• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, August 1, 2016

Supply-side platform Sovrn grabbed the top spot in the U.S. in Pixalate’s Q2 Global Seller Trust Index Report, followed by programmatic marketplace OpenX. Separately, OpenX landed in the No. 1 position on Pixalate's global and mobile inventory rankings for Q2.

The companies are two among many ad-tech firms that were evaluated and ranked by Pixalate for the quality of their digital ad inventory.

The Q2 report found that fraudulent traffic was 34% overall for the quarter, and that general invalid traffic increased by 60% largely due to data center traffic and increased VPN connections.

Top sellers that have made major improvements on the Index include Rhythm Exchange, Appnexus, Twitter’s MoPub, and SMAATO. “This is clear evidence of a concerted, proactive effort to combat [ad] fraud,” Jalal Nasir, Pixalate CEO told Real-Time Daily via email.

“Companies that have made a significant investment in inventory quality are doing so, in part, by dedicating a traffic quality team for this purpose. We are seeing the emergence of this new role among the top sellers in particular,” Nasir said.

In addition, he said that increased focus and discussion around ad fraud and viewability had an impact on the Q2 rankings.

“Fraud and viewability are the biggest challenges the industry is facing so far in the 21st century. Media coverage, legal actions, and industry-wide conversations are driving a mutual effort to address these issues. As a result, committed sellers are taking action, which is  seen in their Seller Trust Index Rankings,” Nasir explained.

“Ad quality is foundational for us at OpenX, and is an ongoing, top-priority effort as we continue to scale. The fact that we are No. 1 in mobile and international is particularly gratifying as these are our fastest growing business segments,” John Murphy, VP, Marketplace Quality, OpenX, told Real-Time Daily via email.

“The team at Sovrn works hard to ensure that our exchange is a transparent and trusted place for great publishers and advertising buyers. The No. 1 spot in the Pixalate ranking is a great validation of a team effort and focus,” Walter Knapp, CEO of Sovrn, told Real-Time Daily via email.

The Pixalate Global Seller TrustIndex is an independent third-party monthly ranking of programmatic ad inventory based on the firm’s proprietary technology that analyzes more than 100 billion monthly impressions. Global quality ratings are based on an analysis of network score, reach score, masking score, invalid traffic types,  general invalid traffic (GIVT), sophisticated invalid traffic score (SIVT), ad viewability scores and malware in compliance with recognized industry standards. The Index takes into account a variety of metrics, including overall effectiveness assessing fraud, viewability, malware, engagement, domain masking, and inventory scores.