• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 21, 2019

DoubleVerify’s acquisition of Zentrick, a digital video technology company, enables the creation of a video-blocking and measurement tag to protect brands and measure quality across desktop, mobile app and OTT video platforms.  

The transaction, an all-cash-and-stock offer of an undisclosed sum, closed on February 15, 2019.

Wayne Gattinella, CEO of DoubleVerify, says the acquisition strengthens the company’s online video-advertising capabilities. The combination of the two companies will enable DoubleVerify to offer what he calls “a universally deployed video blocking and measurement tag.”

By 2022, mobile video will represent 79% of global mobile data traffic, up from 59% in 2017, according to the Cisco Global Mobile Traffic Forecast.

Zentrick technology builds on DoubleVerify’s competency in media quality, by addressing breakage in the video ad delivery chain, an issue that is particularly acute in emerging areas of mobile app and connected TV video advertising.

Zentrick’s middleware technology helps to prevent video breakage and shortens load times by eliminating multiple types of latency.

Eliminating this breakage has a direct effect on the performance of online advertising by ensuring more ads are delivered, viewable and engaged with by viewers, Gattinella said.

Breakage refers to the inability of an ad to execute due to issues in the ad-delivery cycle. Issues that result in breakage include incompatibility of multiple playback standards and latency delays in the video ad load.

When breakage occurs, advertisers forfeit impressions they intended to buy, and publishers forego monetization, Gattinella says, so solving breakage drives the successful delivery of targeted impressions for brand, as well as helps publishers fill the gaps.

The engineering team that built the technology will continue to operate from offices in Ghent, Belgium, but the technology and brand name will dissolve into DoubleVerify.

Frederik Neus, Zentrick co-founder, will remain to oversee the Belgium operations.