Nielsen Media Research has agreed to acquire measurement technology and intelligence services business DoubleVerify in a transaction valued at $2.15 billion, the companies said on Thursday.
Under the agreement, DoubleVerify shareholders will receive $13.60 per share in cash, representing a 30 percent premium when evaluated against the company’s 60-day trading volume as evaluated on Thursday.
The combined company is expected to generate more than $4 billion in revenue on a pro forma basis, Nielsen said in a statement to The Desk.
DoubleVerify provides software used to verify media quality, optimize ad performance and measure campaign outcomes. Nielsen said adding the company will extend its platform deeper into digital advertising by combining audience measurement with independent verification tools around viewability, invalid traffic detection, brand suitability and media delivery.
Nielsen intends to take DoubleVerify private when the transaction closes, which could happen as soon as next year. DoubleVerify will continue to offer services under its own name while operating as a Nielsen subsidiary business.
Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said the company has spent the past several years transforming its business through product innovation, broader media lifecycle tools and a stronger financial base.
“This combination will unite two organizations focused on strengthening independence and trust in advertising,” Rao said in a statement. “Joining forces with DoubleVerify will extend our capabilities deeper into the digital media industry, ensuring that the spend flowing between buyers and sellers is reaching real people in brand-suitable environments, through verified channels.”
“DoubleVerify’s MRC-accredited quality signals, in combination with Nielsen’s deduplicated cross-screen audience measurement, will fuel genuine market innovation – a single currency that scores media on both audience delivery and media environment quality,” DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski noted on Thursday.
The companies said the transaction will expand Nielsen’s addressable market across digital channels, including connected television, social, mobile and AI platforms. They also said the combined business will help advertisers adopt AI-driven planning, activation and optimization by pairing verified data with outcome signals and platform integrations.
Rao said the combined company will offer an independent partner that connects audience intelligence with verified media delivery across screens, channels and transactions.
The boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but still needs regulatory and shareholder sign-offs. Assuming all goes well, DoubleVerify could become a Nielsen subsidiary by early next year.
The acquisition will be financed through committed debt financing from Barclays, BofA Securities and Citi, along with incremental equity financing and cash on hand.
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