges, ad networks and direct publisher placements. Backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Ignition Partners, Mpire is based in Seattle, Washington.

DUBLIN – Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Cross-Platform Ad Metrics & Reporting 4Q 10” report to their offering.

This report employs a competitor analysis framework to assess the major U.S. digital video (digital TV and online video) audience measurement firms. The study constructs competitor profiles to determine which digital video audience measurement firm(s) is strategically positioned to provide an industry-recognized, cross-platform digital video audience metric standard.

Increasing demand to quantify and evaluate the impact of video content as it is consumed individually and across multiple screens is driving innovation in the audience measurement field, said Heather Way, research analyst. Industry efforts to develop an integrated video measurement standard have been incredibly complex. To date, there is no scalable, single-source TV and online video audience metric system to determine if or how the two mediums complement or overlap one another from a usage and advertising perspective.

Key Topics Covered:

1.0 Report Summary
1.1 Purpose of Report
1.2 Scope of Report
1.3 Research Approach
1.3.1 Source of Data
1.3.2 Glossary of Terms

2.0 Digital Video Viewers
2.1 Digital Video Usage Trends and Behaviors

3.0 Digital Video Media Campaign Planning, Buying, and Selling Exchange
3.1 Advertising Metrics
3.2 Pricing Models
3.3 Television and Online Video Consumer Advertising Recall and Preference

4.0 Digital Video Audience Measurement: A Competitive Assessment
4.1 Digital Video Measurement Competitive Analysis
4.1.1 Primary Competitors
4.1.2 Indirect Competitors
4.1.3 Advertising Industry Trade Associations
4.2 Digital Video Audience Measurement Methodology

5.0 Conclusions
5.1 Implications
5.2 Recommendations

6.0 Resource Book
6.1 Digital Video Audience Measurement Competitor Profiles
6.1.1 Arbitron
6.1.2 Canoe Ventures
6.1.3 Compete
6.1.4 comScore
6.1.5 Concurrent
6.1.6 Datran Media
6.1.7 Dynamic Logic
6.1.8 Experian Simmons
6.1.9 GfK Mediamark Research & Intelligence, Inc (GfK MRI)
6.1.10 Google
6.1.11 Kantar Media (formerly TNS Media)
6.1.12 Nielsen Media Research
6.1.13 Omniture
6.1.14 Quantcast
6.1.15 Rentrak
6.1.16 Rovi Corporation
6.1.17 TiVo
6.1.18 TRA
6.1.19 Tubemogul
6.1.20 Visible Measures
6.1.21 Vindico (BBE)
6.2 Online Video Ad Campaign Management & Ad Server Company Profiles
6.3 Advanced TV Ad Campaign Management Company Profiles

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2b922c/crossplatform_ad

Clickable tool provides web surfers a simple way to make informed decisions about how data is collected and used for online behavioral advertising purposes

IRVINE, Calif. – Specific Media, a next generation media platform company, announced it will be the first Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) member to begin integrating the Advertising Option Icon across all online display ads distributed by the organization, effective immediately. The Advertising Option Icon is a straightforward, easy-to-use tool that empowers consumers to make informed choices about online privacy while working to enrich their Internet experience. Specific Media is currently working with PreferenceCentral, a consumer privacy and empowerment solution company, to deploy the Advertising Option Icon.

“Transparency is essential to our clients and their customers. Incorporating the Advertising Option Icon across all of the display ads we distribute marks a proactive step in helping consumers gain a better understanding of how data is collected and used for online behavioral advertising purposes,” said Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Specific Media. “By implementing consumer-friendly principles and standards, we are enabling consumers to make more informed choices on the web, and helping to strengthen relationships between brands and their customers.”

The Advertising Option Program was initiated by IAB to provide consumers with a better understanding and more control over ads that are served to them based on their online behavior. By clicking on an icon within or around an ad unit, consumers can link to a disclosure statement regarding the data collection and usage practices associated with that ad; users can also opt to stop receiving behaviorally targeted ads from the company in the future.

Specific Media was recently recognized by DoubleVerify, a pioneer in online media verification, for being one of the highest rated networks in online ad delivery and compliance. In recent months, Specific Media successfully market tested the new Advertising Option Icon on behalf of several industry-leading clients including MasterCard, Zales, Electronic Arts, and high-end watchmaker Breitling.

“Transparency is at the forefront of today’s online advertising landscape, as industry leaders come to understand the significance of giving consumers choice and control over the ads they are served,” said Jeffrey Katz, GM, PreferenceCentral, which enables consumers to manage their advertising preferences across the web. “Specific Media is helping lead the way by implementing the Advertising Option Icon across its platform and setting a precedent for other media companies.”

About Specific Media

Specific Media is a next generation media platform company that enables brands to seamlessly connect with consumers no matter where they are. Working across formats and screens, Specific Media makes addressable advertising a reality. Specific Media’s suite of products inspire brands to think differently about their marketing initiatives – combining formats such as video and display and incorporating creative original programming to drive deep engagement and loyalty. As consumers discover new ways to consume content in the digital era, Specific Media will make sure your brand reaches them in the ways they desire. Get – and stay – connected at Specific Media.

Advertisers and Agencies Can Now Add Industry-Leading Verification, Optimization and Brand Security Solutions to Their Campaigns Directly from the ADTECH IQ Platform

Seattle, WA – Mpire, the market-leading verification and optimization technology company, today announced that it has signed a technology reseller agreement with ADTECH, a leading global provider of technology solutions and AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform.  As part of the agreement, ADTECH’s sales and account management teams will offer customers and prospects the option to easily verify, measure, and protect their campaigns using Mpire’s AdXpose™ solution, which is embedded into ADTECH IQ’s server.

ADTECH is currently one of the largest global ad servers, partnering with leading international ad networks and publishers in over 25 countries. ADTECH’s technology platform enables web publishers, ad networks, agencies and advertisers to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats.

“Integrating AdXpose’s campaign verification, optimization and brand protection solutions into ADTECH is part of our overall strategy to become the technology solution of choice,” said Dirk Freytag, president of ADTECH and head of AOL Advertising Technologies.  “The AdXpose analytics features and functionality will provide ADTECH clients increased efficiency, reliability, and ROI, and will create incremental revenue for ADTECH as well.”

“As a SaaS technology provider, reseller agreements are an important part of our long term strategy, as they can deliver massive scale when properly integrated,” said Kirby Winfield, president and chief revenue officer at Mpire. “With ad verification becoming a requirement on a majority of campaigns, it makes tremendous sense to offer these solutions at the ad server level, and embedding AdXpose within the ADTECH platform is a major step towards executing that strategy.“

About ADTECH
ADTECH AG is a global technology solutions company and is AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product, ADTECH IQ is an integrated ad serving platform that enables web publishers, ad networks, agencies and advertisers to measure, manage, and serve online advertising campaigns including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s integrated products are scalable, flexible and easy to implement, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like BSkyB, Hi-media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL Inc.

About AOL
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

About AdXpose
AdXpose Analytics help advertisers and platforms verify and optimize billions of campaign data points captured in real time. Agencies representing the major holding companies, multiple Demand Side Platforms, and more than 20 percent of the comScore Ad Focus Top 40 Properties, currently use AdXpose technology. For more information about Adxpose, visit www.adxpose.com.

About Mpire
Mpire is the market-leading advertising optimization technology company that is evolving traditional online advertising into a more relevant and engaging medium for publishers and advertisers. Its patent-pending and award-winning AdXpose™ is the first and only verification and optimization technology suite that gives brand marketers and agencies transparency and confidence anywhere their ads run across the Internet, including exchanges, ad networks and direct publisher placements. Backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Ignition Partners, Mpire is based in Seattle, Washington. For more informationan about Mpire visit www.mpire.com.

Mpire’s AdXpose Is the first Verification Solution to Be Embedded Within a Publisher Ad Server; Arms Publishers With Campaign Data to Mitigate Post-Campaign ‘Make-Goods’

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Mpire, the market-leading verification and optimization technology company, and ZEDO, Inc., the world’s largest independent ad server and advertising technology partner for publishers, announced that ZEDO has integrated Mpire’s AdXpose® analytics solution into its ad server and will resell the solution to its growing network of more than 1,000 publishers. The move will enable ZEDO’s publishers to activate verification, measurement, alerting and ad blocking services directly within the ZEDO user interface, and better collect, control and understand advertising data on their sites.

For ZEDO, integrating Mpire’s patent pending and award-winning AdXpose solution will give publishers real-time, third-party visibility and greater transparency around each live ad impression served. When publishers own their own campaign data, they can better protect their pricing and reputation from intrusive post-campaign reconciliation. AdXpose will also enable ZEDO publishers to run real-time reports, receive alerts on ad data quality, block live ads instantly, and detect and prevent click and impression fraud.

“ZEDO publishers serve more than 20 billion impressions each month,” said Ryan Polley, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development at AdXpose. “By leveraging AdXpose in their campaigns, these publishers will be better able to value, protect and optimize their inventory in real-time. This is a game changer for publishers and for the verification space as a whole.”

Beyond proactive ad verification, AdXpose offers publishers the ability to analyze ad placement and inventory yield, control ad quality, optimize fill, and both qualify and quantify user engagement within all ad placements. Mpire’s patent-pending Engagement Tracker increases the value of existing inventory by allowing publishers to price, sell, serve, and optimize ad campaigns on a Cost Per View or Cost Per Engagement basis.

“Publishers often feel a loss of control over their online ad inventory, especially when working with large volumes of different advertisers and networks, because they don’t have access to the same verification data. We have partnered with AdXpose to help publishers fight back,” said Roy De Souza, CEO, ZEDO. “With AdXpose verifying and protecting advertiser campaigns, publishers can protect themselves from make-goods and charge-backs, and provide an even safer experience for brands looking to advertise on ZEDO client sites and networks.”

About ZEDO
ZEDO, Inc. is a digital ad solutions company that offers products and services for a publisher’s premium, self service, and remnant inventory. Products include ad network optimization, innovative rich media formats for publishers’ direct sales teams, full featured ad serving, behavioral targeting data built into the ad server, an exchange-like platform for publishers to sell behavioral and DMA targeted inventory at high CPMs (see: www.ZEDOadnetwork.com), a self service platform to allow advertisers to buy directly from a publisher, outsourced ad ops and more. These products are integrated into one technology platform for publishers to choose from, or use seamlessly together. ZEDO has been in the Internet advertising industry for over 10 years, and is the most successful independent ad server in the US. The company provides innovative solutions that boost revenues for Internet publishers. ZEDO is headquartered in San Francisco and has four development centers in Russia and India.

About AdXpose
AdXpose Analytics help advertisers and platforms verify and optimize billions of campaign data points captured in real time. Agencies representing the major holding companies, multiple Demand Side Platforms, and more than 20% of the comScore Ad Focus Top 40 Properties currently use AdXpose technology.

About Mpire
Mpire is the market-leading advertising optimization technology company that is evolving traditional online advertising into a more relevant and engaging medium for publishers and advertisers. Its patent-pending and award-winning AdXpose is the first and only verification and optimization technology suite that gives brand marketers and agencies transparency and confidence anywhere their ads run across the Internet, including exchanges, ad networks and direct publisher placements. Backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Ignition Partners, Mpire is based in Seattle, Washington.

Botnets and Traffic from Mobile Devices, Video Content, Social Networks, and User-Generated Content Drive Growth

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics®, Inc. released advertising audience quality figures for the third quarter 2010 from the industry’s leading independent online advertising data reporting service.

Now in its fourth year, the Click Forensics reporting service provides statistically significant data collected from Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaigns for both large and small advertisers across all leading search engines as well as comparison shopping engines and social networks. Traffic across more than 300 ad networks is reflected in the data.

Key findings for Q3 2010 include:

- The overall industry average click fraud rate was 22.3 percent. That’s up from the 18.6 percent reported for Q2 2010 and the 14.1 percent rate reported for Q3 2009.
- In Q3 2010, the countries outside North America with significant CPC traffic producing the greatest volume of click fraud were Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines and China, respectively.

“During the past quarter, we saw a growing volume of click fraud flow through a more diverse number of sources, including mobile proxies,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “As advertising in videos, social networks and mobile devices continues to grow, advertisers will need to pay close attention to the quality of traffic they receive.”

Since 2006, Click Forensics has published online advertising industry data collected from the first independent third-party Cost Per Click (CPC) and online advertising fraud detection service. The service monitors online media traffic across over 300 ad networks as well as billions of clicks from top search engines, comparison shopping engines, social networks, leading publishers and advertiser web sites – providing the most accurate view of online advertising audience quality.

For more details, visit http://www.clickforensics.com/resources/click-fraud-index.html.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics® is the industry leader in online ad verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online search and display advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Click Forensics is a registered trademark of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

C. Eoin Townsend Joins as Sr. VP Partnerships and Business Development

New York, NY – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification, announced a new addition to the executive team, C. Eoin Townsend, senior vice president of partnerships and business development. Previously a senior product, services and business operations executive in the online media industry, Townsend leads DoubleVerify’s partnership and collaboration with ad networks and exchanges. He has more than 15 years of experience in designing and launching products as well as in creating and executing business strategies.

Townsend previously led DoubleClick’s international business expansion and product development, and has lived in London, Hong Kong and Japan as he supported its global growth. He was also a VP and GM at ChannelAdvisor, the leading software provider that helps retailers world-wide sell more online through search, comparison shopping, marketplace development and RichMedia. Most recently, Townsend was an active consultant, investor and co-founder of MainStreetSocial, a leading brand safe network focused on local government and community publishing and monetization. He attended the University of Toronto where he studied computer science and economics.

“DoubleVerify partners with ad networks and exchanges to increase the quality of online inventory and promote trust in our industry from all players,” said Oren Netzer, co-founder and CEO of DoubleVerify.  “Eoin’s experience and expertise will help us tremendously in our efforts to ensure networks, publishers, DSPs and exchanges are well-equipped with the tools and services they need to drive change and bring more ad dollars online. We’re thrilled to have Eoin as a part of our team because he truly understands what the market needs to move forward.”

Recently, DoubleVerify announced various initiatives in an effort to bring more trust in online advertising, such as the “Advertising Fraud Detection Lab,” a team of online advertising security experts whose primary focus is to find fraudulent online advertising activities, and the first ever “Trust Index” benchmark report. With the goal of bringing accountability, transparency, brand safety and compliance to online advertising, DoubleVerify continues to be the leading technology provider for digital media verification.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

By: Jay Friedman, COO of Goodway Group
http://www.goodwaygroup.com

The leader in broadcast measurement, Nielsen, announced earlier this week it will be offering the ability for advertisers to measure its online media in GRPs, or gross rating points, the primary way in which broadcast media delivery has been measured for decades.  While this service is not yet available from Nielsen, it is coming in the following months.

However, we at Goodway Group unveiled our GRP reporting earlier this week in its complete form and it’s available right now.  Great minds must think alike!  As we’ve enhanced our digital media capabilities our clients have embraced these new technologies but also asked for a way to compare the sheer media weight to its other media.  So, while GRPs certainly don’t tell the whole story of an online campaign, it does provide a media weight comparison in apples to apples format.  Additionally, we don’t just provide pure GRPs but the breakout of reach and frequency so the client knows if the optimal level of each was reached.

For example, we are running a campaign this month for a client in Salt Lake City that has so far generated 166 GRPs at a 63.88% reach and a corresponding 2.59x frequency.  In working with our clients we can consultatively determine whether it’s best to lower reach but increase frequency or vice versa.

And, because we also work so closely with Adometry (a leader in ad verification), we are working with them to build out and develop an audience verification and measurement system which will provide actual TRPs, or targeted rating points.  Doing this we will then be able to provide clients TRP counts within age and gender demo sets with the knowledge and 3rd party verification that we absolutely are hitting the right audience.  Furthermore, we’ll be able to see conversion data against these demographic segments, so we’ll know which segments convert best.  We’re certainly excited about combining this method of measuring delivery with audience optimization!

Findings from DoubleVerify’s 1H 2010 Report Drawn from 150+ Billion Impressions from Industry’s Leading Ad Networks, Publishers, Ad Exchanges & DSPs

New York, NY – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification, released findings from its 1H 2010 Trust Index. The report provides insight into compliance and brand safety in online advertising with the intentions of increasing trust and accountability in the market. Highlights from the Trust Index include: identification of the best-in-class networks in the market with regard to non-compliance, benchmarks for advertising delivery and types of non-compliance and an analysis of the overall industry performance. DoubleVerify analyzed hundreds of advertisers, thousands of verified campaigns and more than 150 billion advertising impressions between January and June 2010 to produce the bi-annual report, which can be downloaded at: http://www.doubleverify.com/trust-index-1h-2010/

To identify the top performers in the industry, DoubleVerify analyzed networks based on benchmarks of non-compliance, including: instances of ads served out of inclusion lists, in exclusion lists, alongside inappropriate content and ads served to international audiences. Companies determined top performers include (listed alphabetically): AOL’s Advertising.com, AudienceScience, Burst Media, FOX Audience Network, interclick, Microsoft Media Network, Tribal Fusion and ValueClick Media.

“In order for brand dollars to shift online, advertisers need to trust that their campaigns are running as intended and the Trust Index provides an overview of how the industry is doing against those expectations,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Our data shows that improvements are being made across the board to increase brand safety and trust. Verified campaigns especially showed vast improvement in non-compliance. Nevertheless, there’s still work to be done and we hope this data will provide benchmarks for advertising vendors to guide them toward these goals and move the industry forward.”

DoubleVerify took additional data into consideration when analyzing overall non-compliance of the online advertising industry, including: instances when multiple ads from the same advertiser were served, when ads were served alongside a competitor and when ads were served below the fold. According to the report, the most compliant advertising networks had an average of 2 percent incidents of non-compliance over the first six months of 2010. In comparison, the ten networks that struggled most saw an average of 37 percent incidents of non-compliance. Additionally, the most compliant platforms (DSPs, Ad Exchanges and Trading Desks) showed an average of 6 percent incidents of non-compliance – outperforming the lower tier of players by almost five times.

While each industry sector showed an effort to decrease non-compliance, all players were subject to fluctuations that illustrate the fact that even the best players face issues. The Trust Index details the overall average of non-compliance as well as the standard deviation of each group of industry players, showing how much variation there is from the “average”.  The standard deviation for the top performing advertising networks, for example, was 17 percent across campaigns. The standard deviation for the lowest performing ad networks was 28 percent.

DoubleVerify also analyzed how non-compliance on specific campaigns changed over time. Advertisers who worked with DoubleVerify to monitor, remediate and block non-compliant impressions witnessed a 67 percent decrease in inappropriate content and a 72 percent decrease in internationally targeted traffic.

Additional highlights around overall advertising delivery norms include:
• 44 percent of ads on verified campaigns were served below the fold
• 10 percent of advertising pages included multiple ads by the same advertiser
• 4 percent of ads in verified campaigns were shown alongside a competitor’s ads

For more information and to view the report in its entirety, visit http://www.doubleverify.com/trust-index-1h-2010/

Methodology
DoubleVerify used a robust set of data analysis tools to analyze online advertising campaign activity across more than 150 billion advertiser campaign impressions from January 1, 2010 through June 30, 2010. Types of non-compliance analyzed include instances of ads served out of inclusion lists, in exclusion lists, alongside inappropriate content, multiple ads from the same advertiser, ads alongside a competitor, below the fold ads and ads served to international audiences. The data in the analysis was carefully normalized to the best of our ability. Advertising delivery providers were categorized into 3 main categories: Advertising Networks, Platforms (includes DSPs, ad exchanges and trading desks) and Publishers. Video Networks and Video Publishers were not included in this analysis.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies more than 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

Austin Chamber of Commerce Competition Recognizes Click Forensics for its Leadership in Helping to Improve Online Advertising

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics®, Inc., a leading provider of online advertising and audience verification solutions, announced that it received the 2010 Greater Austin Business Award for the most innovative company in the small business category. The 10th annual awards competition recognized the 24 most promising young businesses in the central Texas region. Click Forensics was honored for its pioneering work to enhance trust and performance in online advertising.

Company Adds Sr. VP of Sales Operations, VP of Marketing and Sr. Director of Account Management; Moves into Midtown Manhattan Office

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification, announced an expansion of its executive team with three key hires of sales and marketing veterans from Yahoo!, NBC Universal and Google. Rose Steinberg joins as senior vice president of sales operations, Jennifer Hyman joins as vice president of marketing and Laura Anderson is now the company’s senior director of account management.

DoubleVerify has shown massive momentum recently, securing key partnerships with the top ad agency holding companies, ad networks and Web portals and increasing its staff to more than 60 employees. The company recently moved into new offices in midtown Manhattan to account for its rapid expansion.

“With the additions of Rose, Jennifer and Laura, we are building a team with vast knowledge of online advertising and digital media, and with experience managing large scale partners and customers,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “As we establish the company as the pioneer in online media verification, we are looking forward to bringing more accountability, transparency and trust into this market.”

Rose Steinberg is a senior digital media executive and veteran of Yahoo! with 14 years of professional management experience. Steinberg was senior director of global business transformation and senior director of global sales operation at Yahoo!. There, Steinberg globalized the sales operations function across Asia-Pacific and Emerging Markets, driving regional and worldwide programs. In addition, she helped launch the Yahoo! Publisher Network in Australia by developing and implementing the first publisher solution in Asia-Pacific, including the Bebo AU, Digital Niche and Walt Disney anchor accounts. Additionally, Steinberg was a critical driver of Yahoo’s Right Media implementation across Asia-Pacific and Emerging Markets.  Steinberg has a Bachelor of Arts in communications studies and a minor in business administration from the University of San Diego.

Jennifer Hyman is a seasoned marketing executive with expertise in online consumer and business technology products. Before joining DoubleVerify, Hyman was the head of YouTube marketing, North America, at Google where she led a team of marketing managers to grow Google’s video and display advertising businesses including YouTube, Google’s Video Network and Google Branded Entertainment. Hyman joined Google in 2003 and worked on Google’s early vertical sales strategy as well as the launch of several core search and syndication products including Google Custom Search, Accessible Search and Google Finance. In addition, Hyman was a senior sales and marketing manager at Jupiter Research/Jupiter Media Metrix. Hyman earned her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Laura Anderson has more than 10 years experience in the Internet advertising industry specializing in sales planning, account management and operations.  Most recently, Anderson was an executive at NBC Universal, where she served as director of sales operations for all network and cable websites and held responsibility for all campaign implementation and sales fulfillment. Prior to NBC, Anderson spent five years at Yahoo! where she managed the East Coast Operations team, which fulfilled the largest book of business in the Yahoo! North America region.  Prior to her operations role, Anderson was one of Yahoo’s strongest account managers, handling $25MM of yearly revenue that included premium entertainment, travel and telco clients such as Warner Brothers Entertainment, NBC Universal, Discovery Networks, Continental and Cingular.  Previous to Yahoo! Anderson worked at iVillage.com as a sales planner. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from UNC Charlotte.

DoubleVerify offers a comprehensive suite of verification products that benefit all entities in the online advertising ecosystem such as buyers, aggregators and sellers. The company is backed by more than $10 million in venture capital funding and is poised for growth in the U.S. and abroad.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK – Traffic Marketplace, a division of Epic Media Group, announced its partnership with ad verification firm, Adometry, to deliver effectiveness metrics and online display ad verification to advertisers and agencies. This partnership underscores Traffic Marketplace’s commitment to ensuring advertisers reach, target, and engage their ideal audience on the highest quality websites.

Chris Pirrone, General Manager of Traffic Marketplace Display, explained, “Adometry shares our commitment to transparency, accountability and accuracy, both in terms of the advertising buy and the auditing process.” He added, “Advertisers should never be worried about the safety and integrity of their brand when they work with us. The IAB has made network verification and safety a priority. We have added Adometry to our brandSecureTM suite of safety solutions to proactively ensure our Network is an industry leader in quality assurance.”

“We’re pleased to add Traffic Marketplace to the expanding list of high-quality networks that are offering Adometry’s verification services,” said Jim Ewel, CEO of Adometry. “Together, we can offer the most complete solution in the industry for protecting and improving the effectiveness of online media purchases.”

Effective immediately, Traffic Marketplace is offering its advertisers Adometry’s IntegrityTM and VeracityTM services. Integrity verifies that advertisements are not placed next to inappropriate content, off white-list, or displayed outside of the U.S. Integrity also measures the percentage of ads placed “below the fold.” Veracity provides additional effectiveness metrics including reach, frequency, duration of time an ad is visible, effective cost, and conversion details by website, category and geography.

Utilizing Adometry, Traffic Marketplace reinforces accountability and transparency for advertisers, ultimately strengthening brand integrity and awareness.

For more information, log on to www.trafficmarketplace.com.

About Adometry

Adometry™ is the only solution for online display advertising that provides both ad verification and effectiveness metrics to advertisers and ad agencies. Using a patent pending process, Adometry provides information that not only ensures that placements are compliant with contract and insertion guidelines, but also provides actionable metrics that allow advertisers to make smarter online ad spending decisions.

For more information, log on to www.adometry.com.

Traffic Marketplace

The premier B2A™ (Business-to-Audience) digital marketing company, Traffic Marketplace delivers relevance in online display, registration path, mobile, video and social media advertising by empowering advertisers and agencies to reach, target, and engage their ideal audience. With access to over 140mm unique monthly users, Traffic Marketplace reaches more than 71% of the U.S. Internet population. Through powerful esp targeting technology, Traffic Marketplace can intelligently identify and deliver virtually any target audience. By employing proprietary engagement solutions such as eyengage® rich media and livemarkets™ in-banner chat technology, Traffic Marketplace helps advertisers intrigue, inspire and engage their customers on every online channel. Traffic Marketplace is a company of Epic Media Group, the preeminent privately-held global digital marketing solutions company.

For more information, log on to www.trafficmarketplace.com.

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics, Inc. released advertising audience quality figures for the second quarter 2010 from the industry’s leading independent online advertising data reporting service. Now in its fourth year, the Click Forensics reporting service provides statistically significant data collected from Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaigns for both large and small advertisers across all leading search engines as well as comparison shopping engines and social networks. Traffic across more than 300 ad networks is reflected in the data. Key findings for Q2 2010 include:

The overall industry average click fraud rate was 18.6 percent. That’s up from the 17.4 percent reported for Q1 2010 and the 12.7 percent rate reported for Q2 2009.

In Q2 2010, the countries outside North America with significant CPC traffic producing the greatest volume of click fraud were Singapore, Pakistan, Japan, Ukraine and China respectively.

“Over the past several quarters, we’ve seen the overall click fraud rate slowly trending higher,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “The main reasons appear to be the continued sophistication of botnets and malware prevalent in the fast-growing search marketing space. We advise online marketers to be watchful of their campaigns as they spend more on search advertising in the coming quarters.”

Since 2006, Click Forensics has published online advertising industry data collected from the first independent third-party Cost Per Click (CPC) and online advertising fraud detection service. The service monitors online media traffic across over 300 ad networks as well as billions of clicks from top search engines, comparison shopping engines, social networks, leading publishers and advertiser web sites – providing the most accurate view of online advertising audience quality.

For more details and to read the full report, visit http://www.clickforensics.com/resources/click-fraud-index.html.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics® is the industry leader in online ad verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online search and display advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Existing Investors Austin Ventures, Sierra Ventures and Shasta Ventures Participate in Series C Round

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics, Inc., a leading provider of online advertising and audience verification solutions, announced that it recently closed a $6 million Series C funding round led by Austin Ventures with participation from Sierra Ventures and Shasta Ventures. The funding will help support Click Forensics as it expands development and marketing of new offerings designed to help brand advertisers and agencies verify online audiences and optimize investments for display advertising campaigns.

“The $22+ billion a year market for display advertising is only expected to grow as marketers continue to pour money into automated advertising and audience delivery systems,” said Thomas Ball, partner, Austin Ventures. “As a leader in the space, Click Forensics is an ideal partner to help ensure that the audiences brands buy are indeed what they paid for.”

Since 2006, Click Forensics has provided audience verification solutions for top online marketers, advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks in the cost-per-click market. In February of this year, the company announced a beta program for its display ad verification platform, bringing the same level of transparency and accountability to the display ad market. Click Forensics has amassed data on billions of ad impressions and clicks, which it uses to refine and develop sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that filter unwanted audiences and measure the value of audiences that view ads. The company’s SaaS offerings are ideally suited to meet the scalability and performance demands of real-time impression filtering and audience verification.

“The need to verify online audiences has increased greatly as the number of brokers that operate in between the advertiser and the ad impression continues to grow,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “The continued support of our investors will allow us to develop new solutions that better protect and improve the performance of online advertising.”

For more information on joining the Click Forensics, visit http://www.clickforensics.com. Follow us on Twitter: @ClickForensics.

About Austin Ventures

Austin Ventures (“AV”) has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over twenty-five years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With an investment focus on Internet and information services, software, new media, business services and supply chain, and financial services, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in “planned experiments” in early-stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds, minority recapitalizations, and buyouts of lower middle market growth companies. AV’s strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Visit austinventures.com for more information.

About Sierra Ventures

Sierra Ventures, founded in 1982, is a privately held venture capital firm focused on investments across all areas of the Information Technology sector from semiconductors to enterprise software. Sierra Ventures has managed nine venture capital partnerships and currently has more than $1.5 billion of capital under management. Some of the firm’s investments include 360Commerce (acquired by Oracle), Active Software (acquired by WebMethods), AmeriGroup (AGP), Authentec (AUTH), Centex (acquired by WorldCom), ConvergeNet (acquired by Dell), FatBrain (acquired by Barnes & Noble), Frontbridge (acquired by Microsoft), Healtheon (merged with WebMD), Interact Commerce (acquired by Sage), Intuit (INTU), Micromuse (acquired by IBM), OnAssignment (ASGN), OnLink (acquired by Siebel), Quinta (acquired by Seagate), StrataCom (acquired by Cisco), Sourcefire (FIRE), Sychip (acquired by Murata Manufacturing) and Teradata (acquired by NCR). More information is available at http://www.sierraventures.com.

About Shasta Ventures

Shasta Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology-enabled businesses serving consumers and enterprises. Located in Menlo Park, Calif., Shasta Ventures manages $460 million. Shasta was formed in 2004 by venture capital veterans and invests across consumer and business services, infrastructure and software. For more information on Shasta Ventures, please visit www.shastaventures.com.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics® is the industry leader in online ad verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online search and display advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks, including companies such as Progressive Insurance, GenieKnows, Adknowledge, eZanga, Moxy Media, Turn, Traffic Engine, Vegas.com and many others. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.