GroupM collaborates with SeenThis to cut digital ad carbon emissions

GroupM, WPP’s media investment group has entered into a global partnership with SeenThis that will allow GroupM to reduce and avoid unnecessary carbon emissions from digital advertising. The collaboration will enable GroupM and its agencies to leverage SeenThis’ expertise and proprietary technology to manage and minimize carbon emissions from creative delivery while improving the performance of display advertising campaigns.

GroupM and SeenThis will also align methodologies on the carbon cost of data transfer, incorporating these into GroupM’s own carbon calculator for use in planning and post-campaign analysis. This will enable GroupM’s agencies to provide more detailed supply-chain decisioning for data transfer within digital channels.

Ed Fanning, GroupM global head of partnerships, advertising and retail technology commented, “As the world’s leading media investment company, the team at GroupM is on a mission to develop tools and technologies which ensure that carbon emissions are considered a part of the media planning process. This partnership builds on the global framework for media decarbonization we announced in 2022 and is an important step in our commitment to decarbonize our media supply chain.”

Jesper Benon, chief executive officer, SeenThis, added, “We are excited to extend the benefits of the SeenThis solution to new and existing GroupM clients, as our proprietary streaming addresses the trade-off that otherwise exists between performance and sustainability in the digital ecosystem. GroupM agencies are able to increase performance while minimizing carbon emissions, and at the same time helping drive attention and unlock creative capabilities. We deliver lightning-fast ad-loading that attains higher attention from users, which translates into fewer wasted impressions and a more efficient use of resources.”

SeenThis has been studying the relationship between data wastage and CO2 emissions for some time, leading to the publishing of a white paper written in collaboration with leading scientists, as well as an emissions dashboard, enabling advertisers to analyse data transfer and related emissions from creative delivery on campaigns.

Thomas Houge, CCO, SeenThis added, “We are honoured to partner with GroupM globally as it further enhances its commitment to minimizing the carbon impact of digital media campaigns. Knowing that WPP’s clients need to drive towards a more sustainable business through their marketing, we are thrilled to offer our technology to drive sustainability and sustainable business results all in one.”

Initially, GroupM’s agencies will use the SeenThis emissions dashboard to measure data transfer and create deeper understanding of campaign emissions. The data will be integrated directly into GroupM’s tools to enable the planning of display campaigns.