The programmatic ad industry uses processing power and mislabeled inventory in a real-time bidding environment has a real-world impact on carbon emissions
Mediavine, an ad management firm in the U.S., announced the removal of autoplay and all muted in-stream inventory across its 10,000 publisher partner websites. As of February 21, the company became compliant with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)’s latest video guidelines.
In August 2022, the IAB Tech Lab announced new guidelines that now classify muted ads as out-stream video. To be considered in-stream (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll), video placements must be set to “sound on” by default at the start.
The programmatic ad industry uses processing power and mislabeled inventory in a real-time bidding environment has a real-world impact on carbon emissions. Removing all autoplay in-stream inventory has had a massive impact on Mediavine’s network bandwidth. Since March 2021, there has been a 92 per cent drop in total data usage with Universal Player deployed – an enormous decrease in web video usage. This reduction will result in a reduced carbon footprint and a further advancement in Mediavine’s carbon-neutral goal.
“As a longstanding, valued partner of TripleLift, we’re pleased to learn about Mediavine’s adoption of the IAB’s new video guidelines, demonstrating Mediavine’s industry-leading commitment to inventory transparency,” said Michael Lehman, senior vice president, Supply, at TripleLift. “For publishers reevaluating their video strategy, Mediavine’s out-stream success is a shining example. Prioritising transparency and better user experiences pays off for the entire value chain.”
“The time for change is now. Mediavine has an ongoing commitment to helping our publisher partners build sustainable businesses online, and we will continue acting on it,” said Eric Hochberger, Mediavine CEO and Co-founder. “Complying with the new IAB video guidelines was a no-brainer for us. Ending 100 per cent of autoplay and muted instream inventory improves transparency and consistency for buyers and sellers, as well as decreases our data storage.”