startupmania

Advertisements plagues the internet. The world wide web is filled with billions upon billions of advertisements, most of which are scattered about, appearing on millions of different websites, usually according to the the specific instructions of a centralized ad serving service such as Google AdSense, Yahoo’s APT or Microsoft’s own adserver.

The ad serving services fill the space in between the interactive ad agencies, which create the advertisements and are in charge of the ad campaign, and the websites which lease out space for advertising. The agency determines exactly where they want the ad to show up, on which type of websites it will appear and the degree of exposure it will receive. It falls to the ad serving service, then, to follow these instructions across the entire landscape of the internet, and place the advertisement in relevant websites.

But how can the campaign managers know that the ad serving service is indeed following their explicit instructions? How can Billy the Broker ensure that the millions of views his brokerage advertisements receive are strictly on key financial news sites and not on some misbegotten cricket forum? How does the advertising manager for a large brand name such as Coca Cola or Disney prevent his ads from popping up on under-aged pornography websites or pages endorsing child labor which would involve his international company in a world-wide scandal?

To answer these exact questions is the goal of Tel Aviv-based DoubleVerify – Founded by Oren Netzer, a former executive at internet advertising company CheckM8, and Alex Liverant, one of the first developers of Shopping.Com. The company also recruited Gil Wasserman, who founded the start-up company PIKE, and Gil Resh, who was a product manager at web-advertising company Kontera.

The company, which managed to raise three and half million dollars through the venture capital funds Genacast Ventures, Blumberg Capital and First Round Capital, operates out of Tel Aviv as well as offices in New York City. DoubleVerify scans millions of web pages a month – much like Google, Shopping.Com or many other search engines. Unlike these services, however, DoubleVerify does not offer searching services, but rather a service which scans for misplaced advertisements and ones which do not follow the instructions dictated by the advertisers. Furthermore, the service can alert the advertisers and the ad serving network of advertisements which appear on inappropriate web sites or at a wrong placement on a web page.

According to DoubleVerify publications their new system is already installed at large advertising firms such as Universal Mccann and at global ad distribution networks such as Traffic Marketplace, and, in recent months, has become an integral part of their respective internet advertising campaigns.

One year after the system was created and installed, DoubleVerify reports that they have managed to recruit clients among one of the world’s largest banks, a world-class media firm and a leading pharmaceutical company. All of which, quite naturally, rely immensely on web-based advertising.

“Providing a solution for supervising advertising on the net by an objective third party is key,” says Netzer, “the funds we managed to raise and the major clients who already work with us are a testament to that.” Netzer explains that for a long time, advertisers did not have access to the relevant data of their own campaigns. “Now, when internet advertising has become an integral part of marketing strategies and vast resources are dedicated to it, advertising and marketing people need to always know that they are getting their money’s worth.”

Translated by Itai Rosenbaum