The annual report highlights the evolving role of attention, viewability, and suitability in maximizing media performance

Dubai, UAE— July 23, 2025 — DoubleVerify (“DV”) (NYSE: DV), the leading software platform to verify media quality, optimize ad performance, and prove campaign outcomes, today released its 2025 Global Insights: EMEA Report, spotlighting key advertising trends and media quality benchmarks. The report draws on over one trillion impressions across desktop, mobile and CTV environments, as well as survey responses from marketers and consumers globally.

his year’s report reveals notable improvements in global media quality, with declines in brand suitability violations and fraud rates, alongside modest gains in viewability. However, attention continues to vary significantly across regions, formats and devices, highlighting the need for advertisers to customize strategies that drive both performance and protection.

Global highlights include:

  • Brand Suitability: Violation rates fell 15% year-over-year, with Unsuitable Category violations still comprising the majority (65%) of all incidents.
  • Fraud and Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT): Global fraud/SIVT dropped 7% year-over-year, but bot fraud increased sharply, particularly in mobile app environments.
  • Viewability: The global Authentic Viewable Rate rose 3% to 70%, supported by industry efforts to address “TV Off” issues in CTV.
  • Attention Metrics: APAC led all regions with a 14% higher Attention Index than the global benchmark of 100, while North America trailed by 4%.

“As media investments become more complex and fragmented, our insights offer a critical roadmap for advertisers seeking to reduce waste, maximize engagement, and drive tangible outcomes across the globe,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify. “With a deep, transparent view into media quality and performance, we empower brands to make smarter media investment decisions and deliver superior results.”

Key Trends across EMEA and the Middle East include: 

  • Brand Suitability: Violations declined by 24% year-over-year to 7.1%, with MENA experiencing a 26% decrease. Despite this improvement, EMEA has the second-highest violation rate among regions, 37% higher than the global benchmark. Most incidents stemmed from mobile web ads, with mobile web display ads specifically exhibiting a brand suitability violation rate of 8.8%.
  • Fraud and SIVT: The rate decreased by 33% year-over-year to 0.7%, with a notable decline of 48% in MENA. Fraud/SIVT in EMEA sat 27% below the global benchmark, making it the lowest rate globally.
  • Viewability: The Authentic Viewable Rate rose to 67% in MENA, driven by gains in CTV and improved on-screen standards.
  • Attention Metrics: The Attention Index in MENA was 3% above the global benchmark. High engagement in desktop display ads, in-app video ads, and mobile web display ads in EMEA points to optimisation opportunities.

Marketers in EMEA are increasingly prioritising social media, with 90% currently investing in the advertising channel. Meanwhile, marketers say top-performing formats, such as social media feeds and reels, are consistently exceeding campaign baselines, reflecting a broader shift toward performance-driven, digitally connected advertising. The Middle East also leads the EMEA region in CTV adoption at 72%. 

At the same time, consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are spending an average of 3.9 hours per day with online content, led by social media. But ad fatigue is rising: 45% of consumers in EMEA use ad blockers, and 54% of consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia say they’d stop using a brand if its ad appeared next to false or offensive content, reinforcing the critical need for brand suitability and context-aware media strategies.

As media investments grow more complex, DV’s regional insights provide a critical roadmap for advertisers to reduce waste, boost engagement, and drive measurable outcomes in EMEA and beyond.

To view the full report, visit: https://doubleverify.com/2025-dv-global-insights-emea/