--- title: Pixalate's Made for Advertising (MFA) CTV Report description: Pixalate's Made for Advertising (MFA) Report for CTV offers an overview of the current state of MFA traffic in open programmatic Connected TV advertising. image: https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/Blog_Media/Blog%20photos/Cover%20-%20Made%20for%20Advertising%20(MFA)%20CTV%20Report%20-%20October%202023.png --- [![pixalate-logo-red-small](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2018NewTemplate/pixalate-logo-red-small.png?width=150&height=46&name=pixalate-logo-red-small.png "pixalate-logo-red-small")](https://www.pixalate.com/?hsLang=en) # **Made-for-Advertising (MFA) Connected TV Apps** Pixalate’s **Q1 2026 Benchmarks for Made-for-Advertising (MFA) Connected TV Apps** explores advertising trends on likely MFA CTV apps, offering insight into the impact of MFAs across leading CTV platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV. Gain a detailed view of ad spend estimates, common app registration countries, the most affected categories and genres, and more. ### Download Report By clicking Download and entering your email address, you are agreeing to our [Terms of Use](https://www.pixalate.com/terms?hsLang=en) and have read and acknowledge our [Privacy Policy](https://www.pixalate.com/privacy-policy?hsLang=en). ## **More MFA Benchmarks:** - [Benchmarks for Made-for-Advertising Mobile Apps](https://www.pixalate.com/made-for-advertising-mobile-report?hsLang=en) - [Benchmarks for Made-for-Advertising Websites](https://www.pixalate.com/made-for-advertising-websites-report?hsLang=en) ## **Pixalate's Methodology: MFA Benchmarks** For this report, Pixalate’s data science team analyzed **1.2 billion open programmatic ad impressions globally in Q1 2026**. Non-trend data points reflect measured MFA activity at the end of Q1 2026. Quarterly trend analysis is based on data from the final month of each quarter and is used as a representative snapshot of end-of-quarter trends. Programmatic ad transactions serve as **proxies for advertising Share of Voice (SOV) and ad spend**. Pixalate’s datasets, exclusively used to generate these insights, primarily consist of buy-side open auction programmatic traffic sources. ## **How does Pixalate flag CTV Apps as Made-for-Advertising (MFA)?** Pixalate determines MFA designations using observed traffic from its global data pool, rather than relying solely on crawlers, which can be easily manipulated. ## **Pixalate evaluates several key characteristics to detect MFA apps, including:** - **Ad Refresh Rate** – Number of ad impressions observed per device, per user, per hour - **App Age** – Age of the app on the App Store - **Popularity Score** – Pixalate’s popularity score for the app  - **Reviews** – Number of user reviews Pixalate analyzes these traffic signals and flags apps as likely MFA when any of the factors are extreme outliers, determined through **quantile analysis of all ad impressions** per app. Pixalate further classifies MFA apps as “**medium**” or “**high**” risk, based on the severity and number of measured MFA signals. Pixalate **flags apps as likely MFA on a monthly basis**, meaning changes in advertising patterns may cause an app’s MFA classification to fluctuate from month to month. **Pixalate’s methodologies undergo continuous review and enhancement. For more information, visit **[**Pixalate’s MFA knowledge base.**** **](https://www.pixalate.com/knowledgebase/made-for-advertising-mfa?hsLang=en) ## **How does Pixalate estimate global ad spend (in USD)?** Pixalate calculates global open programmatic ad spend by combining externally sourced data with its internally tracked metrics. For this report, third-party data is used to estimate the total annual spend for the previous year. Pixalate then applies its derived quarterly share to determine quarterly values, and proprietary estimates are used to construct QoQ time series for 2024 and 2025. ## **What is Invalid Traffic (IVT)?** As used herein, and per the MRC, “'Invalid Traffic' (IVT) 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.” ## **See also:** - … [Malformed & Fraudulent CTV Bundle IDs Risk Report](https://www.pixalate.com/connected-tv-ctv-malformed-and-fraudulent-bundle-ids-risk-report-for-roku?hsLang=en) - … [Programmatic Ad Seller Misrepresentation Report](https://www.pixalate.com/programmatic-ad-seller-misrepresentation-report-web-traffic?hsLang=en) - ... [Invalid Traffic (IVT) & Ad Fraud Benchmarks](https://www.pixalate.com/invalid-traffic-benchmarks-report-united-states?hsLang=en) - ... [Click Fraud Benchmarks Report](https://www.pixalate.com/desktop-web-click-fraud-benchmarks-report-for-north-america?hsLang=en) ## **About Pixalate** *Pixalate is a global platform for privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and data intelligence in the digital ad supply chain. Founded in 2012, Pixalate’s platform 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 MRC-accredited for the detection and filtration of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT).* ### Schedule a Demo ![pixalate-logo-red-small](https://www.pixalate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2018NewTemplate/pixalate-logo-red-small.png?width=208&name=pixalate-logo-red-small.png "pixalate-logo-red-small") ** By entering your email address and clicking Subscribe, you are agreeing to our [Terms of Use](https://www.pixalate.com/terms?hsLang=en) and [Privacy Policy](https://www.pixalate.com/privacypolicy?hsLang=en) Products [Analytics](https://www.pixalate.com/products/analytics?hsLang=en) [Blocking](https://www.pixalate.com/products/blocking?hsLang=en) [Media Rating Terminal](https://www.pixalate.com/products/mrt?hsLang=en) [Publisher Trust Indexes](https://www.pixalate.com/rankings/?group=app&reportId=publisherTrustIndex&hsLang=en) [Seller Trust Indexes](https://www.pixalate.com/rankings/?group=app&reportId=publisherTrustIndex&hsLang=en) [IoT Device Rankings](https://www.pixalate.com/rankings/?group=app&reportId=iotDeviceReach&hsLang=en) Resources [Blog](https://blog.pixalate.com/?hsLang=en) [Press](https://www.pixalate.com/press?hsLang=en) [Careers](https://www.pixalate.com/jobs?hsLang=en) [Team](https://info.pixalate.com/pixalate-leadership-team?hsLang=en) Contact Email [** sales@pixalate.com ](mailto:sales@pixalate.com) [** privacy@pixalate.com ](mailto:privacy@pixalate.com) US: [** +1 888 749 2528 ](tel:+1%20888%20749%202528) EU: [** +44 (0)800 011 2050 ](tel:+44%20(0)800%20011%202050) Slack: [Join ATSAPI Slack Channel ](https://atsapi-pixalate.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-10dtow5cj-OEtlNr5yzJkrZMQUqcEEow#/shared-invite/email) Offices Global Offices US 1775 Greensboro Station Place, Suite 425, McLean, VA 22102 UK 20 North Audley Street London, W1K 6WE, United Kingdom EU 10 Earlsfort Terrace Dublin 2, D02 T380, Ireland Singapore 10 Anson Road, #22-02 International Plaza, Singapore 079903 [![facebook](https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/footer/icons/facebook.png) ](https://www.facebook.com/pixalate) [![x](https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/footer/icons/twitter-x.png) ](https://twitter.com/pixalateinc) [![linkedin](https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/footer/icons/linkedin.png) ](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pixalate) ![wechat](https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/footer/icons/wechat.png) [![slack](https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/footer/icons/slack.png) ](https://atsapi-pixalate.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-10dtow5cj-OEtlNr5yzJkrZMQUqcEEow#/shared-invite/email) [Terms of Use](https://www.pixalate.com/terms?hsLang=en) [Privacy Policy](https://www.pixalate.com/privacypolicy?hsLang=en) [GDPR Compliance](https://www.pixalate.com/gdpr?hsLang=en) Disclaimer Copyright © 2025 Pixalate [Back to top **](https://www.pixalate.com/made-for-advertising-ctv-report#) # Disclaimer Disclaimer: The content of this page reflects Pixalate’s opinions with respect to the factors that Pixalate believes can be useful to the digital media industry. Any proprietary 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 - opinion, not facts or guarantees. 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. Also per the 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.” ** ** *By clicking Download and entering your email address, you are agreeing to our [Terms of Use](https://www.pixalate.com/terms?hsLang=en) and have read and acknowledge our [Privacy Policy](https://www.pixalate.com/hubfs/2024-08-20_Pixalate_Privacy_Policy.pdf?hsLang=en). *Copyright © 2025 Pixalate** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * × ## Subscribe to the Pixalate Blog The first step in ad fraud prevention. Loading... 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