LONDON, May 20, 2026—Pixalate, an ad fraud and privacy compliance platform, today released the Q1 2026 Connected TV (CTV) Malformed and Fraudulent Bundle IDs Risk Reports for the Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, LG Smart TV, and Samsung Smart TV CTV apps.

The series of reports provides a detailed analysis of the global status of non-standard and malformed CTV Bundle IDs in the open programmatic advertising supply chain as of Q1 2026. A "malformed" Bundle ID refers to an app identifier used in the ad bid that is either uncorrelated or unmapped to any known app, according to Pixalate’s Bundle ID mapping technology. These "malformed" Bundle IDs can disrupt ad targeting and campaign measurement while paving the way for ad fraud.

Key Findings:

Roku: Approx. 17% of measured Bundle IDs were malformed, unidentified, and/or fraudulent (800 out of 4,700)

- 60% of Bundle IDs across Roku traffic used actual App Store IDs, which is the recommended method for app identification according to the IAB Tech Lab

Amazon Fire TV: 51% of measured Bundle IDs were malformed, unidentified, and/or fraudulent (approx. 2,000 out of 3,900)

- 39% of Bundle IDs across Amazon Fire TV traffic used actual App Store IDs, which is the recommended method for app identification according to the IAB Tech Lab

Apple TV: 65% of measured Bundle IDs were malformed, unidentified, and/or fraudulent (approx. 1,300 out of 1,900)

- 25% of Bundle IDs across Apple TV traffic used actual App Store IDs, which is the recommended method for app identification according to the IAB Tech Lab

Samsung Smart TV: 60% of measured Bundle IDs were malformed, unidentified, and/or fraudulent (approx.1,000 out of 1,600)

- 22% of Bundle IDs across Samsung Smart TV traffic used actual App Store IDs, which is the recommended method for app identification according to the IAB Tech Lab

LG Smart TV: 74% of measured Bundle IDs were malformed, unidentified, and/or fraudulent (approx. 1,200 out of 1,600)

- 18% of Bundle IDs across LG TV traffic used actual App Store IDs, which is the recommended method for app identification according to the IAB Tech Lab

Top Malformed, Unidentified &/or Fraudulent Bundle IDs (Q1 2026)

(by impression volume), as determined by Pixalate

Roku Bundle IDs

LG Smart TV Bundle IDs

Samsung Smart TV Bundle IDs

Apple TV Bundle IDs

Amazon Fire TV Bundle IDs

For this report, Pixalate’s data science team analyzed approx. 2 billion open programmatic CTV impressions in March 2026.

Download the complete reports:

About Pixalate

Pixalate is a global market-leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform. Pixalate works 24/7 to guard your reputation and grow your media value by offering the only system of coordinated solutions across display, app, video, and CTV for the detection and elimination of ad fraud. Pixalate is an MRC-accredited service for the detection and filtration of sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) across desktop and mobile web, mobile in-app, and CTV advertising. www.pixalate.com

Disclaimer

The content of this press release, and the global Q1 2026 CTV Malformed Bundle IDs Risk Reports (the “Reports”), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Any data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but, instead, to report findings and trends pertaining to programmatic advertising activity across in the time period studied. Per the Media Rating Council (MRC), “‘Invalid Traffic’ is defined generally as traffic that does not meet certain ad serving quality or completeness criteria, or otherwise does not represent legitimate ad traffic that should be included in measurement counts. Among the reasons why ad traffic may be deemed invalid is it is a result of non-human traffic (spiders, bots, etc.), or activity designed to produce fraudulent traffic.” Where the traffic characteristics are suggestive of deliberate intent to mislead, such IVT is often referred to as “ad fraud.” Also per the MRC, “'Fraud' is not intended to represent fraud as defined in various laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S. Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition strictly for advertising measurement purposes.”