Google’s Emissions Climb 48%; Merger Agreement Reached for Paramount Global; Privacy Sandbox Testing Finds 33% Decline in CPMs

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 4th Jul 2024 in News

On today’s news digest: Google’s Emissions Climb 48%; Merger Agreement Reached for Paramount Global; Privacy Sandbox Testing Finds 33% Decline in CPMs

Amid the AI boom, Google’s greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly rising. According to the tech titan’s latest Environmental Report, its emissions have climbed by a startling 48% since 2019. In order to power its AI products, more and more energy is being funnelled into its data centres: Google reported that electricity consumption at these data centres, as well as supply chain emissions, are primarily responsible for its staggering rise in emissions. Considering the data, Google acknowledges the goal of reaching net zero (removing as much CO₂ as it emits) by 2030 would be “extremely ambitious”.

Looking at the latest potential partnerships on the horizon for Paramount Global: Skydance Media and National Amusements Inc reignited discussions about its acquisition, reaching a new merger agreement. Now the deal is due to be reviewed by Paramount Global’s board director committee. Paramount is expected to have a 45-day period to shop around for any offers to match Skydance’s terms. This follows talks between the parties having fallen flat last month after they failed to agree on mutually acceptable terms.

Glancing over to Google again, Index Exchange has released insights from their Privacy Sandbox testing. Several issues are still in need of being addressed, such as the lack of data on attribution or measurement. Following testing, Index Exchange reports on the limited testing scope, with overall impressions and spend remaining relatively limited. Reported as its most worrisome finding was the effect on CPMs. It explains: “we’ve observed a 33% decline in CPMs on Sandbox-enabled impressions compared to impressions where a third-party cookie was present. This compares to 36% lower CPMs in impressions without both Sandbox and cookies. So, while the Sandbox APIs did help (+3%), they’re not closing the gap enough at the current scale, available feature set, and level of adoption to prevent significant revenue consequences for publishers.”