Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS): PESTLE Analysis [Nov-2025 Updated]

If you're tracking Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) as we end 2025, you know the digital ad verification business is a tightrope walk between privacy and profit. The core takeaway is that IAS is positioned for growth, but the path is littered with regulatory and technological landmines. Management showed confidence by raising their full-year 2025 revenue guidance to between US$597 million and US$605 million, signaling strong adoption of their Connected TV (CTV) and AI-powered solutions. Still, the real story is in the PESTLE factors-how new state-level US privacy laws, the death of the third-party cookie, and the growing demand for ad-tech sustainability will defintely shape the next three quarters.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) - PESTLE Analysis: Political factors

Global Trade Tensions Impacting Cross-Border Data Transfer Agreements

You need to see political risk not just in tariffs on goods, but in the digital infrastructure that moves your data. For Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS), the biggest political factor in 2025 is the tension between data localization demands and the need for seamless cross-border data flow.

The good news is that global bodies are trying to build a stable framework. In September 2025, the World Trade Organization (WTO) reached a global digital trade agreement, signed by 91 countries, that explicitly promotes the free transfer of data across trusted borders. This is a huge win for a company like IAS, which relies on moving ad verification data globally to serve its clients.

But still, the US-China relationship remains a 'tech war,' not just a trade war, with technology and national security as the central focus. This geopolitical friction creates a complex, high-risk environment for IAS as it advances into the Chinese market, aiming to capture a piece of the estimated $140 billion digital ad spend market there. That massive market opportunity is defintely tempered by the political risk of being a US-based tech provider operating within China's digital borders.

Increased Government Scrutiny on Big Tech's Ad Practices and Data Collection

The regulatory hammer is falling hardest on the 'walled gardens' (platforms like Google and Meta Platforms Inc.), but the resulting fragmentation creates both compliance costs and a business opportunity for IAS. In 2025, the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) are forcing major platforms to restrict data collection and behavioral advertising, which is a direct challenge to the old ad tech model.

Here's the quick math on why this matters to IAS: When Big Tech's self-regulated data practices are curtailed by law, the demand for an independent, third-party verification and measurement platform like IAS goes up. They need a neutral arbiter. The escalating antitrust scrutiny in the US reinforces this trend. In April 2025, a federal court found Google monopolized key parts of the digital advertising ecosystem, which is the entire 'ad tech stack.' That ruling strengthens the hand of regulators and, by extension, the independent verification industry.

The scrutiny is global and granular. In November 2025, Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protection opened a formal investigation into Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, suspecting it may restrict competition for independent third-party developers, which is the category IAS falls into. This regulatory pressure is a clear tailwind for IAS's core business, even as it increases overall complexity.

Political Advertising Regulations Tightening, Requiring More Rigorous Verification

The tightening of political advertising regulations is a double-edged sword for IAS. On one hand, it mandates the kind of rigorous verification and transparency IAS provides; on the other, it's causing the largest platforms to simply exit the market. The EU's Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation, effective October 10, 2025, requires platforms to verify and publicly archive information on every political ad.

To be fair, this is a massive compliance burden. Meta Platforms Inc. responded by halting all political, electoral, and social-issue ads in the EU as of early October 2025, citing 'unworkable requirements.' Google also restricted political ads in the region starting in September 2025. This strategic retreat by the platforms removes a potential revenue stream for IAS's verification services in that specific vertical and region.

Still, the underlying need for verification is clear, and the tightening rules are a global trend. IAS saw its Publisher revenue, which includes political spending, rise 30% in the fourth quarter of 2024, showing the pre-EU-rule demand. The new political reality is that verification is now a mandatory cost of doing business, not an optional add-on.

To put the political risk and opportunity into perspective, here is a snapshot of IAS's 2025 financial performance, which reflects its ability to navigate this complex global environment:

IAS 2025 Financial Metric	Value/Range (Full Year Guidance)	Latest Quarterly Data (Q3 2025)
Total Revenue (FY 2025 Guidance)	$597 million to $605 million	$154.4 million
Adjusted EBITDA (FY 2025 Guidance)	$208 million to $214 million	$55.3 million
International Revenue (Q3 2025)	N/A	$44.1 million (29% of total revenue)
Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA Margin	N/A	36%

Your action item is to monitor the TTPA's impact on IAS's EMEA revenue, which accounted for 25% of Q1 2025 revenue. If international revenue growth slows from the Q3 2025 rate of 8% year-over-year, it's a signal that the political headwinds are starting to outweigh the demand for verification.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) - PESTLE Analysis: Economic factors

Inflationary pressures slowing overall digital ad spend growth from 2024 highs.

You're seeing the global economy slow its roll, and that deceleration is hitting the digital ad market, too. The massive, event-driven surge in ad spend from 2024-boosted by quadrennial events like the US Presidential election-is not being repeated in 2025. Global digital ad spend is still growing, but the forecast is a more moderate 7.9% for the year, reaching US$678.7 billion. This is a noticeable slowdown that IAS cannot fully escape.

While overall media inflation is expected to ease to +2.5% in 2025, down from +3.4% in 2024, the cautious economic outlook means advertisers are spending more carefully. Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) is projecting full-year 2025 revenue between $597 million and $605 million, a growth rate that is solid but reflects this industry-wide deceleration from prior-year highs. This environment rewards solutions that prove their worth immediately.

Corporate budget cuts prioritizing measurable return on ad spend (ROAS).

When the CFO gets nervous, the marketing budget is the first flexible cost to be slashed. In 2025, this nervousness is real, forcing a sharp pivot toward measurable Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). This trend is a clear opportunity for IAS, whose core value proposition is verification and optimization.

The company's financial results clearly show where the money is going:

• Optimization Revenue: This segment, which includes pre-bid verification and contextual targeting, grew 21% year-over-year in Q3 2025 to $73.7 million.
• Publisher Revenue: This also saw a strong rise of 21% in Q3 2025, reaching $23.5 million.

The growth in Optimization is a defintely strong signal. Advertisers are not cutting verification; they are increasing spend on tools that ensure every dollar is placed effectively. This shift from simple 'Measurement' to 'Optimization' is a direct consequence of the macro-economic pressure on corporate budgets.

Stronger US dollar creating unfavorable currency translation for international revenue.

As a US-headquartered company, a stronger US dollar makes revenue earned overseas worth less when translated back into US dollars. This is a persistent headwind for IAS, given its global footprint.

Here's the quick math on the international exposure:

Metric	Q3 2025 Value	YoY Growth (Q3 2025)
International Revenue (excl. Americas)	$44.1 million	8%
% of Total Revenue	29%	N/A

While international revenue grew by 8% in Q3 2025 to $44.1 million, the underlying strength of the US dollar still pressures GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) reporting. The impact of 'foreign exchange effects' was cited as one of the factors contributing to the year-over-year decline in Net Income for Q3 2025, which fell to $7.0 million from $16.1 million in the prior-year period. This currency translation risk is a constant drag on reported profitability, even with solid underlying international growth.

Continued high interest rates impacting valuation multiples for growth-focused tech.

High interest rates, a tool used by central banks to combat inflation, have a direct and negative effect on valuation multiples for growth-focused technology companies like IAS. The higher the risk-free rate, the lower the present value of future cash flows (Discounted Cash Flow or DCF). Before the acquisition announcement, this environment kept IAS's valuation low.

For example, in early 2025, IAS was trading at a Price/FCF (Free Cash Flow) multiple of 11.4 times FY25 FCF, which was a significant discount compared to its closest peer. This low multiple was a symptom of the high-rate environment punishing growth stocks.

However, the economic factor of valuation multiples has been superseded by a corporate action: the company entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Novacap in an all-cash transaction on September 24, 2025. This M&A activity essentially removes the public market's interest rate-driven valuation pressure, replacing it with a fixed, agreed-upon acquisition price. The focus for investors now shifts entirely to the closing milestones of the merger, not the fluctuating public market multiples.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) - PESTLE Analysis: Social factors

Consumer demand for greater data privacy and transparency driving platform changes

You're seeing the fallout from a decade of lax data practices, and it's hitting the ad-tech world hard. Consumers are defintely more aware of their digital footprint, and they are demanding a clear value exchange for their data. This shift isn't just a regulatory problem; it's a social mandate that forces companies like Integral Ad Science to innovate on privacy-preserving solutions.

In 2025, the move away from third-party cookies is nearly complete, pushing advertisers to rely on first-party and contextual data. The numbers bear this out: a significant 71% of brands have concrete plans to boost their first-party datasets this year. That's a huge investment. What this means for IAS is a greater need for tools that can verify media quality without relying on personal identifiers. Honestly, this is where a contextual targeting solution becomes a core product, not just a feature.

Transparency is the new currency. Research shows that 60% of consumers are willing to share their data if they know exactly how a brand plans to use it. IAS addresses this directly through its core mission to be the global benchmark for trust and transparency, supported by its dedicated Privacy & Data Management Portal.

Heightened public awareness of misinformation and brand safety issues online

The public's tolerance for brand adjacency to harmful content has evaporated. Misinformation, deepfakes, and hate speech-especially fueled by the rapid adoption of Generative AI-are now existential threats to brand equity. This isn't just about avoiding a bad headline; it's about protecting billions in ad spend.

The risk is quantifiable. A staggering 100% of marketing professionals believe Generative AI poses a threat to brand safety and misinformation, according to a 2025 report. Plus, over 68% of consumers state a brand loses their trust permanently if its ad appears next to offensive content. This heightened scrutiny means the market for verification services, which is IAS's bread and butter, is expanding rapidly beyond simple keyword blocking.

The problem is getting more complex, too. AI crawlers and scrapers are contributing to an 86% increase in General Invalid Traffic (GIVT), which is fake traffic that wastes ad dollars. IAS's 2025 Industry Pulse Report confirms that advertisers still rank safety as a top challenge, making the company's solutions for fraud, brand safety, and suitability essential for any major campaign.

Shift in ad spend toward short-form video and influencer marketing channels

The way people consume content has fundamentally changed, and ad dollars are following the eyeballs to short-form video and creator-driven platforms. This is a massive, ongoing structural shift that IAS must continue to master.

The influencer marketing industry, a key driver of this shift, is projected to reach a global market size of $32.55 billion in 2025, up from $24 billion in 2024. That's a huge jump. And it's not just influencers; the format itself is king. By the end of 2025, 82% of all online content is expected to be video, with short-form leading the charge.

For IAS, this means shifting its measurement and optimization tools to new, often closed, environments like social platforms and gaming. The company is already moving: its partnership with Roblox, announced in April 2025, to offer fraud and brand safety coverage is a concrete action mapping to this trend. Here's the quick math on where the media experts are focusing their budgets:

2025 Media Expert Priority (IAS Pulse Report)	Percentage of Experts Prioritizing	IAS Strategic Opportunity
Social Media	61%	Developing new verification tools for social shopping and deepfake content.
Digital Video Growth	43%	Expanding media quality solutions to CTV, YouTube, and short-form video.
Influencer Campaigns	28%	Providing brand suitability controls for creator-generated content.

Growing investor focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics in ad-tech

ESG is no longer just a corporate social responsibility footnote; it's a disciplined risk management and value creation framework that investors are actively using. While the political rhetoric around ESG can be noisy, the investment community is staying focused on the data.

The numbers show the commitment: 87% of investors have either maintained or increased their focus on ESG over the last year, as of late 2025. This means the 'S' (Social) in ESG-which covers data privacy, brand safety, and employee well-being-is directly material to Integral Ad Science's valuation. Its core business of ensuring a safe and transparent digital ecosystem aligns perfectly with the 'Social' pillar.

IAS is responding by strategically focusing on ESG, publishing an IAS Responsibility Report to detail its initiatives. Investors want to see how the company is mitigating social risks, like data breaches or proximity to hate speech, because those risks directly translate to financial volatility. It's about resilience now. The focus is on formalizing how these factors are incorporated, making it a core fiduciary responsibility for investors, which is a big change from a few years ago.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) - PESTLE Analysis: Technological factors

Google's Privacy Sandbox Deprecating Third-Party Cookies, Requiring New Measurement Methods

You're facing a fundamental shift in how the open web works, and Google's Privacy Sandbox is the catalyst. While Google reversed its plan for a complete third-party cookie deprecation in 2024, the reality for 2025 is that user choice controls are the new normal. Experts predict that even with the choice, a significant portion of users-likely 70% to 80%-will opt to disable third-party cookies, which means the old measurement methods are still dying.

For Integral Ad Science (IAS), this is a near-term risk but a huge opportunity. The challenge is that the new Privacy Sandbox APIs, like Topics and Protected Audience API, fundamentally change how ad verification (viewability, fraud detection) gets the necessary data signals. IAS has been smart, working directly with Google and the IAB Tech Lab, but the industry still needs a common macro standard to ensure data is consistently exchanged between Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs).

The good news is IAS's platform is already cookieless, which gives them a structural advantage over competitors built on older tracking tech. Their focus is on ensuring their third-party measurement and optimization use cases are fully supported in this new environment. That's the defintely the right move.

Rapid Growth of Connected TV (CTV) and Retail Media Networks Demanding New Verification Solutions

The biggest growth story in advertising right now is Connected TV (CTV) and the rise of retail media networks like Amazon DSP. This is where IAS is making serious money. US CTV ad spending is projected to hit between $26.6 billion and $33 billion in 2025, which is a massive pool of money that needs verification.

IAS is capitalizing on this with its Publica CTV solutions. In Q1 2025, the Publisher segment, which houses these CTV solutions, showed the highest growth rate for the company at a staggering 33% year-over-year. This growth is fueled by the need for quality assurance in a fragmented ecosystem where Invalid Traffic (IVT) can average around 18% globally in CTV. A key technological win for IAS came in November 2025, when it secured Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its third-party measurement on Amazon DSP properties, a clear step into the lucrative retail media walled garden.

Increased Sophistication of Ad Fraud Schemes, Necessitating Advanced AI/Machine Learning

Honestly, ad fraud is a constant arms race, and the bad actors are getting better. The latest data shows that fraud rates for campaigns that did not use fraud mitigation (non-optimized campaigns) rose 19.0% in 2024, reaching a four-year high of 10.9%.

This is a clear call to action for advertisers, and it's where IAS's technology shines. They process over 280 billion digital interactions daily to detect anomalies, using proprietary AI/Machine learning models and their Threat Lab. The technology works: worldwide ad fraud rates for campaigns running with IAS's fraud protection (optimized campaigns) dropped 9.8% year-over-year, to a steady, low rate of 0.7% throughout 2024. That's a huge difference-non-optimized campaigns face a fraud rate that is 15x higher than optimized ones.

Here's the quick math on the risk/reward for advertisers:

Campaign Type	Global Ad Fraud Rate (2024)	Risk Multiplier (vs. Optimized)
Optimized (With IAS Protection)	0.7%	1x
Non-Optimized (No Protection)	10.9%	15x

Need for Unified Cross-Platform Measurement Across Walled Gardens (e.g., Meta, Google)

The biggest headache for marketers is the lack of unified measurement across the major platforms, the so-called walled gardens, like Meta and Google. They need one clean view of their campaign performance, not a dozen siloed reports. IAS is tackling this by building deep, direct integrations. They have over 400 direct integrations with premium publishers globally, which is a significant asset.

The strategy is to become the trusted, independent arbiter of media quality across all channels. Their MRC accreditation for Amazon DSP is a perfect example of penetrating a major walled garden to provide third-party, accredited metrics. Plus, IAS's strong Q1 2025 performance, with 17% year-over-year revenue growth, shows their product portfolio is expanding into these high-growth channels, including social media and CTV, which are key to cross-platform measurement.

The goal is to provide a single, unified view of global campaigns through platforms like IAS Signal. This lets advertisers compare apples-to-apples performance across:

• Desktop and Mobile Web
• Mobile App environments
• Connected TV (CTV)
• Major Social Platforms (e.g., Meta)
• Retail Media Networks (e.g., Amazon DSP)

This is the only way to truly maximize Return on Investment (ROI) in a fragmented media world.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) - PESTLE Analysis: Legal factors

Enforcement of new state-level US privacy laws (e.g., California, Virginia) impacting data use.

The regulatory environment in the US is fragmenting rapidly, forcing Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) to navigate a complex patchwork of state-level privacy laws. You're no longer just dealing with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA); in 2025 alone, eight new comprehensive state privacy laws are taking effect, including those in Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland.

This expansion means IAS must constantly update its data processing framework to handle varied consumer rights-like the right to opt-out of targeted advertising and profiling-across multiple jurisdictions. For example, states like Delaware, Indiana, and Virginia specifically require Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for targeted advertising, forcing a deeper legal review of IAS's core ad verification services. The company has a Supplemental U.S. State Privacy Notice, but the sheer volume of new laws makes compliance a continuous, high-touch legal and engineering effort. It's a huge operational drag.

Ongoing compliance costs related to the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA).

The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), fully applicable since early 2024, introduces significant legal and financial burdens for any AdTech company operating in the EU, including IAS. The DSA mandates new levels of transparency, specifically requiring platforms to provide users with real-time information on who paid for an ad and the targeting parameters used.

While IAS is primarily a measurement and optimization platform, its integration with Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) like Meta and Google means its solutions must align with these new transparency rules. Honestly, the cost of this deep-seated compliance is substantial for US tech companies. One July 2025 study estimated that the direct compliance costs for US companies from the DSA alone are roughly $750 million annually across the industry, part of a total of $2.2 billion for all EU digital regulations. IAS must absorb its portion of this cost through legal counsel, technology audits, and platform-specific feature development to maintain its market position in Europe.

Regulatory Area	2025 Impact/Metric	IAS Action/Risk
US State Privacy Laws	8 new state laws taking effect in 2025 (e.g., NJ, MD).	Mandatory DPIAs for targeted advertising in states like Virginia; continuous updates to opt-out mechanisms.
EU Digital Services Act (DSA)	Estimated industry-wide direct compliance cost of $750 million annually for the DSA on US companies.	Ensuring ad transparency and algorithmic disclosure capabilities align with VLOP/VLOSE partner requirements.
Ad Fraud & Brand Safety	Non-optimized ad fraud rates rose 19.0% YoY, reaching 10.9% by end of 2024.	Increased scrutiny from advertisers and regulators (DOJ/NCIS inquiries); core business justification.

Litigation risk tied to ad fraud claims and brand safety failures.

IAS's core business is mitigating ad fraud and ensuring brand safety, but this also makes it a target for litigation when failures occur. The risk is twofold: regulatory scrutiny and shareholder action. In October 2024, officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) began asking ad executives about the effectiveness of verification companies like IAS following reports alleging inaccurate metrics. This kind of inquiry signals a heightened regulatory risk around the core value proposition.

Plus, the company faced a shareholder class action lawsuit in early 2025. This suit, with a lead plaintiff deadline of March 31, 2025, alleged that IAS misled investors about competitive pricing pressures and weakening demand between March 2023 and February 2024. While the company denies the claims, defending such suits is expensive and diverts executive attention. The underlying threat is that non-optimized ad fraud rates are still high, rising 19.0% year-over-year to 10.9% by the end of 2024, which keeps the spotlight on the effectiveness of IAS's solutions. You defintely have to factor in the cost of defense.

Intellectual property (IP) protection for proprietary verification algorithms is crucial.

The competitive moat for IAS is its proprietary technology, especially its verification algorithms powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The company explicitly highlights the risk of 'our involvement in lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property' in its financial disclosures, confirming its criticality.

Protecting these algorithms is paramount because they are the basis for key offerings like Quality Attention measurement, which combines media quality metrics with eye-tracking data and machine learning. The value of this IP is directly tied to the company's financial performance, which is projected for a full-year 2025 total revenue of $597 million to $605 million. Losing an IP battle or failing to secure patents for new AI-driven features would severely erode the competitive advantage necessary to achieve that revenue target.

• Defend patents and trade secrets for AI-driven verification.
• Maintain Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditations for server-to-server data integration.
• Monitor for employee or consultant misuse of proprietary trade secrets.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) - PESTLE Analysis: Environmental factors

Growing client demand for measuring and reducing the carbon footprint of digital ad campaigns.

You are seeing a fundamental shift where large corporate advertisers are now treating carbon emissions as a core media quality metric, right alongside viewability and brand safety. This isn't a niche request anymore; it's a mainstream expectation driven by their own Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments.

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (IAS) has responded directly to this in 2025 by integrating carbon emissions measurement into its core platform through partnerships with sustaintech companies like Good-Loop and Impact Plus. This allows IAS customers globally to track emissions for every ad impression delivered across the open internet at no additional cost. Honestly, what gets measured gets managed.

This capability is crucial because digital advertising is a significant energy consumer. Data suggests that brands using real-time data for optimization can achieve up to a 25% reduction in their digital carbon footprint, and targeted improvements can reduce emissions by 15% to 30% on average.

Data centers and ad-tech infrastructure power consumption becoming an ESG focus.

The entire ad-tech ecosystem, including IAS, relies on massive data center infrastructure for real-time bidding, data processing, and ad delivery. The power consumption of these centers is now a major ESG concern for investors and regulators.

The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud computing is accelerating this problem. Global electricity demand from data centers, AI, and cryptocurrency is projected to more than double by 2030, potentially reaching nearly 1,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually.

For IAS, this means pressure to ensure its cloud and server partners are using renewable energy. IAS has voluntarily published emissions data with The Climate Registry and is officially setting Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)-verified Net Zero emissions targets, joining over 10,000 companies on this publicly verified path.

Need for standardized reporting on the environmental impact of programmatic advertising.

The industry desperately needed a common language for carbon measurement, and 2025 delivered a major step forward. The launch of the Global Media Sustainability Framework 1.2 (GMSF) at Cannes in June 2025 has provided a universal industry standard for emissions calculation.

This standardization is a huge opportunity for IAS. By aligning its carbon tracking tools with GMSF and Ad Net Zero's work, IAS is positioned as a leader in transparency and accountability. This is defintely a necessary move because without consistent methodology, clients can't compare performance or accurately report their Scope 3 emissions (all indirect emissions in a company's value chain).

The market data shows this is a fast-moving trend:

Metric	2024 Readiness	2025 Readiness	Change
Businesses estimating digital ad emissions	24%	48%	Doubled
Companies setting SBTi targets	18%	28%	Increased by 56%

Here's the quick math: almost half of the industry is now actively measuring their digital ad carbon footprint, and IAS is providing the tools to do it.

Pressure to offer sustainable ad delivery options to large corporate advertisers.

Regulatory compliance is now overtaking client expectations as a driving force for sustainability in digital advertising. Legislation like the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and California's 'Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act' requires large companies to disclose and manage their carbon emissions more transparently.

IAS's primary action is integrating campaign-level Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions data directly into its reporting platform. This gives advertisers the power to make actionable choices, not just get a report. The pressure is translating into clear actions for advertisers, so IAS must provide the solution.

The key actions advertisers are taking, which IAS's tools must support, include:

• Shifting ad spend to lower-impact platforms or formats.
• Optimizing ad delivery for off-peak hours to reduce emissions by up to 20%.
• Using AI to improve targeting accuracy, which can lead to a 20% to 40% reduction in energy usage in programmatic advertising.
• Prioritizing publishers that use renewable energy for their infrastructure.

The next step for IAS is to continue working with partners to embed 'low-carbon' media buying into the default settings of their optimization products.