GroupM and SeenThis Team Up to Cut Carbon From Video Ads

WPP’s media buying arm GroupM today announced a global partnership with Swedish adaptive streaming company SeenThis, a move that the companies say will let advertisers reduce the carbon emissions of video ads.

The SeenThis tech avoids data-intensive uploading and downloading techniques used by traditional video ads, instead streaming directly to the end viewer through display ads while adapting to the needs of the viewer and available internet speeds.

Moving forward, SeenThis will become part of GroupM’s overall media decarbonization strategy but will require advertisers to opt in—essentially toggling the SeenThis offering on or off, depending on preference.

SeenThis “stood out to us as being differentiated and unique” within the landscape of sustainable ad-tech innovations, said Kieley Taylor, global head of partnerships and sustainability lead at GroupM. Rather than simply cutting out high-intensity channels, “it’s continuing to allow for campaigns to deliver as they have, and lower the energy intensity.” Kieley wouldn’t share examples of how the tech is reducing carbon emissions.

The new ad-tech partnership is the latest from GroupM in its effort to curb the carbon emissions associated with media buying through its agency, following similar deals with Scope3 and the sustainability arms of firms like Microsoft or Google. GroupM will also adopt the adaptive streaming company’s methodology on the carbon cost of data transfer, which will be incorporated into GroupM’s carbon calculator for use in media planning and post-campaign analysis. GroupM agencies will gain access to the SeenThis emissions dashboard to monitor emissions from video banner ads in real time.

Streaming sustainably

For SeenThis, which launched in Sweden in 2017 and came to the U.S. market in 2021, the WPP partnership is “a very big deal,” said Ben Riley, general manager for the Americas at SeenThis. While the company has a strong presence in the Nordics and across Europe, it’s a relative newcomer on the other side of the Atlantic.

Riley describes SeenThis as “behind-the-scenes tech” that lets advertisers put video ads in display slots, essentially getting video ads at a rate that’s much lower than it would be on a traditional video platform.

It’s also a more efficient and effective way of transferring the data (and brand message) because the ads don’t play unless they’re in view for the end user, Riley explained. When they do play, they’re streamed directly rather than being uploaded and downloaded—the same way a streamer like Netflix transfers HD video. SeenThis also adjusts the resolution based on what’s necessary for the viewer to get the most out of the ad and what bandwidth is available to their device at the time.

The push to decarbonize media

Alongside green private marketplaces (PMPs) that cut out high-energy publishers and supply path optimization tools that avoid unnecessary data transfers, the SeenThis tech is one of many efforts across the ad-tech ecosystem to reduce the energy intensity—and relative climate impact—of media buying.

GroupM’s partnership with SeenThis follows another release earlier this week in which the agency announced new precautions to avoid made-for-advertising websites that are often more data-intensive with little to no reach to the advertiser’s target audience.

“Anytime, across the industry, we can do anything to reduce emissions, it’s great,” said Frank Maguire, vp of insights, strategy and sustainability at supply-side platform Sharethrough. “What can we do to reduce emissions? There’s lots of different ways to do that.”

Maguire buckets carbon accounting actions into three areas: measurement, reduction and compensation (or offsetting). SeenThis falls into the crucial reduction category of actions, Maguire noted, which is where the industry must make the most progress if it’s to reduce its overall impact on climate change.

“[We need to] be more mindful of the resource that we’re using in this machinery of the internet: That is data,” said Simon Johansson, sustainability lead at SeenThis. “We need to make sure that if and when we send data, it adds value, and it supports the outcomes and the performance that you’re expecting to reach. And by doing that, we can help brands reduce their carbon cost of their outcomes—probably also their financial cost of their outcomes.”