- Published on
Streamlining Video Ads for a Healthier Planet
- Authors
- Name
- Jason R. Stevens, CFA
- linkedin@thinkjrs
- Name
- Valentina Matiz
- linkedin@valentina-matiz-rodriguez-705218242
Did you know that optimizing your video content for advertising can slash its carbon footprint by 50-70%?
By embracing the shift towards more efficient digital ads, we can help protect the planet with each view and click.
Whether you’re a giant in the industry or a small startup, understanding how to effectively use codecs, adjust video sizes, and leverage content delivery networks (CDN) can make a significant difference in your impact on the planet when running ads.
Harnessing MPEG-4 for Eco-Friendly Compression
Modern video codecs are crucial for both maintaining quality and enhancing efficiency. By converting your videos to the MPEG-4 format, you can significantly reduce the data size of your advertisements.
Converting to MP4 Using Cloudinary to Promote Sustainability
Utilizing platforms like Cloudinary, which offers free services, simplifies the conversion process to MPEG-4, allowing advertisers to reduce the environmental impact of their digital ads without incurring extra costs. This shift not only promotes sustainability but also ensures broad compatibility across various digital platforms.
Tailoring Video Dimensions for Optimal Viewing and Efficiency
The size of a video file can dramatically affect its carbon footprint—larger files consume more energy. Optimizing video dimensions for specific viewing contexts ensures both efficiency and a better user experience.
Optimal Resolutions for Mobile and Desktop Platforms
For mobile platforms, a resolution of 1080px by 1920px is ideal for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, while 1920px by 1080px is suited for desktop platforms like Facebook feed and LinkedIn.
Include non-video fallbacks
Including non-video image fallbacks in ads ensures that users with limited bandwidth can still access high-quality content. This strategy decreases the energy required to transmit and display videos, contributing to a lower overall environmental impact.
Because of the nature of decoding compression algorithms, devices not properly equipped with newer processors (such as your Grandpa’s old PC) take up vastly more energy and resources than newer devices. Including fallbacks allows the ad platforms to see this and serve users on older devices static content, helping to improve the carbon footprint of your ad.
Leveraging CDN Caching to Minimize Digital Footprints
Content delivery networks are pivotal in reducing the carbon footprint of digital media. By caching content closer to the user, CDNs reduce the distance data travels, thus cutting down on latency and energy use.
How Content Delivery Networks Enhance Eco-Efficiency
Employing CDNs allows for faster content delivery and improved user experience, while also minimizing the energy consumption associated with data transfer. This method is highly effective for advertisers aiming to balance performance with environmental responsibility, making digital ads faster and greener.
Software makes this easy to accomplish
Ad software service providers such as tincre.com add content delivery networks by default for all client campaign assets. Furthermore, the major ad platforms, like YouTube and Instagram, serve your videos from CDNs too.
If you aren’t using these to host, share and serve your video content, you should upload your content to something like Cloudinary to leverage their CDN.
Toward a More Sustainable Digital Ecosystem
Innovating with MPEG-4 compression allows for significant reductions in video file sizes, enhancing the sustainability of digital advertising.
By optimizing video dimensions and utilizing CDN caching, advertisers can not only improve user experiences but also significantly decrease the ecological impacts of their digital outputs.
These strategies collectively foster a more sustainable digital ecosystem, paving the way for a healthier planet.