DoubleVerify (NYSE: DV) reported revenue of $205.6 million for the third quarter of 2026, which ended September 30, up 9% from $188.6 million a year earlier. Activation revenue, the company's largest line, grew 10% after falling 1% in the second quarter. The results came out after the US market closed on Friday, October 30, a day after DoubleVerify's stockholders voted to approve its sale to Nielsen for $13.60 a share in cash.
There was no call and no forecast. DoubleVerify suspended earnings calls and withdrew its guidance when it agreed to the deal in August. The only forecast for the year on the public record is the one its management prepared for the sale, and a SaasBuzz calculation shows that it now needs faster growth in the fourth quarter than in any quarter since the second quarter of 2025.
Programmatic came back
Activation revenue comes from checking ads on programmatic, social media and CTV platforms before they are bought. In the second quarter, DoubleVerify said in its quarterly report that the line fell because of "a decrease in revenue from programmatic channels." In the third quarter it rose $10.9 million to $117.6 million, driven by "greater adoption of social media solutions and of Scibids AI, and an increase in revenue from programmatic channels," the new 10-Q says.
The price per measured ad also fell less. Advertiser revenue grew 9% on an 11% rise in media transactions measured, offset by a 2% fall in the fee per thousand ads. In the second quarter that fee fell 7%.
Q3, $M | 2026 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Revenue | 205.6 | 188.6 | +9% |
Activation | 117.6 | 106.7 | +10% |
Measurement | 69.1 | 63.8 | +8% |
Supply-side | 18.9 | 18.1 | +5% |
Net income | 15.9 | 10.2 | +56% |
Adj. EBITDA | 75.4 | 65.9 | +15% |
Source: DoubleVerify's third-quarter 10-Q. Adjusted EBITDA is non-GAAP and excludes stock-based compensation. Net income and adjusted EBITDA changes are SaasBuzz calculations.
Measurement revenue, from checking ads after they are bought, directly or programmatically, from publishers, social media and CTV platforms, grew 8%, helped by social and CTV products and by Rockerbox, which DoubleVerify bought in 2025. GAAP operating margin rose to 13.8% from 11.2%. The quarter included $2.9 million of costs tied to the merger agreement.
What the sale forecast asks of the fourth quarter
In February, DoubleVerify forecast 2026 revenue of $810 million to $826 million, growth of 8% to 10%, and it repeated that range in May. Second-quarter revenue of $193.8 million then came in below the $199 million to $205 million it had guided for the quarter. The same release announced the Nielsen agreement and withdrew "all previously issued financial outlook and guidance."
The proxy statement for the vote disclosed the forecast management gave PJT Partners, the special committee's adviser, for its fairness opinion: 2026 revenue of $811 million, near the bottom of the old range, and adjusted EBITDA of $283 million. The proxy cautions that DoubleVerify "does not endorse projections or other unaudited prospective financial information as a reliable indication of future results."
Revenue for the first nine months was $580.3 million, up 6.9%. To reach $811 million, the fourth quarter needs about $230.7 million, 12.2% more than the $205.6 million of the fourth quarter of 2025. If the fourth quarter grows at the third quarter's 9%, the year ends near $804 million, about $7 million short. The profit side asks less: $283 million implies fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of about $87.1 million, a margin near 38%, the same as a year earlier.
Quarter | Revenue, $M | Growth |
|---|---|---|
Q1 2025 | 165.1 | 17.2% |
Q2 2025 | 189.0 | 21.3% |
Q3 2025 | 188.6 | 11.2% |
Q4 2025 | 205.6 | 7.9% |
Q1 2026 | 180.8 | 9.6% |
Q2 2026 | 193.8 | 2.5% |
Q3 2026 | 205.6 | 9.0% |
Q4 2026 plan | 230.7 | 12.2% |
Source: DoubleVerify's 10-Q and 10-K filings, via SEC XBRL data; the Q4 2026 row is implied by the proxy's $811 million forecast. Growth rates are SaasBuzz calculations from the reported figures.
What it means for holders and customers
For stockholders, the quarter no longer sets the price: the merger agreement fixed it at $13.60, and the vote approved it. Of the shares voted on October 29, counting abstentions, 93.8% backed the deal, according to DoubleVerify's filing: 118.2 million shares for and 7.6 million against. At the 156.2 million shares outstanding on the record date, the cash price comes to about $2.1 billion for the common stock, a SaasBuzz calculation that leaves out equity awards.
The forecast still matters as a measure of the business Nielsen is buying. The third quarter reversed the programmatic decline DoubleVerify reported in the second quarter, but at 9% it did not yet show the double-digit growth the plan needs for the fourth.
For advertisers and the platforms that sell to them, the activation line is the part of DoubleVerify that checks ads before they are bought, and it is where growth came back. DoubleVerify said its gross revenue retention stayed above 95% in the quarter, meaning little of its prior revenue from advertisers was lost to customers who left.
DoubleVerify said in the proxy that it is targeting completion "by the first quarter of 2027," subject to antitrust approvals that include filings in the US, Germany and Australia. Either side may walk away if the deal has not closed by May 6, 2027, a date that can extend to August 6, 2027. The 10-Q puts the break fees at $60 million payable by DoubleVerify and $144 million payable by Nielsen's parent in certain circumstances.
