Four Simple Ways To Make Your Video Ads Environmentally Friendly
This year, more than 3 trillion minutes (5 million years) of video content will cross the Internet each month globally, according to Cisco, and this has a surprising impact on the environment.
Digital advertising is a source of carbon emissions: An average online ad campaign emits 5.4 tons of carbon dioxide, according to Good-Loop. Carbon emissions result from the energy needed to power devices, wireless networks, and the vast servers required to store the content we access over the web. Since video is a powerful and popular marketing tool, we outline three steps your brand can take today to make more environmentally friendly video content.
Keep your video content short
A source of carbon emissions is the energy required to play and download ad content in real-time. So, an easy way to get started is to make shorter video content: if you cut down your 30-second ad to 15 seconds, you will likely halve your carbon footprint.
Support carbon-conscious technologies
Most websites that people visit operate from one physical location, but the content on the sites (images, video) still needs to travel over wires to the whole world. That’s where a Content Delivery Network (CDN) comes in. It is a network of servers in worldwide locations that deliver content from a website or mobile app to people more quickly and efficiently, based on their geographic location. The data doesn’t have to travel too far since the files are sent from a local server, thus reducing carbon footprint.
Track your carbon footprint
You can move towards making more green digital ads once you become aware of how much carbon they are emitting in the first place. AdGreen’s Carbon Calculator, backed by Unilever and Biscuit, and others, is a tool specifically designed for the ad production industry, advertising agencies, and production companies. More than 130 brands signed up to use the free tool when it went live in 2021. Teams can use the calculator to log and generate reports on their production activities in areas, including travel and transport, energy and fuels, materials, and catering.
“If we truly want to reach net zero, then we need to start measuring and understanding our carbon impact,” Jo Coombes, project director at AdGreen, told Campaign Magazine UK. “The information generated by this tool will help companies make informed decisions in relation to internal reduction targets and become more carbon literate in the process.”
Hire and work with local crews, cutting down on flights and hotels
The traditional way of creating video content has been upturned. Previously, video production involved hauling crews and heavy equipment to multiple worldwide locations. Today, companies are looking for innovative, centralized and sustainable ways to manage their video production.
In 2021, Meta partnered with the International Paralympics Committee to create five videos. Meta used Storyhunter’s extended agile workforce to activate local crews in the Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Oslo, Fort Lauderdale, and San Diego. Jay Morgan, a creative director at Meta’s Creative Shop, produced the series remotely from Sydney and told us the production could not have come to fruition without an agile partner like Storyhunter.
“We’re not going to tell the stories of tomorrow by using the ways of the past,” he said. “The traditional way would have been me and the team getting on a plane and flying around the world. And that just wasn’t possible. And I don’t think it’s possible moving forward either.”
By Shivan Sarna, Head of Stories
