GroupM has partnered with ad tech company SeenThis to get a better understanding of how much the transfer of data in a digital campaign contributes to its carbon emissions, as well as the best way to reduce it.

SeenThis provides technology for video- and image-based ads, with a focus on faster data transfers that improve load times for ads to offer better viewability. One way it does that is by eliminating “data waste” from the transmission of video, which has led to it examining the relationship between data waste and carbon emissions – in simple terms, the less unnecessary data transmitted, the lower the carbon footprint for transmitting an ad will be. That work led to it publishing a white paper on the subject in collaboration with scientists, as well as the creation of an emissions dashboard in May.

The technology will now be leveraged by GroupM agencies to manage and minimize carbon emissions from creative delivery while improving the performance of display advertising campaigns. SeenThis’ technology is compatible with all major ad servers, publisher networks and third-party providers.

At the outset, GroupM agencies will be able to use SeenThis’ dashboard to measure data transfer and better understand campaign emissions. The data will eventually be integrated directly into GroupM’s tools for planning display campaigns.

GroupM and SeenThis will also align their methodologies on determining the carbon cost of data transfer, which will be incorporated into GroupM’s carbon calculator for use in planning and post-campaign analysis.

“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,” said Jesper Benon, CEO of SeenThis. “GroupM agencies are able to increase performance while minimizing carbon emissions, and at the same time helping drive attention and unlock creative capabilities.”

GroupM launched its carbon calculator last year, alongside a scathing report detailing the “insufficient” progress made towards calculating and cleaning up the carbon impact of ad inventory. Namely, it called out how existing carbon calculators suffer from a lack of alignment on methodology and metrics, as well as a reliance on questionable data sources that often neglect data center, cloud services and network transmission operations. It also called out the focus on “offsetting” emissions, instead of reducing them.

Owned by WPP, GroupM’s agencies include Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, mSix&Partners, Choreograph, GroupM Nexus and GroupM Motion Entertainment.