National news outlets captured 40% of mobile streaming TV ad spend — more than triple local stations' 12% — while News, Reality, and Documentary accounted for 75% of large-screen (CTV) ad spend, according to Pixalate's monthly analysis; mapped against OpenEPG DB™, resolved from open programmatic signals with no publisher opt-in.

LONDON, August 27, 2026 — Pixalate, a global ad fraud and privacy compliance platform, today published the July 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 July Index expands the ranked universe from 12,875 shows at launch to the 532,000+ shows now mapped and ranked in OpenEPG DB™ — with the top 100 by measured U.S. consumer reach published free each month.

Key observations:

• Bloomberg's Bloomberg Surveillance ranked No. 1 on large-screen (CTV) in July by consumer reach
• The Weather Channel's America's Morning Headquarters led the small-screen (mobile) rankings, with The Weather Channel sweeping the top three mobile slots and 25% of mobile streaming TV ad spend
• CNN was the top large-screen channel by ad spend (16%), led by CNN News Central
• News, Reality, and Documentary accounted for 75% of estimated U.S. CTV open programmatic ad spend on streaming TV shows in July 2026; HGTV (13%) and Food Network (11%) together accounted for roughly a quarter of CTV ad spend
• News accounted for 52% of U.S. mobile streaming TV open programmatic ad spend; Scripps News alone accounted for 22%
  
  

Learn more in Pixalate's July 2026 OpenEPG™ Index: State of Streaming TV Ad Spend Report for the United States.

News, Reality, and Documentary Draw Streaming TV Ad Spend in July 2026

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. July's patterns:

• CTV ad spend concentrated in business news and lifestyle reality: Bloomberg's morning block (Bloomberg Surveillance, Bloomberg Open Interest) and CNN anchored News, while Food Network (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Beat Bobby Flay, Guy's Grocery Games) and HGTV (Love It or List It, House Hunters, My Lottery Dream Home) dominated Reality
• Mobile news led decisively: The Weather Channel took the top three shows by reach (America's Morning Headquarters, Weather Unfiltered, The Weather Channel LIVE), followed by Scripps News (Morning Rush, The National Report)
• National news out-earned local news on both screens: national outlets drew 40% of mobile streaming TV ad spend vs. 12% for local stations; on CTV, 34% national vs. 3% local
• News over-monetized on CTV: 37% of ad spend vs. 28% of reach, a sign of heavier ad loads and higher CPMs; on mobile, News spend and reach sat at parity (52% vs. 51%)
• News carried the highest invalid-traffic (IVT) rate among leading genres in July: 6.1%, nearly double Reality (3.2%)

OpenEPG™ Index July 2026 Rankings

Small Screen — Android & iOS (Combined)

Ranked by estimated consumer reach

Large Screen — Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung & Apple TV (Combined)

Ranked by consumer reach; ad-spend and reach figures are share of voice.

All trademarks, service marks, and trade names referenced herein (including but not limited to Bloomberg, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, AMC, The Weather Channel, Scripps News, CBS, 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.

Availability

The top 100 OpenEPG™ Index public rankings are updated monthly and available at pixalate.com.

The OpenEPG™ Index is powered by OpenEPG DB™ — Pixalate's database mapping 532,000+ streaming TV shows across 13,600+ channels and 6,100+ 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.