DoubleVerify to add URL-level reporting amid CASM controversy

Ad verification firm DoubleVerify (DV) is set to provide URL-level reporting to its advertising clients following mounting industry pressure in the wake of revelations that major brands' advertisements were inadvertently funding websites hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The decision comes after a report by research firm Adalytics exposed that ads from prominent brands, including Sony, Pepsi, and the National Football League, were appearing on image-sharing sites ibb.co and imgbb.com. These sites had been flagged by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for hosting CSAM, raising questions about the efficacy of existing brand safety measures.

The issue quickly escalated, drawing the attention of US senators who demanded answers from Amazon and Google, whose ad platforms were allegedly profiting from CSAM. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal questioned whether public funds were inadvertently supporting illegal activities, as government advertisements had also appeared on these websites.

The scrutiny extended to ad verification vendors like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS), with lawmakers pressing the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) and the Media Rating Council (MRC) on their oversight of these firms. The senators sought to determine whether DV and IAS had previously reported instances of CSAM content and demanded URL-level transparency.

DoubleVerify's intial response

Initially, DoubleVerify downplayed the issue, stating that the "impression volume for our customers on this site was very small." The company also said it had blocked tens of thousands of ads from appearing on imgbb.com and that no data in the Adalytics report explicitly indicated DV client ads appeared alongside CSAM.

Now, in a sudden shift, DoubleVerify is offering more thorough URL-level reporting to all advertising clients. "Starting today," the company announced in an email to clients, "DV advertisers using Brand Safety and Suitability measurement can receive detailed URL-level reporting for deeper content visibility and media quality insights."

What is URL-level reporting?

URL-level reporting gives advertisers detailed information into the specific web page URLs where their ads are served. Unlike domain-level reporting, which only identifies the general website, URL-level reporting drills down to individual pages. The granular visibility helps advertisers to ensure their ads are not placed near harmful, illegal or unsuitable content.

DoubleVerify isn’t alone in offering this functionality—competitors like Integral Ad Science (IAS) and Zefr also provide URL-level capabilities. 

DV's rollout will take place in three phases:

• Phase 1 (available now): All DV advertisers using Brand Safety and Suitability measurement can request detailed URL-level reporting.
• Phase 2 (coming soon): Advertisers can access URL-level insights directly within DV Pinnacle, DoubleVerify's unified service and analytics platform.
• Phase 3 (later this year): DoubleVerify will extend URL-level data to external platforms so advertisers can integrate their data for advanced analytics.

Amazon Ads steps up transparency tools

In a related development, Amazon Ads is also introducing new transparency features for its demand-side platform (DSP). Weeks after being publicly called out for inadvertently funding harmful content, Amazon is enhancing brand safety controls to give advertisers more visibility into their ad placements.

The updates include page-level reporting via Amazon’s Traffic Events API, an upgrade from its current site-level reporting capabilities. Amazon will also integrate these internal tools with third-party verification systems to strengthen its efforts.

Separately, Amazon is also testing a new search feature that displays select products it doesn’t sell directly, directing users to brands’ own websites instead of Amazon’s marketplace. Amazon says it does not share any information about you when you are redirected to a brand's outside website. Currently being trialled with a small group of US customers, it looks like a turning point in Amazon’s long-standing business model of keeping transactions within its ecosystem.