Ad Tech’s Green Transformation: Key Takeaways from the Green Media Summit

Yesterday I attended Sharethrough’s inaugural Green Media Summit in NYC. It was an inspirational and energizing day with lots of interesting content and ideas for brands, agencies, and publishers to reduce their carbon footprint. It was also encouraging to see all sides of the industry come together to fight climate change. Perhaps even more telling and forceful was that the day of the Summit, New York saw record-breaking temperatures at 90 degrees in April, shattering a heat record set in the 1970s — a clear sign for me of increased global warming. 

A Personal Commitment 

Born and raised in Seattle, Wash., sustainability and conservation are in my DNA. The Pacific Northwest (PNW) has always taken the lead in efforts involving sustainability, conservation, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and many Seattle-based companies still lead the way in CSR, including Microsoft, REI, Starbucks, and so many more.  

My family has a deep history in championing conservation and the environment. My grandfather (Frank Pritchard Jr.) was one of the co-founders of Forterra (formerly the Cascade Land Conservancy), a non-profit that scales land-based solutions to address the climate crisis. Since 1989, Forterra has secured 275k acres in the PNW. My great-uncle (Joel Pritchard), a congressman, spearheaded the Klondike Gold Rush National Park, and he was instrumental in creating the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Back in high school, I even served as president of our Earth Service Corps club, where we led and advised the school on recycling, composting, and local tree plantings. 

Attending yesterday’s Green Media Summit really brought these efforts full circle. I’m happy to see ad tech is moving toward a greener future — and I love combining my personal passion for advertising and sustainability.  

The opening remarks of the Green Media Summit were perhaps the most energizing —calling on the advertising industry to work together toward a common goal of being the first industry to reach net-zero emissions. Sustainability continues to pick up traction very quickly with clients, and the overwhelming mindset is to move with haste. 

Here are some key takeaways from the event: 

Advertising’s Impact

1 million impressions = 1 metric ton of CO2e  

• Also equals the emissions from 1 roundtrip flight from Boston to London per passenger.  
• Also equals fully charging 121,643 smartphones.  
• Also equals the carbon in 2.4 million plastic straws.  

Standardization of Measurement

In early pilots, reducing emissions from campaigns via Supply Path Optimization (SPO) did not impact campaign performance. The more sustainable campaigns with fewer programmatic partners yielded increased ROI. So, it’s good for business, good for employees, and good for the environment.  

There is an urgent need for the industry to align on one way to measure efforts in sustainability, with the same taxonomy and vernacular. This is the time to come together pre-competitively to create a standard for measurement and transparency in the methodology. The U.S. is lagging compared to EMEA in terms of regulations. It’s not about taking shortcuts or implementing quick fixes, this will be a long journey, and it cannot be achieved in siloed efforts.  

Supply Path Optimization (SPO)

There’s still a lot of duplication in the bid stream, which is extremely inefficient and leads to a lot of waste.  

InMobi is integrated directly with publishers via our lightweight SDK, with nearly 95% of our inventory sourced directly to eliminate additional hops in the supply chain and reduce waste. It’s critical for ad tech to reduce duplicative ad requests and make ad requests smaller. If we can all be more transparent, we can begin to operationalize SPO data more collectively and ultimately overcome channel fragmentation.  

For anyone starting to test out a greener ad tech future, I suggest testing and learning. Figure out which partners are adding value and eliminate the partners that are not.  

Greener Buying Mechanics

Brands and agencies want to buy with intention. There’s a need for DSPs to add green filters, including a check box that reads “low carbon.” Some have already implemented this with the option for brands to purchase green or offer renewable energy credits to clients to offset their carbon emissions. Brands want to activate green inventory and green bid segments.  

Thoughtful Product Design 

Sustainability starts at the time of product design. Another critical unlock is designing tech products and solutions in the most sustainable, energy-efficient way. Identify the problem statement, product goals, what needs to change, and where the opportunity is for improvement. 

Internal Promotion 

Departments or regional offices can lead by example. Build momentum internally with a dedicated sustainability team, spotlight during town halls, keep consumers aware of the latest offerings, and communicate sustainable initiatives. It’s important to build a strong community to drive awareness and results.  

Thinking Big  

There’s lots of work ahead, but this is a giant step in the right direction. Let’s think big and make positive strides against climate change. Every action or activity helps. It’s exciting to see sustainability gain so much traction, and it’s time to move aggressively to the next stage. 

InMobi is committed to maintaining as small a carbon footprint as possible and will be sharing the steps we are taking to achieve this in the near future.