Industry Insights: Sustainability in broadcasting requires more than a marketing pitch

Sustainability is a buzzword that’s hard to ignore — but how much of it is real change versus marketing spin?

In the first of this two-part Industry Insights roundtable, broadcast vendors weigh in on how sustainability is showing up (or not) in real-world decision-making. While European broadcasters face regulatory pressure and public accountability, the U.S. market remains inconsistent, often treating green initiatives as optional or secondary.

Participants explore whether the tools touted as sustainable, like AI and cloud, actually reduce environmental impact, and whether broadcasters are being honest about what’s truly measurable and meaningful.

Key takeaways from this Industry Insights roundtable

• Measurement remains difficult: Many broadcasters rely on estimates rather than real-time, usage-based data to assess carbon impact.
• AI cuts both ways: While AI can expose inefficiencies and reduce waste, generative models come with significant energy costs.
• Global priorities differ: U.S. and European broadcasters approach sustainability from very different political and regulatory perspectives.
• It’s not just marketing: While some green claims serve branding, buyers increasingly factor sustainability into infrastructure purchasing decisions.
• Efficiency is profitable: Energy savings, optimized workflows, and virtualized production can support both sustainability and cost reduction.

Is the idea of sustainability in broadcasting simply “greenwashing”?

Simon Parkinson, managing director, Dot Group: Not when it’s backed by measurable action and integrated technology. The industry is shifting from token gestures to systemic change, like using cloud-based workflows, energy-efficient studios, and intelligent resource planning. The key difference lies in transparency and accountability; real sustainability efforts are data-driven and visible across production stages. However, we are seeing companies avoid the “too hard” areas, particularly IT server and storage infrastructure, which are often some of the largest contributors to carbon consumption.

Broadcast industry faces complex balance between technology and sustainability

How many RFPs or RFQs include provisions on sustainability?

Erling Hedkvist, business development manager, Arkona and Manifold: It depends on the client. All of the ones from public entities and large European broadcasters. It’s not common among smaller and private broadcasters.

How is the thinking on sustainability different between broadcasters in the United States and abroad?

Kristan Bullett, CEO, Humans Not Robots: Understandably, it is a million miles apart. In the U.S., the focus on energy independence and fossil fuel extraction has grown as a response to rising energy demands and geopolitical concerns, leading to a political shift towards “drill, drill, drill.” Meanwhile, European broadcasters and telcos are prioritizing sustainability, emphasizing “measure, measure, measure” as they assess their carbon footprint and energy consumption. That said, sustainability still holds importance in the U.S.

How is the use of AI, and the integration of AI across product lines, not counterintuitive to the sustainability goals?

Kristan Bullett: The exploration of generative AI has been extensive and continues to grow, but the processing costs — and consequently, the energy consumption — of this innovation are staggering. However, the use of AI for cost optimization and resource reduction is key. Data shows there are significant inefficiencies that could be exposed and addressed through the use of AI. For example, it is estimated that companies waste 32% of their cloud spend, which adds up to a huge number.

Jason O’Malley, senior partner solutions architect, media and telecom global partners, Amazon Web Services: AI offers the potential to improve operational efficiency, from content creation to energy utilization within broadcast studios. However, it’s crucial to be intentional and implement AI tools efficiently, aligned with your organization’s sustainability goals. AWS continues to innovate as well as we recently announced new data center components designed to support the next generation of AI innovation and customers’ evolving needs.

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Yang Cai, CEO and president, VisualOn: AI enables smarter video workflows by optimizing encoding, adaptive streaming, and predictive delivery, which significantly reduces bandwidth consumption and computational overhead. This leads to lower energy usage and increased efficiency, directly supporting sustainability objectives.

How much of sustainability is simply a marketing pitch from vendors to try and create product differentiation?

Kristan Bullett: It depends. Some companies place a strong emphasis on crafting a compelling marketing narrative, and, at times, the marketing team may lean on this a little too hard. However, I don’t think this is deceitful. There are mixed feelings about the stories major cloud providers are sharing regarding their green initiatives. For example, scope 3 emissions account for more than 90% of a cloud provider’s carbon footprint, and some of them are not reporting these numbers. The key is to be transparent and factual with any green claims.

Erling Hedkvist: For clients who consider the space, power consumption and cooling requirements it’s more than just sustainability, it’s real dollars and cents and that is driving purchasing decisions. Sustainability can both be good for the planet and the pocketbook at the same time so it’s more than just marketing.

Colby Winegar, CEO, Storj: There is a real effort in the broadcasting market to achieve a positive carbon footprint, and vendors have a responsibility to provide infrastructure that supports their goals. Some cloud storage companies are doing this today; instead of spinning up new data centers, they are utilizing the 80% of over-provisioned storage that is available worldwide — others are doing the same with over-provisioned compute. Additionally, tools are being created to access media in place, without using compute resources to move media to different tiers of storage for the sake of cost savings

How do broadcasters accurately measure carbon footprint?

Kristan Bullett: The real question is how broadcasters can accurately reduce their carbon footprint. So far, much of the focus has been on reporting, which unfortunately often relies on estimates based on spending, rather than a usage-based approach with actual measurements. This creates a situation where real optimizations and reductions aren’t properly reflected in the reporting. As a result, there’s little clear incentive to make meaningful reductions.

Yang Cai: Broadcasters leverage analytics tools to track energy consumption across video processing, distribution, and infrastructure usage. These insights help them choose efficient technologies and partners, guiding data-driven efforts to reduce their overall carbon footprint.

Simon Parkinson: Not as well as is needed. Currently, this is still too often a manual “checklist” based method. Platforms that require human entry of data will never be real-time nor pinpoint accurate. As a result, the data captured and ensuing actions are slow, incomplete and sub-optimal. For this to truly have the impact needed, the full production lifecycle carbon footprint needs to be captured and allocated accurately to specific productions and its full supply chain.

How do sustainable practices enhance a broadcaster’s brand reputation and audience engagement?

Lesley Marr, director of sustainability and business development, NxtGenBPS: Audiences are more aware of climate issues and want to know that companies are doing something real behind the scenes. Making productions more sustainable creates better working environments and often opens the door to more interesting, creative projects. People notice when a broadcaster consistently delivers strong, forward-thinking content, and that’s what builds reputation over time.

Richard Jonker, VP, marketing and business development, Netgear: Companies committed to sustainability experience tangible benefits beyond environmental impact, with sustainability-focused brands growing significantly faster than competitors. Investors now weigh environmental policies and climate change as key risk factors, calling long-term sustainability risks “stranded assets,” which directly affects how audiences and stakeholders perceive broadcast organizations and their commitment to responsible practices.

Simon Parkinson: Today’s audiences, especially younger viewers, expect environmental responsibility from the brands they support. Sustainable practices signal innovation, ethics, and forward-thinking, which resonate in both B2B and B2C contexts. Internally, it fosters pride and purpose within production teams. Externally, it opens up sponsorship opportunities with eco-conscious brands and boosts engagement with content that aligns with global concerns.

How do production companies balance ambitious sustainability goals with the demands for high-quality content?

Jason O’Malley: Broadcasters don’t have to choose between sustainability and high-quality content. Cloud-enabled virtual production workflows enable productions to deliver dynamic broadcasts remotely from studios, instead of having to be on-site at the event location. Realistic digital environments displayed on LED screens behind on-air talent make viewers feel like the content is being captured on-site, but without the travel-related carbon emissions and potential landfill waste from temporary set builds.

Roberto Musso, technical director, NDI: Production companies need to be realistic with their goals, especially when it comes to evaluating the need to scale up. You don’t need to have a massive footprint to create strong content, especially with the tools readily available today. A production company with a well-thought-out production plan can achieve both sustainability and high-quality.

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Marcus Brodersen, CEO, Pixotope: The assumption that sustainability requires compromising on production quality is outdated and incorrect. Virtual production enables creative teams to produce visually appealing and realistic environments without physically building and later discarding elaborate sets. We’re seeing productions simultaneously reduce waste while enhancing creative possibilities beyond what physical construction allows.