Marketers are often running digital ads on websites that provide relatively low returns on their investment but generate comparatively high carbon emissions, a new study said.
Roughly 15% of ad spending in the study went to so-called made-for-advertising websites, which crowd the screen with ads and low-quality content, according to the companies behind the report, media investment analysis firm
PLC and Scope3 PBC, which measures the carbon emissions of digital advertising. The companies said these placements are made inadvertently and that brands don’t seek to advertise on these sites.
The study examined 116 billion digital display ad impressions valued at $375 million from 43 advertisers in 11 global markets in 2021 and 2022, and estimated the energy it takes to deliver an ad impression by looking at factors such as auctions and emissions from the end-user’s device.
The companies’ goal was to give brands a better sense of…
This article was written by and originally published on www.wsj.com