DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc. (DV)

Item 2: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

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The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report and our audited financial statements and notes contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. In addition to our historical condensed consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report, including under the heading “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Company Overview

We are one of the industry’s leading media effectiveness platforms that leverages AI to drive superior outcomes for global brands. By creating more effective, transparent ad transactions, we make the digital advertising ecosystem stronger, safer and more secure, thereby preserving the fair value exchange between buyers and sellers of digital media.

Our solutions are integrated across the entire digital advertising ecosystem, including programmatic platforms, social media channels, and digital publishers. We deliver unique data analytics through our customer interface, DV Pinnacle, to provide detailed insights into our customers’ media performance on both direct and programmatic media buying platforms and across all key digital media channels, formats, and devices. In 2025, our coverage spanned 110 countries where our customers activate our solutions. Our customers include many of the largest global advertisers and digital ad platforms and publishers. We provide a consistent, cross-platform measurement standard across all major forms of digital media, making it easier for advertisers and supply-side customers to assess performance across all of their digital ads and optimize business outcomes in real-time.

We derive revenue primarily from our advertiser customers based on the volume of media transactions, or ads, that our solutions measure (“Media Transactions Measured”). Advertisers utilize the DV Authentic Ad, our definitive metric of digital media quality, to evaluate the existence of fraud, brand suitability, viewability and geography for each digital ad. Advertisers pay us an analysis fee (“Measured Transaction Fee”) per thousand impressions based on the volume of Media Transactions Measured on their behalf. The price of most of our solutions is fixed. On platforms that charge based on percent of media spend, our pricing includes caps which effectively mirror our standard fixed fees. We maintain an expansive set of direct integrations across the entire digital advertising ecosystem, including with leading programmatic, CTV, and social platforms, which enable us to deliver our metrics to the platforms where our customers buy ads. Further, our solutions are not reliant on any single source of impressions and we can service our customers as their digital advertising needs change.

We generate revenue from supply-side customers based on monthly or annual contracts with minimum guarantees and tiered pricing when guarantees are met.

On August 6, 2026, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Neptune BidCo US Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Parent”), and Wallace Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent (“Merger Sub”).  Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company continuing as the surviving corporation and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent (the “Merger”). Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”), each issued and outstanding share of our common stock as of immediately prior to the Effective Time (other than any dissenting shares or shares of our common stock held by us or owned, directly or indirectly, by Parent, Merger Sub or any direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Parent, Merger Sub, or us as of immediately prior to the Effective Time (including those held in our treasury)) will be converted automatically into the right to receive $13.60 in cash, without interest (the “Merger Consideration”).

The Merger Agreement includes customary termination rights, including that the Merger Agreement may be terminated by either us or Parent: if (i) we and Parent mutually consent; (ii) the merger has not been consummated on or before the “end date” (twelve months from signing with an automatic extension of three months, if necessary to obtain regulatory approvals), (iii) any law in certain jurisdictions permanently prohibits the transaction (so long as any party’s breach has not been the cause of such prohibition), (iv) our stockholders do not approve the Merger, or (v) if the non-terminating party breaches certain representations, warranties or covenants and does not cure such breach. The Merger Agreement provides for the payment by us to Parent of a termination fee of $60.0 million if the Merger Agreement is terminated in specified circumstances, and for payment by Parent to us of a termination fee of $144.0 million if the Merger Agreement is terminated in specified circumstances and $175.0 million under certain other circumstances.

The Merger is expected to close by the first quarter of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. If the Merger is consummated, shares of our common stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and deregistered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

Components of Our Results of Operations

We manage our business operations and report our financial results in a single segment.

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Revenue

Our customers use our solutions to measure the effectiveness of their digital advertisements. We generate revenue from our advertising customers based primarily on the volume of Media Transactions Measured by our solutions, and for supply-side customers, based on contracts with minimum guarantees or contracts that have tiered pricing after minimum guarantees are achieved. Our existing customer base has remained largely stable, and our gross revenue retention rate was over 95% for the three months ended June 30, 2026. We define our gross revenue retention rate as the total prior period revenue earned from advertiser customers, less the portion of prior period revenue attributable to lost advertiser customers, divided by the total prior period revenue from advertiser customers, excluding a portion of our revenues that cannot be allocated to specific advertiser customers.

For each of the three month and six month periods ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025, advertiser customers accounted for 90% and 91% of our revenue, respectively. Advertisers can purchase our solutions through programmatic, social media and CTV platforms to evaluate the quality and optimize the efficiency of ad inventories before they are purchased, which we track as Activation revenue. Advertisers can also purchase our solutions to measure the quality and performance of ads after they are purchased directly or programmatically from digital properties, including publishers, social media and CTV platforms, which we track as Measurement revenue. We generate the majority of our revenue from advertisers by charging a Measured Transaction Fee based on the volume of Media Transactions Measured on behalf of our customers. We recognize revenue from advertisers in the period in which we provide our measurement and activation solutions.

For each of the three month and six month periods ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025, supply-side customers who use our data analytics to validate the quality of their ad inventory and provide data to their customers to facilitate targeting and purchasing of digital ads, which we refer to as Supply-side revenue, accounted for 10% and 9% of our revenue, respectively. We generate revenue for certain supply-side arrangements that include minimum guaranteed fees that reset monthly and are recognized on a straight-line basis over the access period, which is usually one to two years. For contracts that contain overages, once the minimum guaranteed amount is achieved, overages are recognized as earned over time based on a tiered pricing structure.

The following table disaggregates revenue between advertiser customers, where revenue is primarily generated based on the number of ads measured and purchased for Activation or measured for Measurement, and Supply-side.

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Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses consist of the following categories:

Cost of revenue.  Cost of revenue consists primarily of costs from revenue-sharing arrangements with our partners, platform hosting fees, data center costs, software and other technology expenses, other costs directly associated with data infrastructure, and personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation and benefits, directly associated with the support and delivery of our customer interface, DV Pinnacle, and solutions.

Product development.  Product development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation and benefits, third party vendors and outsourced engineering services, and allocated overhead. Overhead costs such as information technology infrastructure, rent and occupancy charges are allocated based on headcount. Product development expenses are expensed as incurred, except to the extent that such costs are associated with software development that qualifies for capitalization, which are then recorded as capitalized software development costs included in Property, plant and equipment, net on our Condensed

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere within this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. You should read the “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

The following generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussion of historical items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 that are not included in this discussion can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024. References to “Notes” are notes included in our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Company Overview

We are one of the industry’s leading media effectiveness platforms that leverages AI to drive superior outcomes for global brands. By creating more effective, transparent ad transactions, we make the digital advertising ecosystem stronger, safer and more secure, thereby preserving the fair value exchange between buyers and sellers of digital media.

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Our solutions are integrated across the entire digital advertising ecosystem, including programmatic platforms, social media channels, and digital publishers. We deliver unique data analytics through our customer interface, DV Pinnacle, to provide detailed insights into our customers’ media performance on both direct and programmatic media buying platforms and across all key digital media channels, formats, and devices, with coverage spanning 110 countries where our customers activate our solutions. Our customers include many of the largest global advertisers and digital ad platforms and publishers. We provide a consistent, cross-platform measurement standard across all major forms of digital media, making it easier for advertisers and supply-side customers to assess performance across all of their digital ads and optimize business outcomes in real-time.

Our company was founded in 2008 and introduced our first brand suitability solution in 2010. We launched our first viewability and fraud solutions in 2013 and 2014, respectively. As the global digital advertising market has evolved, we have continued to expand our measurement capabilities and market coverage through new product innovation, increasing our international footprint and new platform partnerships. We introduced our first programmatic platform integrations in 2015, followed by our inaugural social media platform partnership in 2017, and expanded further with the launch of our CTV certification program in 2020.

We have experienced rapid growth and achieved significant profitability in recent years as evidenced by the following:

We derive revenue primarily from our advertiser customers based on the volume of media transactions, or ads, that our solutions measure (“Media Transactions Measured”). Advertisers utilize the DV Authentic Ad, our definitive metric of digital media quality, to evaluate the existence of fraud, brand suitability, viewability and geography for each digital ad. Advertisers pay us an analysis fee (“Measured Transaction Fee”) per thousand impressions based on the volume of Media Transactions Measured on their behalf. The price of most of our solutions is fixed. On platforms that charge based on percent of media spend, our pricing includes caps which effectively mirror our standard fixed fees.

We maintain an expansive set of direct integrations across the entire digital advertising ecosystem, including with leading programmatic, CTV, and social platforms, which enable us to deliver our metrics to the platforms where our customers buy ads. Further, our solutions are not reliant on any single source of impressions and we can service our customers as their digital advertising needs change. In each of 2025 and 2024, we estimate that approximately 44% and 56% of Media Transactions Measured were for display and for video ad formats, respectively. In 2025, we estimate that approximately 74%, 14% and 12% of Media Transactions Measured within post-campaign measurement were for mobile, desktop, and CTV devices, respectively. In 2024, approximately 77%, 12% and 11% of Media Transactions Measured were for mobile, desktop, and CTV devices, respectively.

We generate revenue from supply-side customers based on monthly or annual contracts with minimum guarantees and tiered pricing when guarantees are met.

We believe that there are meaningful long-term growth opportunities within the digital advertising market. We plan to continue to invest in new performance and protection solutions that increase our value proposition to customers and expand our capabilities across new and growing digital media environments, channels and devices, including CTV, new mobile apps and other emerging areas of digital ad spend. We plan to continue to invest in sales and marketing to grow our existing customer relationships and acquire new customers. In addition, we have completed seven acquisitions since 2018 and maintain an active pipeline of potential M&A targets and intend to continue evaluating add-on opportunities to bolster our current solutions suite and complement our organic growth initiatives.

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Furthermore, we believe that there are significant long-term growth opportunities in markets outside of North America. We expect to continue to make investments in product development, sales and marketing, information technology, financial and administrative systems and controls to support our global growth.

Factors Affecting Our Performance

There are a number of factors that have impacted, and we believe will continue to impact, our results of operations and growth. These factors include:

New Solutions and Channels. Over time, the emergence of new digital channels, such as social, has attracted significant advertiser interest and investment. In turn, this has created additional demand for digital measurement and analytics solutions.  We have a track record of developing new solutions for our customers that provide increased relationship value. We intend to extend our solutions capabilities to new adjacencies and cover new and growing digital channels and devices, including CTV, new mobile apps and other emerging areas of digital ad spend.

Growth of Existing Customers and Customer Acquisitions. We aim to increase the adoption of our solutions among existing customers and acquire new customers in diversified industries. Our customers include many of the largest digital advertisers in the world and we have maintained exceptional customer retention with gross revenue retention rates of over 95% in each of the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. We define our gross revenue retention rate as the total prior year revenue earned from advertiser customers, less the portion of prior year revenue attributable to lost advertiser customers, divided by the total prior year revenue from advertiser customers, excluding a portion of our revenues that cannot be allocated to specific advertiser customers. Gross retention rates demonstrate strength in underlying business, recurring business profile, level of client satisfaction and lack of churn. We expect to continue to grow with our existing customers as they increase their spend on digital advertising and as we introduce new solutions across key channels, formats, devices and geographies. We have generated strong historical net revenue retention rates, with 109% for the year ended December 31, 2025 and 112% for the year ended December 31, 2024. We define our net revenue retention rate as the total current period revenue earned from advertiser customers, which were also customers during the entire most recent twelve-month period, divided by the total prior year period revenue earned from the same advertiser customers, excluding a portion of our revenues that cannot be allocated to specific advertiser customers. Net retention rates demonstrate strength in underlying business, recurring business profile, level of client satisfaction and lack of churn. Limitations for these metrics include limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure and the metrics not being the best indicator of our cash flows or future operating results. You should compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on the Company’s GAAP results and using the non-GAAP financial measures only supplementally.

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Artificial Intelligence. The rapidly-evolving, AI-powered internet will amplify advertisers’ need to protect media quality and we intend to continue to develop solutions that seek to ensure advertisers’ marketing efforts are strategically aligned with brand goals and values, to foster deeper consumer engagement and trust, while also optimizing investments and performance.

Continued Growth in Digital Ad Spend. Magna Global estimated that global digital ad spend, excluding search, reached $378 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow to $518 billion by 2029. Our revenues have grown as a result of the growth in digital advertising as well as the continued adoption of digital measurement solutions and analytics. As the digital advertising market has grown, advertisers have increasingly shifted their digital media spend to both programmatic and social media channels to achieve desired business outcomes. We have been direct beneficiaries of this growth by virtue of our integrations with leading programmatic and social media platforms.  In the year ended December 31, 2025, the revenue we generated by providing our activation solutions through programmatic and social integrations and our measurement solutions through social integrations grew 15% and 9%, respectively, over the prior year period. In the year ended December 31, 2024, the revenue we generated by providing our activation solutions through programmatic and social integrations and our measurement solutions through social integrations grew 13% and 27%, respectively, over the prior y

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