Programmatic Ad Seller Misrepresentation on Connected TV Q1 2025: Pixalate Estimates 13% of Global Open Programmatic CTV Ad Impressions Sold by Unauthorized Sellers

According to Pixalate’s latest Supply Path Optimization (SPO) research using SupplyChain Object (SCO) data, an estimated $652 million in global CTV open programmatic ad spend is routed through unauthorized sellers; 28% of Connected TV (CTV) traffic with SCOs marked as ‘complete’ was sold by unauthorized direct sellers

London, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pixalate, the leading ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics platform, today released the Q1 2025 Programmatic Ad Seller Misrepresentation Report for Connected TV (CTV). The report uses SupplyChainObject data to investigate unauthorized CTV sellers within the open programmatic advertising supply chain.

In addition to the CTV report, Pixalate also released the programmatic ad seller misrepresentation reports for web traffic and mobile app traffic.

The SupplyChainObject (SCO) enables buyers and intermediaries to view all parties selling or reselling open programmatic advertising inventory. Numerous partners are often involved in open programmatic supply paths, which fragment the ecosystem and make it vulnerable to ad fraud attacks. Pixalate's latest report highlights the prevalence of unauthorized selling within the global programmatic supply chain despite the implementation of ads.txt or app-ads.txt.

Key Findings

• Failing Verification. 13% of CTV traffic with SCOs fail Pixalate’s SCO verification due to unauthorized sellers (including direct or resellers) in CTV in Q1 2025
• Unauthorized Direct Sellers. 16% of CTV traffic with SCOs marked as ‘complete’ was sold by unauthorized direct sellers in Q1 2025

Pixalate’s analysis includes a set of SCO verification checks as defined by Pixalate, utilizing IAB Tech Lab’s ads.txt/app-ads.txt standards, along with SCO data from the OpenRTB bid stream to evaluate the accuracy of declared supply paths in the ad bid stream. Learn more about Pixalate’s SCO verification and validation.


For this report series, Pixalate's data science team analyzed over 11 billion programmatic ad impressions containing the OpenRTB SCO during Q1 2025.

Download the reports

Download the complete Q1 2025 Programmatic Ad Seller Misrepresentation Reports:

• Desktop and Mobile Web
• Mobile Apps
• CTV
  
  

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 Q1 2025 Programmatic Ad Seller Misrepresentation Reports (the “Reports”), reflect Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes can 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 mobile apps in the time period studied. 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.”

Nina Talcott
ntalcott@pixalate.com

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