DoubleVerify has appointed Jason Pee as Senior Business Director in Malaysia, expanding its local operations after entering the market last year.
Pee will work with brands and agencies in Malaysia and across the region as DoubleVerify grows its team in the country. The hire is part of a broader push to deepen the company's commercial presence in Southeast Asia.
The appointment comes as advertisers face new questions about where their marketing appears online, particularly as artificial intelligence reshapes digital content and ad placements. DoubleVerify, a media measurement and verification provider, says brands are placing greater emphasis on transparency and quality controls as AI-generated material becomes more common.
Malaysia has become a focus market in that expansion. Since launching local operations, DoubleVerify has worked with clients including Colgate-Palmolive, PepsiCo and Kenvue on media quality, measurement and campaign optimisation.
AI and quality
New regional research from DoubleVerify points to strong consumer acceptance of AI tools in Southeast Asia, while also highlighting concerns about poor-quality content. It found that 77% of consumers in the region said AI tools improve their online experience, compared with 56% globally.
AI use is already frequent among a sizeable group of users. More than one-third, or 35%, of Southeast Asian consumers said they use AI tools or platforms several times a day.
The findings also suggest that advertising inside AI environments is gaining acceptance. According to the research, 61% of Southeast Asian consumers feel positively about ads shown within AI platforms, ahead of 53% across Asia-Pacific and 46% globally.
At the same time, the quality of surrounding content remains a significant issue for marketers. More than half of Southeast Asian consumers, or 52%, said seeing a brand alongside high-quality AI-generated content would improve their perception of that brand, while 42% said low-quality AI content next to a brand would harm it.
The contrast underlines a central issue for advertisers as AI-generated pages, search results, chat interfaces and synthetic media become part of mainstream online activity. For media buyers, the challenge is no longer just audience reach, but also judging the context in which brand messages appear.
Christina Oh, Head of Sales, Thailand & Malaysia, DoubleVerify, said Malaysia is a key growth market for the company.
"Malaysia is a key growth market for DoubleVerify, and we see significant opportunity ahead," Oh said. "As the digital advertising landscape becomes more complex, brands need greater transparency, trusted measurement and strong local expertise. We're thrilled to be welcoming Jason, growing our presence and bringing us closer to our clients to better support their needs as the market evolves."
Regional build-out
The Malaysia hire is also part of a wider expansion across Asia-Pacific. DoubleVerify says its employee base in the region has grown by 63% since 2023, with additions across commercial and account management teams.
That increase reflects stronger competition among ad measurement and verification providers for a larger share of digital advertising budgets in fast-growing Asian markets. As more spending shifts towards automated buying, retail media, streaming and AI-led formats, measurement companies are trying to build closer ties with both multinational brands and local agencies.
In Malaysia, that means building an on-the-ground team rather than serving the market solely from regional hubs. Local staffing can help with client support, agency relationships and sales execution in a market where digital advertising continues to expand across consumer goods, retail and platform-led campaigns.
Conrad Tallariti, Managing Director, APAC, DoubleVerify, tied the company's regional strategy to the spread of AI across advertising channels.
"The advent of AI is creating new opportunities for advertisers to engage APAC audiences," Tallariti said. "However, there are new concerns such as the ability to measure the quality of AI chat ads and challenges such as AI slop that are not just a threat to media quality, but to brand equity as well."
Those concerns are likely to remain central as advertisers test placements inside AI assistants and alongside AI-generated material, while trying to avoid reputational damage from appearing next to inaccurate, misleading or low-value content.