Lifetime's 'NCIS' Tops CTV Ad Spend; Weather Channel Leads Mobile…

Event summary

Pixalate's August 2026 OpenEPG™ Index ranked 580,000+ streaming TV shows, with Lifetime's 'NCIS' topping CTV ad spend and The Weather Channel's 'America's Morning Headquarters' leading mobile.
News and Reality genres captured 63% of U.S. CTV open programmatic ad spend, with large screens (CTV) taking 64% of all streaming TV ad spend.
A&E was the top small-screen channel by ad spend, while HGTV led large-screen ad spend, followed by Food Network and Bloomberg TV+.
National news outlets drew 59% of ad spend on news shows, outpacing local stations at 41%.
Live sports ad spend skewed heavily toward large screens, with 75% of spend going to CTV.

The big picture

Pixalate's August 2026 OpenEPG™ Index highlights the growing fragmentation of streaming TV ad spend across screens and genres. The dominance of News and Reality content underscores shifting viewer preferences and advertiser strategies in a programmatic landscape. As CTV continues to capture a larger share of ad spend, the battle for mobile streaming TV ad dollars intensifies, particularly in weather and reality programming. These trends reflect broader industry dynamics where content performance and screen-specific targeting are critical for advertisers and platforms alike.

What we're watching

Genre Preferences: How the dominance of News and Reality genres in ad spend will affect content production and licensing strategies.
Screen Segmentation: Whether the stark divide between CTV and mobile ad spend will persist or converge as streaming platforms evolve.
National vs. Local: The pace at which national news outlets can maintain their lead in ad spend over local stations in the streaming TV landscape.