DoubleVerify apologises after X accuses it of misreporting brand safety scores
X's Brand-Safety scores were reported very low for 5 months, in some cases at 70%, while it was 99.99%, claims the social media firm
DoubleVerify, which provides brand-safety measurement of digital platforms to advertisers, has been accused of incorrectly displaying X‘s Brand Safety Rate on its dashboard for nearly five months.
Brand Safety Rate is a measure of how frequently ads appeared adjacent to content that met advertiser-approved criteria.
From Oct 24, 2023 to Mar 14, 2024, DoubleVerify’s dashboard reportedly provided the wrong data for X to advertisers. In some cases, the measurement firm showed scores as low as 70%, whereas X’s Brand Safety Rates were in fact 99.99%.
The error caused dozens of large brands to pull back advertising spending and stop campaigns on X, claims the Elon Musk-owned social-media firm.
DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski, in a message to his customers on April 12, apologized for the error. X posted the Zagorski letter on its platform to bolster its image.
Probe on
It’s unclear how the error occurred. X and DoubleVerify said the companies are continuing to investigate the issue. “We are conducting a thorough review of our processes and systems to ensure this issue does not occur in the future,” Zagorski said in his letter.
Musk wrote in a post April 12, “Thank you DoubleVerify for correcting your mistake regarding brand safety on this platform. When measured accurately, brand safety on X is extremely good.”
X also shared the speech of Monique Pintarelli, Head of the Americas at X, delivered at the Mobile Marketing Association's Board of Global Advertisers to apprise them about the situation to assuage their concerns.
“Since October, DoubleVerify has been mis-reporting the Brand Safety scores of X…After digging in with the DV team, I am happy to share that the good news is, we have consistently delivered a safety score of 99.99%, which is above global industry standards and in alignment with safety scores measured by IAS,” Pintarelli said.
Pintarelli also claimed that the DoubleVerify reporting error affected only X. “We are now at or above industry standards, in all metrics and capabilities,” she claimed further.
Zagorski’s message to customers
Valued DV Customer: DoubleVerify recently discovered a graphical error in the display of X’s Brand Safety Rate in DV’s Pinnacle dashboard that resulted in displaying an incorrect, lower rate. Specifically, DoubleVerify’s dashboard incorrectly mirrored the Brand Suitability Rate for your campaign onto the Brand Safety Rate in the summary graphic in Pinnacle.
The underlying data available in DV Pinnacle was accurate; only the graphical visualization was not representative of the Brand Safety Rate. This display error occurred over four and a half months from October 24, 2023 to March 14th, 2024, when it was corrected by DV. All current and retroactive Brand Safety data for X is now correctly represented in Pinnacle.
The display error was not present in any other area in the UI, including the Incident Reporting and the Rollover Data Detail.
Based on DoubleVerify’s metrics, X’s Brand Safety Rate across all campaigns we measured exceeded 99.99% from October 2023 to the present. This means that X’s Brand Safety Rate exceeds global benchmarks for brand safety, based on DV’s global industry data.
DoubleVerify takes measurement accuracy and reporting seriously. We take full responsibility for the inaccurate visual representation of X’s Brand Safety Rate within our dashboard that displayed an inaccurate and lower Brand Safety Rate.
We apologize for any confusion this may have caused to X and to our customers in the course of reviewing your campaign performance on X. DV remains committed to maintaining the highest standards of accuracy and transparency in our data.
DoubleVerify is working closely with X to ensure that all future reports reflect the accurate Brand Safety performance of campaigns run on X’s platform. We also are conducting a thorough review of our processes and systems to ensure this issue does not occur in the future.
Should you wish to have a direct conversation with X regarding your reporting, we would be happy to relay your contact information to your X account lead and facilitate a meeting. Our team at DoubleVerify remains committed to maintaining trust and confidence in our platform, and would welcome a direct follow up with you should you wish to discuss further.
