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Pixalate Releases Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0: 4.1% of CTV Inventory Is Resold Through Arbitrage, Lowest of Any Channel; Google AdExchange Top-Ranked 'Direct' Seller in the US

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ROKU Roku is mentioned as one of the CTV platforms ranked in Pixalate's Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0. The article notes a decrease in arbitrage for Roku inventory, which is a positive indicator for direct publisher sales. AMZN Amazon Fire TV is mentioned as a CTV platform ranked in Pixalate's Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0. The article highlights a significant decrease in arbitrage for Amazon Fire TV inventory, suggesting improved direct publisher sales. AAPL Apple TV is mentioned as a CTV platform ranked in Pixalate's Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0. The article notes that Apple TV saw its share of arbitrageurs drop to none, indicating a strong trend towards direct publisher sales. GOOGL Google AdExchange is ranked as the top-ranked 'Direct' seller in the US according to Pixalate's Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0. This indicates strong performance and trust in Google's ad exchange for CTV inventory.

Pixalate Releases Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0: 4.1% of CTV Inventory Is Resold Through Arbitrage, Lowest of Any Channel; Google AdExchange Top-Ranked 'Direct' Seller in the US LONDON, June 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pixalate, an ad fraud and privacy compliance platform, today released the Q1 2026 Connected TV (CTV) Seller Trust Index (STI) 2.0 rankings. STI 2.0 ranks 20+ open programmatic CTV ad sellers across Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV, and LG Smart TV in the United States. The index is free, public, and updated quarterly.

For each seller, the model measures:

Arbitrage Trends in CTV (Q1 2026)

In CTV, 4.1% of U.S. inventory was resold rather than sold publisher-direct in Q1 2026, far below web (20.8%) and mobile (16.2%), per Pixalate's Q1 2026 Web and Mobile Seller Trust Indexes.

The share of ranked SSPs that are primarily arbitrageurs fell on every platform versus Q4 2025 — Amazon Fire TV (31% to 14%), Samsung TV (18% to 9%) and Roku (14% to 7%), with Apple TV and LG dropping to none.

Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0: Top 5 Sellers in United States

The following tables show the top-ranked sellers in the United States based on CTV Seller Trust Index scores for Q1 2026. Full rankings for all 5 CTV platforms are available at pixalate.com.

Roku

Amazon Fire TV

Apple TV

Samsung Smart TV

LG Smart TV

CTV Seller Trust Index 2.0 Metrics

The following metrics are disclosed for each seller on each platform:

Seller overall rankings are a composite score based on Arbitraged Inventory Ratio, DIRECT Publisher Penetration, and Authorized-Direct Volume.

CTV Arbitrage by Platform: Percentage of SSPs That Are Primarily Resellers

The following table shows the share of CTV SSPs ranked on the STI 2.0 on each platform that are primarily resellers in the United States — meaning over half of their measured impressions were not delivered through an authorized-direct path, as assessed by Pixalate.

Download CTV Seller Trust Index

The Pixalate Seller Trust Index ratings are free and open to the public. See the full Q1 2026 CTV Seller Trust Index ratings at pixalate.com.

Pixalate also publishes the Mobile Seller Trust Index and Web Seller Trust Index.

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

The content of this press release, and the Seller Trust Indexes (collectively, the “Indexes”), reflect Pixalate’s opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. As cited in the Indexes, the ratings and rankings in the Indexes are based on a number of metrics and Pixalate’s opinions regarding the relative performance of each seller with respect to the metrics. The data is derived from buy-side, predominantly open auction, programmatic advertising transactions, as measured by Pixalate. Any references to outside sources in the Indexes and herein should not be construed as endorsements. Pixalate’s opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees; and neither this press release nor the Indexes are intended to impugn the standing or reputation of any person, entity or app.

IVT rates and scores derived from each vendor’s own proprietary methods and independent analysis may depict differing results and opinions across measurement providers. Any party’s reliance on Pixalate’s Indexes, rankings, IVT opinions, or related data is entirely at that party’s own risk. Pixalate makes no guarantees, representations, or warranties — express or implied — regarding the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of its opinions or data to any particular purpose or circumstance.

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.”

press@pixalate.com