Briefing Note: Programmatic Digital Advertisements and Climate Disinformation

The study analyzed 113 top US climate disinformation sites, finding that nearly 80% displayed ads from major networks. Google's display networks were the most dominant, appearing on nearly half of the sites and accounting for 97.7% of projected weekly visits. The report argues that these platforms profit from climate disinformation despite having policies against misleading content, with Google potentially earning $7.6 million in revenue from these sites based on industry median cost-per-click estimates.

• Between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022, 79.7% (90 out of 113) of analyzed climate disinformation sites displayed online advertising from one or more ad networks.
• Google's display ad networks (including DoubleClick, AdWords, and AdSense) were the most prevalent, monetizing 49.6% of the sites and accounting for 97.7% of projected weekly visits.
• Based on a 2022 industry median cost-per-click of $0.63, Google potentially generated approximately $7.6 million in display advertising revenue from these climate disinformation sites over the past year.
• Analysis of ads.txt files revealed that 69.75% (83 of 113) of the sites listed Google as an authorized seller of their ad inventory.
• While Yahoo Ads accounted for nearly 50% of total outgoing ad visits, this figure is heavily skewed by a single site, Fox News, which represented 54.88% of Yahoo's ad clicks in the dataset.
• Other major networks heavily utilized by climate disinformation sites included Outbrain, which was seen on sites responsible for over 87% of weekly visits, and Amazon Ads, seen on sites responsible for over 71% of weekly visits.
• The study identifies three primary narratives of climate disinformation: denialism (denying scientific consensus or human causes), conspiracy (claiming research is an 'elite' conspiracy), and doomerism (arguing efforts to stop climate change are a waste of resources).

APA

Climate Action Against Disinformation (n.d.). Briefing Note: Programmatic Digital Advertisements and Climate Disinformation. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Briefing-Note-Programmatic-Digital-Ads-and-Disinfo.pdf

Chicago

Climate Action Against Disinformation. Briefing Note: Programmatic Digital Advertisements and Climate Disinformation. n.d. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Briefing-Note-Programmatic-Digital-Ads-and-Disinfo.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Action Against Disinformation |title=Briefing Note: Programmatic Digital Advertisements and Climate Disinformation |url=https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Briefing-Note-Programmatic-Digital-Ads-and-Disinfo.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateactionagainstdisinformationndbriefing, author = {{Climate Action Against Disinformation}}, title = {{Briefing Note: Programmatic Digital Advertisements and Climate Disinformation}}, institution = {Climate Action Against Disinformation}, url = {https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Briefing-Note-Programmatic-Digital-Ads-and-Disinfo.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }