Lifetime captures 16% of CTV ad spend with four series in the top 10, while News takes 45% of mobile programmatic spend across 620,000+ mapped shows on Pixalate’s OpenEPG™ Index.
LONDON, October 23, 2026 — Pixalate, a global ad fraud and privacy compliance platform, today published the September 2026 update to its free monthly OpenEPG™ Index, the programmatic advertising industry's first public benchmark of streaming TV content built on real-world U.S. open programmatic ad spend and U.S. consumer reach — across both small screens (mobile) and large screens (CTV).
The September Index ranks 620,000+ shows mapped in OpenEPG DB™ 1.0 — with the top 100 by measured U.S. consumer reach published free each month.
| Genre | Mobile (Ad Spend SOV) | CTV (Ad Spend SOV) |
|---|---|---|
| News | 45% | 24% |
| Reality | 9% | 21% |
| Documentary | 13% | 14% |
| Crime | 8% | 13% |
| Sport | 7% | 5% |
| Comedy | 8% | 4% |
The Index ranks shows by estimated U.S. consumer reach and measures each show's share of open programmatic ad spend — by screen, genre, market, and daypart. September's patterns:
Ranked by consumer reach; ad-spend and reach figures are share of voice.
| # | Show | Channel | Genre | Top U.S. Market | Ad Spend SOV | Reach SOV | Top Daypart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NCIS | Lifetime | Crime | New York | 5.0% | 5.5% | Prime Time |
| 2 | Top Weather News, Regional Forecasts, Live Severe Coverage, and Local Weather | Weathernation | News | New York | 2.7% | 3.0% | Prime Time |
| 3 | Castle | Lifetime | Drama | New York | 2.1% | 2.3% | Afternoon |
| 4 | Shark Tank | CNBC | Reality | New York | 1.6% | 1.8% | Prime Time |
| 5 | Storage Wars | A&E | Reality | New York | 1.2% | 1.3% | Morning |
| 6 | The Rookie | Lifetime | Crime | New York | 1.2% | 1.3% | Afternoon |
| 7 | Paranormal Caught On Camera | Travel Channel | Documentary | New York | 1.0% | 1.2% | Morning |
| 8 | Rizzoli & Isles | Lifetime | Crime | New York | 0.9% | 1.0% | Prime Time |
| 9 | My Lottery Dream Home | HGTV | Reality | New York | 0.9% | 0.9% | Prime Time |
| 10 | Live PD: Greatest Shifts | A&E | Crime | Los Angeles | 0.7% | 0.8% | Prime Time |
Ranked by estimated consumer reach
| # | Show | Channel | Genre | Top U.S. Market | Ad Spend SOV | Reach SOV | Top Daypart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | America's Morning Headquarters | The Weather Channel | News | New York | 8.8% | 8.3% | Morning |
| 2 | The Weather Channel LIVE | The Weather Channel | News | New York | 3.5% | 2.9% | Afternoon |
| 3 | Weather Unfiltered | The Weather Channel | News | New York | 2.6% | 2.6% | Prime Time |
| 4 | Boys Over Flowers | AsianCrush | Comedy | Los Angeles | 1.6% | 2.4% | Overnight |
| 5 | On The Scene | Scripps News | News | New York | 1.9% | 2.2% | Afternoon |
| 6 | Bare Knuckle Boxing | Stadium | Sport | Cleveland-Akron (Canton) | 1.5% | 2.0% | Afternoon |
| 7 | Morning Rush | Scripps News | News | New York | 1.6% | 1.9% | Morning |
| 8 | Today as It Happened | Scripps News | News | New York | 1.3% | 1.4% | Prime Time |
| 9 | The National Report | Scripps News | News | New York | 1.3% | 1.3% | Overnight |
| 10 | America's Weekend Headquarters | The Weather Channel | News | New York | 1.1% | 1.3% | Morning |
All trademarks, service marks, and trade names referenced herein (including but not limited to Lifetime, Weathernation, CNBC, A&E, Travel Channel, HGTV, The Weather Channel, AsianCrush, Scripps News, Stadium, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung, and Apple TV) are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only. No endorsement, affiliation, or sponsorship is implied.
The top 100 OpenEPG™ Index public rankings are updated monthly and available at pixalate.com.
The OpenEPG™ Index is powered by OpenEPG DB™ 1.0 — Pixalate's database mapping 620,000+ streaming TV shows across 14,100+ channels and 7,300+ apps — and Pixalate OpenEPG™ Analytics, which resolves TV shows using only standard bidstream Bundle IDs, with no publisher opt-in required.
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 the 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 finding of fraud or any violation of law or platform policy. Pixalate's full disclaimer can be found here.