SYFY’s ‘The Twilight Zone’ Led Streaming TV Through Halloween as Horror Titles Captured 24% of CTV Ads, While Election Programming Reach Grew 26x
LONDON, November 5, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pixalate, a global ad fraud and privacy compliance platform, today released OpenEPG™ Index 2.0, introducing weekly programmatic content rankings and expanding its free public database from the top 100 to the top 1,000 streaming TV shows.
Data from the debut weekly benchmark for the week ending November 1, 2026, highlights dual seasonal surges across open programmatic environments:
Weekly data shows how fast these shifts happen. Halloween titles went from 1% to 24% of CTV ads in eight weeks, and election reach peaked the week before Election Day. OpenEPG 2.0 tracks these changes show by show from open programmatic bidstream data, with no publisher integration and no waiting on post-campaign panels.
| Content Category / Network | Mobile (Ad Spend SOV) | CTV (Ad Spend SOV) | Key Signal Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| News Genre Overall | 55% | 12% | Political coverage expansion |
| Horror / Seasonal Programming | 1% | 24% | Halloween week peak |
| The Weather Channel | 25% | 1% | Top mobile morning dayparts |
| Dedicated Election Programming | <1% | 2% | 26x reach growth since Sept. 1 |
Ranked by estimated U.S. consumer reach share of voice (SOV).
| Rank | Show | Channel | Genre | Ad Spend SOV | Reach SOV | Top Daypart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Twilight Zone | SYFY | Sci-Fi & Fantasy | 7.1% | 8.2% | Morning |
| 2 | NCIS | Lifetime | Crime | 3.0% | 3.1% | Prime Time |
| 3 | Don't Breathe | SYFY | Horror | 2.3% | 2.6% | Afternoon |
| 4 | Blade: Trinity | Bravo | Animation | 1.9% | 2.1% | Prime Time |
| 5 | The Crow | SYFY | Action & Adventure | 1.8% | 2.1% | Prime Time |
| 6 | Pixels | SYFY | Sci-Fi & Fantasy | 1.6% | 1.9% | Prime Time |
| 7 | Countdown To Election Night | CNN | Politics | 1.7% | 1.8% | Overnight |
| 8 | Blade II | Bravo | Action & Adventure | 1.6% | 1.8% | Afternoon |
| 9 | Ghostbusters: Answer the Call | SYFY | Mystery | 1.3% | 1.5% | Morning |
| 10 | Silent House | SYFY | Horror | 1.3% | 1.5% | Afternoon |
Ranked by estimated U.S. consumer reach share of voice (SOV).
| Rank | Show | Channel | Genre | Ad Spend SOV | Reach SOV | Top Daypart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | America's Morning Headquarters | The Weather Channel | News | 9.9% | 12.2% | Morning |
| 2 | Weather Unfiltered | The Weather Channel | News | 2.5% | 3.2% | Prime Time |
| 3 | The Weather Channel LIVE | The Weather Channel | News | 2.9% | 3.1% | Afternoon |
| 4 | Fire and Ice | AfroLandTV | Sci-Fi & Fantasy | 1.7% | 2.8% | Overnight |
| 5 | Varney & Company | FOX Business Network | News | 1.6% | 2.7% | Morning |
| 6 | Kidnapped | AfroLandTV | Drama | 1.5% | 2.3% | Overnight |
| 7 | AfroLandTV | AfroLandTV | Drama | 1.4% | 2.3% | Prime Time |
| 8 | Today as It Happened | Scripps News | News | 1.6% | 2.1% | Overnight |
| 9 | The National Report | Scripps News | News | 1.5% | 1.9% | Overnight |
| 10 | On The Scene | Scripps News | News | 1.3% | 1.9% | Afternoon |
The OpenEPG™ system ingests bidstream data across standard programmatic environments without requiring publisher coordination:
| Specification Parameter | Platform Performance Data |
|---|---|
| Catalog Coverage | 675,000+ streaming TV shows |
| Channel Index | 16,100+ FAST and linear channels |
| App Footprint | 7,322 apps mapped across 8 operating systems |
| Platform Compatibility | Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Apple tvOS, Android TV, Android, iOS |
| Reporting Cadence | Weekly (Monday–Sunday) |
| Public Index Depth | Top 1,000 shows on CTV and Mobile (expanded from 100) |
| Integration Overhead | 0 SDKs; 0 lines of publisher code required |
The weekly OpenEPG™ Index top 1,000 rankings are available today at ratings.pixalate.com. Enterprise programmatic datasets, custom market cuts, historical daypart tracking, and Pre-Bid API access are available via Pixalate OpenEPG™ Analytics.
Built on Pixalate’s OpenEPG DB™ 1.0 engine, the upgraded platform maps 675,000+ shows across 16,100+ channels and 7,322 apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Apple TV, Android TV, Android, and iOS.
Linear and streaming TV audience measurement historically relied on direct publisher integration, content logs, or automated content recognition (ACR). In open programmatic Connected TV (CTV) and mobile environments, bid requests arrive without show titles, leaving ad buyers blind to specific program placements. The OpenEPG™ engine resolves show-level metadata directly from standard OpenRTB bidstream Bundle IDs in real time, requiring zero publisher-side SDKs, code, or opt-in.
About Pixalate
Pixalate is a global platform specializing in privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and digital ad supply chain data intelligence. Founded in 2012 and recognized by UNICEF as a "key innovator" for children's online privacy, Pixalate is trusted by regulators, data researchers, advertisers, publishers, ad tech platforms, and financial analysts across Connected TV (CTV), mobile app, and website ecosystems. Pixalate is accredited by the MRC for the detection and filtration of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT). pixalate.com
Disclaimer
OpenEPG™ data reflects Pixalate's opinions based on open-exchange signals and public EPG data; no assurances or guarantees are made as to the accuracy or completeness of any classification, resolution, or rating. Attributions are for identification and measurement purposes only and imply no affiliation, partnership, or endorsement. IVT metrics follow Pixalate's MRC-accredited methodology and do not constitute a legal finding of fraud or violation of law or platform policy.