September 2024 Emissions Model

This release includes a number of improvements related to how Scope3 models CTV-BVOD properties. These properties are now under the new CTV-BVOD channel, the channel is now available to all API and UI customers.

Property re-categorizations and additions

CTV-BVOD properties are characterized by offering instream advertising in environments where video is the primary content experience (on-demand or live, and typically “long-form”). Properties previously in the Streaming Video channel that have been identified as CTV-BVOD have been migrated to the CTV-BVOD channel. New properties have also been added to improve coverage for the channel.

The Streaming Video channel will be renamed Online Video (OLV), and will continue to include properties that offer instream advertising in environments where video is not the primary content experience (typically short-form). This isn't a breaking change as “streaming-video” will continue being a supported value in the "channel" API field.

Properties with outstream advertising but no instream will be in the Web channel.

New benchmarks across both CTV-BVOD and OLV channels will be updated to reflect this new categorization.

Changes

The following default values have been updated to reflect additional data points obtained by Scope3:

  • Default corporate emissions for CTV-BVOD has been raised (to 280g CO2ePM) to better align with sustainability facts found in broadcasters and streaming companies’ with corporate sustainability reports.
  • Default device type for CTV-BVOD is tv, for OLV is now pc.
  • Default bitrate for CTV-BVOD has been lowered from 8 Mbps to 3.69 Mbps based on updated research across major CTV-BVOD properties.

In addition, property specific corporate emissions and bitrates have been implemented where Scope3 could find reliable observed data or publisher contributed data.

Expected Impact

As a result of the modeling changes and more granular channel classifications, emissions numbers across CTV-BVOD and OLV properties are expected to change as followed:

  • Media Distribution (Corporate) emissions are expected to increase for CTV-BVOD properties, with a default at 280gCO2ePM.
  • Media Distribution (Data Transfer) emissions are expected to decrease due to the lowering of default and property specific bitrates. Similarly to streaming-video, the power model is used for both CTV-BVOD and OLV properties.
  • Ad Selection emissions are expected to stay stable as no change was applied to the ad selection model in this release.
  • Creative delivery (Data Transfer) emissions are expected to decrease slightly for both CTV-BVOD and OLV properties. They can now differ by property (bitrate of the creative is adapted to fit content).