By Charles Lee Mathews. Sustainability is climbing the agenda in SA media. But between patchy data, no shared standards and budgets under pressure, the gap between ambition and action remains wide.
The sharpest push for a more sustainable media sector isn’t coming from local advertisers but from the head offices of multinationals. “It is no longer off the radar, but the picture is uneven,” says Jacques du Preez, CEO of Provantage.
“Pressure is coming from the local offices of multinationals whose head offices in Europe, the UK and increasingly North America are reporting against frameworks like the Ad Net Zero Global Media Sustainability Framework and ISSB-aligned disclosures. Local teams are starting to ask agencies and media owners for emissions context, supplier governance information and ESG credentials as part of pitches and annual reviews,” he explains.
For homegrown advertisers, the conversation is less advanced. It is typically led by listed companies responding to JSE sustainability disclosure guidance or by brands with a strong public sustainability narrative to protect.
The momentum is sluggish
“We have conducted carbon research exercises with a number of clients. I would say it is gaining momentum, but it is still not a prerequisite for planning,” says Graham Deneys, chief strategy officer at dentsu Media Brands.
Deneys says one of the biggest local obstacles to introducing “green media” metrics in South Africa is the limited number of suppliers able to provide media carbon data, along with the cost of conducting the research.
“There is a persistent narrative that reducing the carbon impact of advertising is inherently costly. In reality, many emissions reductions can be achieved through relatively simple adjustments to planning and creative execution, with little or no effect on cost or reach,” he says.
Start with common-sense measures
“The issue is that these opportunities are not yet widely communicated or adopted across the industry. Examples include reducing file sizes, improving ad serving and storage efficiency, and optimising device settings and calibrations,” Deneys advises.
He adds that advertising’s carbon footprint is already substantial. “And [it] continues to grow as digital channels expand, traditional media adopt more digital components, and AI accelerates data processing demands. Evidence suggests that the broader digital ecosystem now accounts for a greater share of global carbon emissions than Aviation, which underlines why advertising sustainability should be treated as a core planning priority,” Deneys says.
Provantage says it is seeing a steady increase in RFPs that include ESG-related questions. The focus is not yet on full carbon accounting, but rather governance, recycling, energy use, transformation and community impact. “The direction of travel is set, even if the depth of data being requested is still maturing,” du Preez notes.
SA lags in green media
Chris Botha, group managing director at Park Advertising, agrees that the issue is on the table. “This is definitely already being discussed by clients, and clients are holding agencies responsible. I don’t believe it is anywhere as comprehensive and extensive as what we see in the US and in the UK, but it is definitely on the agenda,” Botha says.
Martin MacGregor, CEO of Connect, offers a ground-level reality check. “None of our clients has requested ESG or carbon metrics. But we don’t have large multi-national clients, only large local clients,” MacGregor said.
What is holding progress back? According to du Preez, everything, all at once. He says that the first problem is measurement standards. Global frameworks exist, but there is no single agreed methodology for South African out-of-home, broadcast or digital inventory.
A lack of industry coordination
The second challenge is data availability. “Emissions data sits across landlords, utilities, printers, installers, hauliers, and platform partners, and very little of it is captured in a form that can be cleanly aggregated into a media plan. The mix of grid, diesel and solar power further complicates any apples-to-apples comparison,” du Preez says.
The third issue is cost. “Proper measurement requires investment in systems, audits and skills, and most agencies and media owners are absorbing that themselves while clients are not yet paying a premium for it,” says du Preez.
A big structural challenge is the dominance of a handful of indispensable media owners. “The SABC, Google, and Facebook are still, in and of themselves, must-haves for most advertisers. So our reliance on a few media owners is stretching us,” says Chris Botha.
Ready, steady, slow
On the issue of media owner readiness, Botha tells it like it is. “Not at all ready. In SA, many media owners are still grappling with black ownership, thirty years later, so cracking the nut that is ESG is still a while away,” he adds.
MacGregor points to economic pressure as a factor that keeps sustainability lower on the priority list than it might be in other markets. “Data availability and measurement standards are a barrier, but the economic pressures in SA, particularly on marketing teams and budgets, mean this is low on the list,” he said.
The question of whether sustainability scores should translate into hard weighting decisions in media plans generated a range of views, though a broadly cautious consensus emerged.
Inclusion, not exclusion
“ESG weighting only works if the underlying data is credible and the methodology is consistent across competing inventory. Without that, you risk penalising the operators who are transparent and rewarding those who simply do not disclose, which would be a poor outcome for the industry,” says du Preez.
“The more constructive path right now is to give planners better visibility into the sustainability profile of the inventory they are already buying and let weighting evolve as the data matures,” du Preez said.
Botha agrees. “I think being punitive can be detrimental to the process. This is not about excluding media but about working with all media partners to find a healthy middle ground. We need to ensure that we bring all media owners, agencies and clients along on this journey, and not force divisions,” he says.
Walk the ESG talk
MacGregor goes straight to the commercial matter. “If brands are serious about their environmental impact, then yes. In reality, talk is cheap, and they all talk it, but wanting to squeeze maximum reach and profit out of campaigns means it is unlikely to actually happen. The crux of the argument is whether consumers care and whether the cost will ultimately be passed on to them. At the top end, maybe, but for the majority of the market, my guess would be no,” MacGregor says.
Looking two to three years ahead, there is agreement that ESG will grow in significance, but that the pace of change will depend heavily on data quality, cost and industry coordination. “What will determine the pace is less ideology than practicality: the quality of the data, the cost of compliance, and whether the industry can agree on shared standards,” says.
“It has to grow. It must. But getting the whole industry behind it will take much longer than two to three years,” says Bota.
South Africa’s media industry is not starting from zero on ESG, but it is starting from behind. A concentrated media landscape, constrained budgets and a measurement environment still in its infancy mean the green transition will be gradual and, for now, largely driven by brands outside our borders.
Charles Lee Mathews is a senior editor to MarkLives MEDIA and a senior writer to MarkLives.com, as well as co-founder of The Writers, a writing consultancy.
