On April 11, 2024, over 400 attendees from the advertising and marketing industry met at the green rooftop pavilion of the Javits Center at the second annual Green Media Summit to discuss how we can work together as an industry to reduce the carbon footprint of our industry. The 2023 Green Media Summit was focused on educating the industry on the carbon impact of our industry and 2024 was focused on how we can accelerate action. The collection of over 35 speakers were tasked with providing actionable next steps for the audience and industry to catalyze action. The following is a collection of the six major takeaways from the Green Media Summit.
[Watch] The 2024 Green Media Summit Highlight Reel
1. From Climate Experts: Authentic Storytelling Will Drive Sustainable Change
Becoming more sustainable isn’t unique to the media and advertising industry, many other industries are facing similar challenges. Hearing from climate experts at the 2024 Green Media Summit, we learned that sustainability is a systemic challenge and true progress won’t happen until the system is changed to prioritize sustainability. This is where media and advertising have an advantage because the best way to motivate change is through authentic storytelling.
Brands and advertisers can promote real stories about people and the environment and how you support them. Instead of chasing short-term profits, look for new opportunities for change and lead customers rather than following trends.
The good news is we have done this before. Molly Voss Fannon, Senior Advisor to New Zero World, pointed out that Hollywood had a huge impact on normalizing gay relationships through shows like Will and Grace, Modern Family, etc. which eventually led to the legalization of gay marriage. We can have that same impact by normalizing and highlighting better sustainable choices in content from Hollywood to Madison Avenue to social media.
2. From Brands: Leading By Example Can Influence Others To Become More Sustainable
Brands hold much power in making other companies and organizations more sustainable. For many brands, Scope 3 emissions are their primary source of carbon waste. This typically comes from their supply chain, which includes partners and customers, however, because of increased regulations and consumer demands, sustainability is no longer optional.
So the best time for brands to reduce their carbon emissions is now. Although supply chain emissions can be harder to track, carbon disclosure helps brands and their partners manage their emissions. Additionally, by deploying capital and helping their partners and customers reduce carbon emissions, brands can in turn reduce their carbon footprint, which can help them sooner reach their sustainability commitment goals.
“We do see that a bulk of our emissions comes from marketing. And we are tackling that head on. And it's important, I feel sometimes people want to wait till everything is perfect and there's never going to be a perfect time. You have to dive in. You have to do the best that you can with the tools and information that you can, but you have to start somewhere…” said Kellyanne Perez-Vera, Sustainability Manager, Global Media at Mastercard.
3. From Agencies: Asking More of Their Partners and Sharing Successes Will Drive Sustainable Practices
Agencies have the buying power to quickly influence major changes across the industry. Many agencies are already starting to prioritize more sustainable partners by including more sustainability questions in their RFIs, which they use to prioritize supply partners. Sharethrough reported at the Green Media Summit that we saw a 600% increase in the inclusion of sustainability questions in RFIs from 2022 to 2023. That’s a big step but still less than 40% of RFIs include sustainability questions. To help, agencies are working together pre-competitively to create a standard list of sustainability questions they can include in their partner evaluation RFIs. That is expected to roll out later this year.
Storytelling was a key theme throughout the day, and the same goes for convincing more advertisers to adopt more sustainable media buying practices. Agencies need to share examples with clients and the greater industry that being more sustainable in their media buying can also lead to better performance or, as Martin Bryan Global Chief Sustainability Officer at IPG Mediabrands put it, “profit with purpose is what will catalyze adoption of climate action.”
4. From Publishers: Improving Efficiency Can Grow Incremental Revenue
Historically, publishers are incentivized to maximize both the number of ads per visit and to allow as many demand partners to bid on their supply since doing so drives up rates and maximizes revenue. However, this mentality leads to both inefficiencies for advertisers and a tremendous amount of energy to power all those auctions with every page load.
There are several ways that publishers can improve their site efficiency and in turn, reduce their carbon emissions. The most effective way to do this is through their supply chain. Lean practices such as shorter supply paths, bundled bidding and improving match rates can have a great impact on lowering carbon waste. Additionally, throttling idle users and pausing ad reloads while the unit is not in view can all have a positive effect in reducing carbon emissions.
Ultimately, better performing inventory can lead to improved marketing outcomes which can increase revenue for publishers while meeting advertiser demands for sustainable inventory. As Emry DowingHall pointed out, publishers can sustain or improve their revenue through more efficient means.
“We've been able to reduce our ad request to SSPs by over 50%. In none of these tests that I've outlined, were we able to pin any of this to a negative revenue impact. And overall, with that investment, I think long term the performance of our inventory is actually better.” said Emry DowningHall, SVP Programmatic Revenue & Strategy at Unwind Media.
5. From Committees And Councils: Standardization Requires Collaboration And Enforcement
One of the most requested items in the greater sustainability agenda is industry-wide standardization. At the 2024 Green Media Summit, members from the IAB Tech Lab, Ad Net Zero, and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) shared what collective progress is made towards standardization and what’s still needed to achieve it. While the good news is that the signals for measurement exist, enforcement is lacking.
Additionally, there was a rallying call for the buy-side to invest in more green media to further speed up the adoption process. The committees and councils panel also shared some methodologies to help reduce carbon emissions. Clean supply paths that are optimized, efficient and effective have massive sustainability benefits and moving away from Made For Advertising (MFA) sites drives better outcomes for campaign performance and reduced carbon emissions.
“We're seeing sustainability and things around that topic become an economic multiplier, a point of difference that is a dynamic marketplace. And that's a good thing because it causes more companies to wake up, get off the sidelines and start to lean in and take those words and turn them into action.” said John Osborn, Director at Ad Net Zero USA.
6. From Ad Tech: Sustainable Media Has To Be Easy For The Buy-Side
DSPs and SSPs have a responsibility to the digital media and advertising industry to make it easier and more accessible to transact on sustainable media. DSPs can help buyers consider carbon emissions during their SPO initiatives, as well as promoting Green Media Products and making them easier to execute. SSPs can also make it easier for buyers to run more green media and providing better performance is key to doing so.
“It's an education, and it's also the access to being able to thread both what's happening in the media activation space to their sustainability focus and efforts in a cohesive and simplistic way.” said Ariel Deitz, VP Enterprise Partnerships at Nexxen.
Additionally, Brian O’Kelley from Scope3, introduced their latest product called GMP+, with Sharethrough as the first SSP to apply this new product through the launch of their GreenPMP+™, helping advertisers improve performance and reduce carbon emissions by removing problematic placements.
The Time to Act is Now
Organizations can’t afford to procrastinate when it comes to sustainability. After another successful Green Media Summit, many participants from climate experts, brands and agencies to publishers, committees and ad tech companies shared what you can do to reduce carbon emissions from marketing campaigns. What can you bring back to your organization to help push the advertising industry to become the first to reach net zero emissions by 2030?
Contact us to get started with Sharethrough’s Green Media Products and further your sustainability initiatives.
On April 11, 2024, over 400 attendees from the advertising and marketing industry met at the green rooftop pavilion of the Javits Center at the second annual Green Media Summit to discuss how we can work together as an industry to reduce the carbon footprint of our industry. The 2023 Green Media Summit was focused on educating the industry on the carbon impact of our industry and 2024 was focused on how we can accelerate action. The collection of over 35 speakers were tasked with providing actionable next steps for the audience and industry to catalyze action. The following is a collection of the six major takeaways from the Green Media Summit.
[Watch] The 2024 Green Media Summit Highlight Reel
1. From Climate Experts: Authentic Storytelling Will Drive Sustainable Change
Becoming more sustainable isn’t unique to the media and advertising industry, many other industries are facing similar challenges. Hearing from climate experts at the 2024 Green Media Summit, we learned that sustainability is a systemic challenge and true progress won’t happen until the system is changed to prioritize sustainability. This is where media and advertising have an advantage because the best way to motivate change is through authentic storytelling.
Brands and advertisers can promote real stories about people and the environment and how you support them. Instead of chasing short-term profits, look for new opportunities for change and lead customers rather than following trends.
The good news is we have done this before. Molly Voss Fannon, Senior Advisor to New Zero World, pointed out that Hollywood had a huge impact on normalizing gay relationships through shows like Will and Grace, Modern Family, etc. which eventually led to the legalization of gay marriage. We can have that same impact by normalizing and highlighting better sustainable choices in content from Hollywood to Madison Avenue to social media.
2. From Brands: Leading By Example Can Influence Others To Become More Sustainable
Brands hold much power in making other companies and organizations more sustainable. For many brands, Scope 3 emissions are their primary source of carbon waste. This typically comes from their supply chain, which includes partners and customers, however, because of increased regulations and consumer demands, sustainability is no longer optional.
So the best time for brands to reduce their carbon emissions is now. Although supply chain emissions can be harder to track, carbon disclosure helps brands and their partners manage their emissions. Additionally, by deploying capital and helping their partners and customers reduce carbon emissions, brands can in turn reduce their carbon footprint, which can help them sooner reach their sustainability commitment goals.
“We do see that a bulk of our emissions comes from marketing. And we are tackling that head on. And it's important, I feel sometimes people want to wait till everything is perfect and there's never going to be a perfect time. You have to dive in. You have to do the best that you can with the tools and information that you can, but you have to start somewhere…” said Kellyanne Perez-Vera, Sustainability Manager, Global Media at Mastercard.
3. From Agencies: Asking More of Their Partners and Sharing Successes Will Drive Sustainable Practices
Agencies have the buying power to quickly influence major changes across the industry. Many agencies are already starting to prioritize more sustainable partners by including more sustainability questions in their RFIs, which they use to prioritize supply partners. Sharethrough reported at the Green Media Summit that we saw a 600% increase in the inclusion of sustainability questions in RFIs from 2022 to 2023. That’s a big step but still less than 40% of RFIs include sustainability questions. To help, agencies are working together pre-competitively to create a standard list of sustainability questions they can include in their partner evaluation RFIs. That is expected to roll out later this year.
Storytelling was a key theme throughout the day, and the same goes for convincing more advertisers to adopt more sustainable media buying practices. Agencies need to share examples with clients and the greater industry that being more sustainable in their media buying can also lead to better performance or, as Martin Bryan Global Chief Sustainability Officer at IPG Mediabrands put it, “profit with purpose is what will catalyze adoption of climate action.”
4. From Publishers: Improving Efficiency Can Grow Incremental Revenue
Historically, publishers are incentivized to maximize both the number of ads per visit and to allow as many demand partners to bid on their supply since doing so drives up rates and maximizes revenue. However, this mentality leads to both inefficiencies for advertisers and a tremendous amount of energy to power all those auctions with every page load.
There are several ways that publishers can improve their site efficiency and in turn, reduce their carbon emissions. The most effective way to do this is through their supply chain. Lean practices such as shorter supply paths, bundled bidding and improving match rates can have a great impact on lowering carbon waste. Additionally, throttling idle users and pausing ad reloads while the unit is not in view can all have a positive effect in reducing carbon emissions.
Ultimately, better performing inventory can lead to improved marketing outcomes which can increase revenue for publishers while meeting advertiser demands for sustainable inventory. As Emry DowingHall pointed out, publishers can sustain or improve their revenue through more efficient means.
“We've been able to reduce our ad request to SSPs by over 50%. In none of these tests that I've outlined, were we able to pin any of this to a negative revenue impact. And overall, with that investment, I think long term the performance of our inventory is actually better.” said Emry DowningHall, SVP Programmatic Revenue & Strategy at Unwind Media.
5. From Committees And Councils: Standardization Requires Collaboration And Enforcement
One of the most requested items in the greater sustainability agenda is industry-wide standardization. At the 2024 Green Media Summit, members from the IAB Tech Lab, Ad Net Zero, and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) shared what collective progress is made towards standardization and what’s still needed to achieve it. While the good news is that the signals for measurement exist, enforcement is lacking.
Additionally, there was a rallying call for the buy-side to invest in more green media to further speed up the adoption process. The committees and councils panel also shared some methodologies to help reduce carbon emissions. Clean supply paths that are optimized, efficient and effective have massive sustainability benefits and moving away from Made For Advertising (MFA) sites drives better outcomes for campaign performance and reduced carbon emissions.
“We're seeing sustainability and things around that topic become an economic multiplier, a point of difference that is a dynamic marketplace. And that's a good thing because it causes more companies to wake up, get off the sidelines and start to lean in and take those words and turn them into action.” said John Osborn, Director at Ad Net Zero USA.
6. From Ad Tech: Sustainable Media Has To Be Easy For The Buy-Side
DSPs and SSPs have a responsibility to the digital media and advertising industry to make it easier and more accessible to transact on sustainable media. DSPs can help buyers consider carbon emissions during their SPO initiatives, as well as promoting Green Media Products and making them easier to execute. SSPs can also make it easier for buyers to run more green media and providing better performance is key to doing so.
“It's an education, and it's also the access to being able to thread both what's happening in the media activation space to their sustainability focus and efforts in a cohesive and simplistic way.” said Ariel Deitz, VP Enterprise Partnerships at Nexxen.
Additionally, Brian O’Kelley from Scope3, introduced their latest product called GMP+, with Sharethrough as the first SSP to apply this new product through the launch of their GreenPMP+™, helping advertisers improve performance and reduce carbon emissions by removing problematic placements.
The Time to Act is Now
Organizations can’t afford to procrastinate when it comes to sustainability. After another successful Green Media Summit, many participants from climate experts, brands and agencies to publishers, committees and ad tech companies shared what you can do to reduce carbon emissions from marketing campaigns. What can you bring back to your organization to help push the advertising industry to become the first to reach net zero emissions by 2030?
Contact us to get started with Sharethrough’s Green Media Products and further your sustainability initiatives.
Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech is a short 3-minute podcast exploring the news in the digital advertising industry. Ad tech is a fast-growing industry with many updates happening daily. As it can be hard for most to keep up with the latest news, the Sharethrough team wanted to create an audio series compiling notable mentions each week.
On April 11, 2024, over 400 attendees from the advertising and marketing industry met at the green rooftop pavilion of the Javits Center at the second annual Green Media Summit to discuss how we can work together as an industry to reduce the carbon footprint of our industry. The 2023 Green Media Summit was focused on educating the industry on the carbon impact of our industry and 2024 was focused on how we can accelerate action. The collection of over 35 speakers were tasked with providing actionable next steps for the audience and industry to catalyze action. The following is a collection of the six major takeaways from the Green Media Summit.
[Watch] The 2024 Green Media Summit Highlight Reel
1. From Climate Experts: Authentic Storytelling Will Drive Sustainable Change
Becoming more sustainable isn’t unique to the media and advertising industry, many other industries are facing similar challenges. Hearing from climate experts at the 2024 Green Media Summit, we learned that sustainability is a systemic challenge and true progress won’t happen until the system is changed to prioritize sustainability. This is where media and advertising have an advantage because the best way to motivate change is through authentic storytelling.
Brands and advertisers can promote real stories about people and the environment and how you support them. Instead of chasing short-term profits, look for new opportunities for change and lead customers rather than following trends.
The good news is we have done this before. Molly Voss Fannon, Senior Advisor to New Zero World, pointed out that Hollywood had a huge impact on normalizing gay relationships through shows like Will and Grace, Modern Family, etc. which eventually led to the legalization of gay marriage. We can have that same impact by normalizing and highlighting better sustainable choices in content from Hollywood to Madison Avenue to social media.
2. From Brands: Leading By Example Can Influence Others To Become More Sustainable
Brands hold much power in making other companies and organizations more sustainable. For many brands, Scope 3 emissions are their primary source of carbon waste. This typically comes from their supply chain, which includes partners and customers, however, because of increased regulations and consumer demands, sustainability is no longer optional.
So the best time for brands to reduce their carbon emissions is now. Although supply chain emissions can be harder to track, carbon disclosure helps brands and their partners manage their emissions. Additionally, by deploying capital and helping their partners and customers reduce carbon emissions, brands can in turn reduce their carbon footprint, which can help them sooner reach their sustainability commitment goals.
“We do see that a bulk of our emissions comes from marketing. And we are tackling that head on. And it's important, I feel sometimes people want to wait till everything is perfect and there's never going to be a perfect time. You have to dive in. You have to do the best that you can with the tools and information that you can, but you have to start somewhere…” said Kellyanne Perez-Vera, Sustainability Manager, Global Media at Mastercard.
3. From Agencies: Asking More of Their Partners and Sharing Successes Will Drive Sustainable Practices
Agencies have the buying power to quickly influence major changes across the industry. Many agencies are already starting to prioritize more sustainable partners by including more sustainability questions in their RFIs, which they use to prioritize supply partners. Sharethrough reported at the Green Media Summit that we saw a 600% increase in the inclusion of sustainability questions in RFIs from 2022 to 2023. That’s a big step but still less than 40% of RFIs include sustainability questions. To help, agencies are working together pre-competitively to create a standard list of sustainability questions they can include in their partner evaluation RFIs. That is expected to roll out later this year.
Storytelling was a key theme throughout the day, and the same goes for convincing more advertisers to adopt more sustainable media buying practices. Agencies need to share examples with clients and the greater industry that being more sustainable in their media buying can also lead to better performance or, as Martin Bryan Global Chief Sustainability Officer at IPG Mediabrands put it, “profit with purpose is what will catalyze adoption of climate action.”
4. From Publishers: Improving Efficiency Can Grow Incremental Revenue
Historically, publishers are incentivized to maximize both the number of ads per visit and to allow as many demand partners to bid on their supply since doing so drives up rates and maximizes revenue. However, this mentality leads to both inefficiencies for advertisers and a tremendous amount of energy to power all those auctions with every page load.
There are several ways that publishers can improve their site efficiency and in turn, reduce their carbon emissions. The most effective way to do this is through their supply chain. Lean practices such as shorter supply paths, bundled bidding and improving match rates can have a great impact on lowering carbon waste. Additionally, throttling idle users and pausing ad reloads while the unit is not in view can all have a positive effect in reducing carbon emissions.
Ultimately, better performing inventory can lead to improved marketing outcomes which can increase revenue for publishers while meeting advertiser demands for sustainable inventory. As Emry DowingHall pointed out, publishers can sustain or improve their revenue through more efficient means.
“We've been able to reduce our ad request to SSPs by over 50%. In none of these tests that I've outlined, were we able to pin any of this to a negative revenue impact. And overall, with that investment, I think long term the performance of our inventory is actually better.” said Emry DowningHall, SVP Programmatic Revenue & Strategy at Unwind Media.
5. From Committees And Councils: Standardization Requires Collaboration And Enforcement
One of the most requested items in the greater sustainability agenda is industry-wide standardization. At the 2024 Green Media Summit, members from the IAB Tech Lab, Ad Net Zero, and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) shared what collective progress is made towards standardization and what’s still needed to achieve it. While the good news is that the signals for measurement exist, enforcement is lacking.
Additionally, there was a rallying call for the buy-side to invest in more green media to further speed up the adoption process. The committees and councils panel also shared some methodologies to help reduce carbon emissions. Clean supply paths that are optimized, efficient and effective have massive sustainability benefits and moving away from Made For Advertising (MFA) sites drives better outcomes for campaign performance and reduced carbon emissions.
“We're seeing sustainability and things around that topic become an economic multiplier, a point of difference that is a dynamic marketplace. And that's a good thing because it causes more companies to wake up, get off the sidelines and start to lean in and take those words and turn them into action.” said John Osborn, Director at Ad Net Zero USA.
6. From Ad Tech: Sustainable Media Has To Be Easy For The Buy-Side
DSPs and SSPs have a responsibility to the digital media and advertising industry to make it easier and more accessible to transact on sustainable media. DSPs can help buyers consider carbon emissions during their SPO initiatives, as well as promoting Green Media Products and making them easier to execute. SSPs can also make it easier for buyers to run more green media and providing better performance is key to doing so.
“It's an education, and it's also the access to being able to thread both what's happening in the media activation space to their sustainability focus and efforts in a cohesive and simplistic way.” said Ariel Deitz, VP Enterprise Partnerships at Nexxen.
Additionally, Brian O’Kelley from Scope3, introduced their latest product called GMP+, with Sharethrough as the first SSP to apply this new product through the launch of their GreenPMP+™, helping advertisers improve performance and reduce carbon emissions by removing problematic placements.
The Time to Act is Now
Organizations can’t afford to procrastinate when it comes to sustainability. After another successful Green Media Summit, many participants from climate experts, brands and agencies to publishers, committees and ad tech companies shared what you can do to reduce carbon emissions from marketing campaigns. What can you bring back to your organization to help push the advertising industry to become the first to reach net zero emissions by 2030?
Contact us to get started with Sharethrough’s Green Media Products and further your sustainability initiatives.
Founded in 2015, Calibrate is a yearly conference for new engineering managers hosted by seasoned engineering managers. The experience level of the speakers ranges from newcomers all the way through senior engineering leaders with over twenty years of experience in the field. Each speaker is greatly concerned about the craft of engineering management. Organized and hosted by Sharethrough, it was conducted yearly in September, from 2015-2019 in San Francisco, California.
Stay Up-to-Date—
Subscribe to our newsletter and receive cutting-edge digital advertising insights, including our weekly Behind Headlines episodes, delivered right to your inbox.
.png)
