
As an advertising channel, digital out-of-home (DOOH) brings large-scale digital ads to many simultaneous viewers in key public spaces. Think of the iconic digital billboards in New York’s Times Square, the LED screen at your local train station, or the digital banner wrapping around the Kansas City Chiefs’ GEHA field.

DOOH ads have three distinct differences from other digital channels like display and social. Here is what to keep in mind:

1. The **infrastructure** on which the ad is run is a large screen that is situated outdoors, as opposed to a TV or smart phone screen.

2. DOOH is a one-to-many channel; because of their unique form and placement in high-traffic areas, DOOH ads are **viewed by multiple viewers at once**, whereas social, display, or search ads target a single user.

3. DOOH ads **don’t typically run alongside content**, unlike CTV, display, or audio ads.

These distinctions clearly make DOOH unique from a measurement and targeting perspective, but they also impact the way it produces carbon and what levers can be pulled to reduce those emissions. Brands who understand the nuances can take the necessary steps to keep their campaigns on track to meet both their performance and sustainability goals.

### **Where DOOH emissions come from**

DOOH screens, like other digital channels, require energy to display an ad. When talking about the carbon emissions of a DOOH ad campaign, the largest source of CO₂e comes from the electricity required to power the digital screens the ads run on. The highest source of emissions for DOOH ads occurs in the “use” phase of the ad’s lifecycle.

Here are some of the main factors that contribute to DOOH ads’ emissions:

1. **Operating Hours**: The bulk of emissions come from the energy consumption required to power screens. Keeping screens on for 24 hours a day drives up the emissions of DOOH ads. 

2. **Brightness settings:** The brighter the screen, the more energy is consumed—and the more carbon is emitted. Screens that are set to a constant brightness level regardless of the time of day consume an outsized amount of energy—and produce more CO₂e—than screens whose brightness is adjusted based on the time of day. 

3. **Electricity grid mix:** Location of the screen matters. A DOOH ad in a location whose energy is powered by fossil fuels will produce more carbon than a DOOH ad powered by a renewable energy grid mix.

These emissions factors can quickly drive up a campaign’s total carbon footprint. However, because DOOH is a one-to-many channel, it can be relatively efficient from an emissions perspective. A single ad played on a DOOH screen in a high-traffic area might be seen by tens of thousands of people per hour. While an ad run on a DOOH screen might use more energy than a display ad, its ability to reach multiple viewers in a single moment “makes carbon count” from a business outcomes perspective.

Scope3’s methodology for modeling the emissions of DOOH ads *per mille* hinges on the number of impressions “per play” and the use of the screen-specific average impression multiplier provided by media owners and platforms.

Embracing the power of collaboration, the Scope3 methodology is strengthend with data from our valuable partners. Since launching [DOOH in Australia](https://scope3.com/news/scope3-expands-carbon-measurement-capabilities-to-include-dooh-advertising) in 2023 with local industry leaders, we’ve expanded our DOOH modeling globally with the help of new partnerships. Most notably, Broadsign has partnered with us to provide inventory-based data across all of their regions and screens, to improve and refine our modeling, especially in the US and UK.

### **Steps you can take today to make your DOOH ads more sustainable**

The many factors at play in the CO₂e emissions of DOOH ads may make decarbonization seem like a daunting task. However, there are a few simple steps brands can take to significantly reduce the emissions of their DOOH ads without impacting performance.

**Partner with sustainability-minded organizations:**

The first step is to partner with organizations that can provide you with verified screen level emissions data. Scope3 can help connect brands and agencies with a great deal of media owners and adtech platforms around the globe that help advertisers locate and buy the most sustainable DOOH screens.

**Buy high-quality, low-emitting screens:**

Once advertisers have identified their DOOH partners, they can shop around for screen packages that deliver higher impact for lower emissions. A large part of decarbonizing DOOH ads involves selecting quality screens that deliver on impressions and performance without ballooning carbon emissions.

**Optimize for time of day:**

Lastly, keep in mind that some hours are more sustainable than others. In some locations, the energy grid mix is likely to include a higher amount of renewable energy when the sun is shining, making the energy powering screens there more sustainable during the day. Or, there might be more people around screens during peak hours in a city’s business district and train stations, making the carbon produced by DOOH ads during those hours more worthwhile. Take these factors into account when planning DOOH campaigns. 

Taking these steps greatly reduces DOOH ad emissions. Scope3 recently collaborated with OOH ad agency JCDecaux Australia to simulate carbon reduction methods for DOOH ads. One of the agency’s brands shifted 5% of ad plays to lower carbon screens and saw a massive impact on both emissions and performance: carbon emissions decreased 28% and impressions increased 18%.

DOOH is a powerful channel that can generate brand awareness on a massive scale. If you’re ready to go all in on a sustainable DOOH model, sign up for our Collaborative Sustainability Platform and reach out to Scope3 today.


DOOH is unique from a measurement and targeting perspective which also impacts the way it produces carbon and what levers can be pulled to reduce those emissions. Brands who understand the nuances can take the necessary steps to keep their campaigns on track to meet both their performance and sustainability goals.

How to measure and reduce carbon emissions from digital out-of-home advertising


Every day, consumers around the globe are spending [an average of 143 minutes](https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/) on platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. This trend has captured the attention of marketers, who are projected to invest [up to $76.4 billion](https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/) in social media advertising in 2024.

Given this substantial investment, it’s crucial for advertisers to understand what sets social media apart as an advertising medium. These unique characteristics also inform strategies for measuring and minimizing carbon emissions associated with social media campaigns.

Here are some key ways that social media differs from other digital channels:

**1. A less complex ecosystem:** While web, app, and CTV offer millions of impressions with countless publishers vying for your ad dollars, social media is a much less complex ecosystem, composed of just a handful of major players.

**2. Fewer, but platform specific formats:** Ad formats vary depending on the platform, but by and large the variety of formats is more limited on social than other channels. Despite this, individual platforms offer a specific array of ad formats designed solely for their unique user experience.

**3. Direct buys:** While programmatic structures the majority of ad exchanges on other channels, social inventory is bought through direct deals with the platforms themselves, meaning fewer players are involved.

Social media’s singularity among advertising channels impacts the way it emits carbon—as well as how to measure (and reduce) emissions.

## **Where social emissions come from**

To understand important carbon emissions factors to consider for social and messaging ads, it is important to have a grasp on the life cycle of a digital ad.

In general, CO₂ from digital ads stems from the production, distribution, and use phases (see figure below). However, on the majority of social platforms, there is a single seller of inventory, meaning during distribution there are far fewer emissions from the supply chain.

That means that there are different levers to pull when decarbonizing social ads, and those levers often involve thinking about how to optimize the emissions within a particular platform.

On social, the main factors that drive emissions are creative delivery (length of a video ad), user engagement (time spent, screen time), and location/time of day an ad is served (especially in countries where the grid mix is dependent on fossil fuels). Brands can measure these categories to understand how to reduce their social advertising’s carbon footprint.

![life cycle](/marketing/blog/how-to-measure-and-reduce-carbon-emissions-from-social-advertising/image1.webp)

## **How to measure the factors that drive social emissions**

Scope3’s model for measuring social emissions uses first-party data from social platforms (contributed data) and publicly available data from sources like corporate sustainability reports. When computed by the model, this creates a full, activity-based picture of the gCO₂PM of each social platform. 

Once the emissions data is computed, brands can look more closely at their own advertising activities by providing their campaign delivery data. This can expose what aspects of their social advertising portfolio are producing the most carbon, and—importantly—how those aspects correlate with ad performance. Once brands have measured their social emissions, they can take steps to reduce them while optimizing for KPIs.

On social media, the steps brands and agencies can take to reduce emissions are limited to the variables over which they have control. So while media distribution may drive the lion’s share of emissions for social due to both corporate emissions and consumer device data transfer emissions, it can’t be optimized by advertisers alone.

What brands *do* have control over is creative delivery. According to a recent study on measuring social emissions in partnership with Snap and EssenceMediacom (EMC), creative delivery drove nearly a quarter of brand advertisers’ Snap campaign emissions — which amounted to 97 metric tons of CO2e, equivalent to 48.5 ***roundtrip*** flights from London Heathrow to JFK. So, brands that measure and reduce CO2e in creative delivery can make a huge impact on the emissions of their social ads.

Focusing delivery on formats that incur a lower creative delivery gCO₂PM but delivery against key KPIs can lower emissions overall for a social campaign without impacting performance. For Snap activity measured in the study, the Lens format was a lower gCO₂PM alternative to video formats, driving engagement as well as awareness from brand study results seen. The campaigns that leveraged the Lens format saw 19% lower creative delivery gCO₂PM overall than campaigns that didn’t.  

## **Measuring social emissions will enhance your whole marketing program**

Having holistic measurement across all digital buys allows marketers to compare social to other channels like web, app, DOOH, and so on. A good mantra to keep in mind is “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Measuring shows brands how to optimize within channels, and employing bespoke measurement practices for each channel will give brands the information they need to decarbonize their advertising activities on the whole.

In the same way that social is bought differently from other channels, the measurement and reduction options for social are unique. However, one thing is always true: comparing efficiency and emissions, brands can optimize their marketing portfolio based on what’s most effective, efficient, and sustainable.

Specifically, on social, brands can start to optimize for:

1. **The platforms on which they advertise:** for example, by allocating more spend to platforms with lower emissions
2. **The formats:** for example, multi-format campaigns have performed better than single-format campaigns in testing
3. **Network connectivity:** Optimal data transfer by device type or wifi or fixed network
4. **Timing of campaigns:** High engagement and low emissions by time of day 

Moreover, while the specific variables available for reducing emissions on social may differ from those of other channels, the overall methodology brands can use to slash emissions is the same: eliminate high-emitting activities that also don’t contribute much to driving business outcomes, and double down on low-emitting activities that do play a big role in driving outcomes. By following that philosophy, brands will slash their emissions on social — and make social advertising work better for their business, too.


In the same way that social is bought differently from other channels, the measurement and reduction options for social are unique. However, one thing is always true: comparing efficiency and emissions, brands can optimize their marketing portfolio based on what’s most effective, efficient, and sustainable.