Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
The Role of Media in Climate Action: Discussion
11:00 am
Mr. Gavin Deans:
Approximately 6% of our total advertising revenue is from motor advertising. Travel and transport accounts for 4% of ad revenue and airlines account for 0.2%. Gas suppliers and energy account for 2.8%. But within that, I refer to what we said at the start, albeit to the account of the Range Rover being more energy intense to make, in terms of a huge proportion of that shift. This is why I was talking about policy and the shift. We work across a wide range of brands. We work with advertisers on the message they want to get out. That change has been considerably influenced by environmental concerns. Even if the brand concerned is not a motor brand, they know the environment is important to their customer. They understand what they need to do. They are looking to see how they can aid us to try to change what they are. We cannot let anyone greenwash. From a compliance point of view we make sure that what they say and what they do is correct. Advertisers ask us to fill out questionnaires concerning our environmental impact. We are obliged to supply them with numbers because they are signing up to Irish, European or global initiatives within their own businesses. It is a multifaceted system. We have to attract commercial revenue for the reasons outlined by the Deputy but we also have to be fair in the things we do across different brands. We track an awful lot. We track the different types of advertising various brands do.
In terms of sponsorship revenue, 68% of that is related to electric-hybrid or retrofitting or solar or different things. The brands have already moved in that direction and that is where we see growth, rather than necessarily in what we are discussing.