Climate Change. The future impact on Media Advertising.

It seems many people are coming to terms with the impact of climate change on the planet.

That maybe shown perhaps by a passive, vocal or written concern or even through what many would describe as the controversial practice of disruptive protest (as the lead photo shows here).

But it goes deeper than this. And one thing is certain, we can't just ignore it.

Many businesses in many industries are concerned about future brand image and being seen as a good corporate citizen. And that includes the advertising and media industries.

What do some of the world's major news media companies say about climate change and advertising?

I recently ran the News Media Advertising Committee (NMAC) meeting with senior executives from global media. Here’s what they had to say on this important subject:

Tasmia Ismail, General Manager Commercial, Media 24, South Africa’s leading media company, Cape Town, South Africa:

“Firstly, this is all very important to Media24 overall. Our newsroom dedicates resources to ensuring we cover this topic: (see https://www.news24.com/fin24/climate_future ). So much so that we added and “environmental” category in our best journalist category of our annual excellence awards. M24 has key sustainability objectives that is still under approval from the board.

From an advertiser point of view, climate future is not top of mind at this stage but most advertisers are currently on the sustainability bandwagon. I think we are in a good position to drive this more with our advertisers to educate and to initiate marketing their initiatives on climate. I think we are in a position to lead with the topic and we can educate, inform and generate revenue if we are clear and clever on how we go about it”.

Jo Holdaway, Chief Data and Marketing Officer, Independent Digital News & Media, London, UK (The Independent was winner of National Newspaper of the Year at the 2024 British Press Awards)”

“It is all very important to us and the brand, particularly to our readers.?We have a strong pedigree of editorial coverage of these issues, however less so when it comes to the business tackling it.? We have had an audit done, and continue to improve practices based on the audit.

It is definitely on the radar of our advertisers, in particular the mis-representation of environmental issues in some media (agencies are coming together to challenge this and direct their ad spend accordingly), together with evidence that media companies are auditing their practices.?Agencies are only spending with companies that are proving themselves responsible in this area.

We extensively and positively report about environmental issues, we know we then need to also ‘walk the walk’”.

Marcelo Benez, Chief Commercial Officer, Folha de.Sao Paulo, Brazil

"For Folha de S.Paulo, climate change is such an important topic that this year, as it celebrates its 103rd anniversary, the newsroom created a new special editorial section on the subject, publishes news and reports on it in every daily edition, and created the position of “climate correspondent,” an unprecedented role among news companies in Brazil, with a journalist based in Spain. Even Folha de S.Paulo’s slogan on the newspaper's front page, which traditionally is “a newspaper in the service of Brazil,” has been changed to “a newspaper in defence of clean energy.”

Advertisers are increasingly aware of this topic, which is reflected in traditional advertisements, branded content in partnership with Folha’s studio, and events. In the past 12 months, we have held three seminars on: Sustainable Energy, Energy Transition, and the Environment.

I believe that in the future, the advertising market may reach a point where companies that do not demonstrate concern, engagement, actions, and attitudes towards climate change issues may lose points in their image with consumers and be at a competitive disadvantage compared to their competitors”.

Tracy Day, Managing Director, Ad Products &n Innovation, Globe & Mail, Canada: the country’s largest newspaper:

“We are getting more and more requests from advertisers asking what we are doing on climate change and what’s your sustainability plan on a road to net zero? But it’s difficult as it’s hard to measure. However, what we are finding is that we are getting many advertisers who want to be associated with climate change content, maybe to be around it or sponsor it? On another level, some companies do not want to talk about what they are doing in this area presently, as they don’t want to be accused of green-washing. It’s really interesting. The issue is around people not know what to align with re benchmarks and KPIs. Therefore some advertisers get nervous about it.

From our perspective, our legal team have taken responsibility for this area but there is no-one currently dedicated to it. Not yet anyhow”.

Latha Rao-Cheney, Senior VP Sales (for over 100 titles) News Media Group, Detroit, USA:

“We created a procurement team here and although not mandatory, we do seek out lead certifications from vendors that support that. That’s all part of our effort. It's a preliminary effort and we still have a long way to go”.

Chris Patheiger, Chief Product & Innovation Officer, Dallas News Corp, USA (The Dallas Morning News is Texas’ leading daily newspaper and winner of 9 Pulitzer Prizes):

“Most of our advertiser revenue is local by nature so we’re dealing with more local marketing businesses and direct advertisers and less, the bigger agencies. This is not quite on their radar yet but I am aware of agencies like Dentsu who are now using “green calculators" with ad campaigns, assessing the climate impact on how media is bought and sold. Being in Texas, we have had record temperatures this year and this will be become something we need to be dealing with… and soon”.

And…Climate Change, AI and The Guardian.

In a recent interview with Anna Bateson, CEO at The Guardian News & Media, here in London she said:

“In a year of conflicts, mass protests, strikes and growing calls for climate action, the importance of fair and fact-based journalism is more evident than ever. As an organisation, this means focusing on what sets the Guardian apart – we are open to all, funded by many and beholden to no one – and we must continue to evolve and innovate.

The challenges ahead are similar for many publishers, from reporting in multiple war-zones to tough market conditions for media. However the Guardian’s award-winning global journalism, documentaries, podcasts and newsletters – helping us collect news provider of the year at this year’s British Journalism Awards – and our pioneering reader revenue model means we have a strong platform for growth, with well over one million regular recurring digital supporters. Understanding Guardian readers better and cultivating even deeper relationships will be key for 2024.

This year, we launched a new Europe edition engaging Guardian readers with the stories and issues that matter to them most from the continent, and we celebrated our unique position as a wholly independent media organisation in our bold new marketing campaign, ‘Not for Sale’. This independence enables us to place purpose and sustainability at the heart of our strategy. We increased our B Corp certification score with progress in almost every category, and became one of the first organisations to conduct a biodiversity audit.

We have evolved our advertising proposition: it’s key to showcase the unique formula the Guardian offers to advertisers – ‘scale, influence and integrity’. As a trusted media brand our integrity is key – making decisions based on our values, such as rejecting fossil fuel advertising.

“While the outlook is challenging, in 2024, we will strive to reach even more readers, advertisers and partners who believe in the Guardian’s mission, launch new products, and continue to break more era-defining stories”.

Meanwhile...

Advertiser requests for sustainability and climate change coverage

In the 2020s, we have seen publishers begin to invest in more climate change coverage. The question this poses is whether or not this content is actually garnering interest from our advertisers.

For the likes of major media brands such as the BBC, Bloomberg, The Economist and The FT, the answer is a big “yes”.

Indeed, many say that their advertisers are sending out more requests for publishers to offer sponsorship or ad campaign opportunities to them around “solutions-based editorial”, a growing trend of interest in publishers’ content/coverage of sustainability and climate change.

The key points I have noted seem to be:

• For the BBC, up to two-thirds of their advertiser briefs now contain a “sustainability or climate element”. The BBC’s Lori Suchcicki, Senior Vice President @ BBC Studios for EMEA, declined to share specifically how much briefs from advertisers mentioning climate has gone up in the past few months, but called it a “huge increase.” Future Planet, BBC’s climate change and sustainability vertical launched last year, recently ran “Carbon Cost,” a special series (sponsored by Scottish Development International), on some of the biggest issues negotiated at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. On that same BBC Future vertical, Walmart sponsored “Towards Net Zero,” a sustainability series which looked at nine countries’ progress on climate since signing the Paris Agreement.
• Of Bloomberg’s top 50 largest ad proposals, approximately 20% are centred around sustainability and ad revenue from Bloomberg’s climate-focused platform “Bloomberg Green” has increased 144% in the last 12 months.
• The Economist is now achieving large, multi-year ad deals around its “Sustainability Project”.
• The FT has seen a ten times increase in request in proposals in the last year from advertisers seeking to position themselves with the FT’s sustainability and climate editorial. Up to 50% of requests highlighted that sustainability and/or climate change as a “contextual alignment” demand.
• I am also hearing that WPP and Group M are leading the way in “agency-land”, with sustainability gauge or carbon calculators on all ad campaigns.

To be noted by media companies the world over?

Are you offering your ad clients such opportunities to not only be aware of your values and mission but also the commercial opportunities that can surround all that?

If not, why not? And maybe take some inspiration from what your peers say?

Finally, at the 2024 INMA World Congress in London, I asked global advertising legend, Sir Martin Sorrell what he thought. He said that climate change may have taken a somewhat temporary, back seat in 2024 in some quarters, mainly because of other priorities...e.g. various global elections and uncertainty around (new) Government actions. But he says, the climate change agenda is not going away and will remain on advertisers' agendas long term and that media should take it seriously.

What's your view? Email me at [email protected]

Join the conversation?