Report: Amazon Fire TV most impacted by sideloaded apps
December 16, 2022
Pixalate, the fraud protection, privacy and compliance analytics platform for connected TV (CTV) and mobile advertising, has released the Q3 2022 Sideloaded CTV Apps Report. Sideloaded apps are apps that are downloaded and installed on a device but not from the device’s official app store.
Pixalate’s study of programmatic advertising on sideloaded apps reveals that Amazon Fire TV devices, which allow sideloaded apps, are the most impacted.
Key Takeaways from Pixalate’s Q3 2022 Sideloaded CTV Apps Report:
- Amazon Fire TV is the most impacted Android TV platform. Pixalate saw video ad impressions served on sideloaded apps almost double over the first three quarters of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, with more than half of those impressions coming from Amazon Fire TV devices.
- Sideloaded apps may be a brand safety risk, as they can contain content that may have been barred from the platform’s official app store, including pirated content.
- The presence of ad traffic on sideloaded apps may reflect that app-ads.txt is not being sufficiently used on CTV programmatic advertising.
- Sideloaded apps may also be used to deliver malware and use bots to perpetuate ad fraud.
Identifying traffic directed to apps that are not part of the device’s official app store is crucial for advertisers, as content on sideloaded apps is often pirated and/or unmoderated.
Top CTV Devices Impacted by Sideloaded Apps
The top five device platforms impacted by sideloaded apps (based on programmatic ad impressions in Q3 2022, as measured by Pixalate):
- Amazon Fire TV
- Mxq
- Nvidia
- Tanix
- H96
Top Sideloaded Apps
The top five sideloaded apps seen across all platforms (based on programmatic ad impressions on CTV devices in Q3 2022, as measured by Pixalate):
- Titan Video Player 1.21
- CinemaHD-analytics 2.3.3.analytics
- Busy Audio Cutter
- Live Net TV
- TeaTV 10.3.2r
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