BACKGROUND-AIM:
In Hungary, tobacco companies are increasingly using corporate social responsibility (CSR) messages in online and offline media to improve their public image and promote emerging tobacco and nicotine products. Advertising monitoring databases, such as the Kantar Media tobacco ads database, could serve as an adequate source to analyse tobacco industry’s CSR-type ads promoting tobacco harm reduction. This study aims to quantify the relative contribution of various CSR-type ads topics of the tobacco industry, publishing media platforms and creative formats to the overall visibility of tobacco industry messages by developing and applying a Contribution Score.

METHODS:
We conducted a secondary data analysis of media appearances of Hungarian tobacco industry actors registered in the advertising monitoring database of Kantar Media Hungary Ltd between May 2019 and October 2024. The dataset included all new, unique media items per month (n_(tobacco) = 709) across online and offline platforms, categorized by publication date, net spending, media platform, and creative type. We studied the importance of various factors of specific advertisements (e.g. published on the internet or in a printed journal; what kind of content the ad appears next to, etc.). We used a Contribution Score based on Elo scores (known from sports ranking), which estimates the probability to find a tobacco harm reduction awareness advertisement in the presence of certain factors. The Contribution Score can be considered as the contribution that specific factors give to the promotion of tobacco harm reduction awareness ads.

RESULTS:
Over the study period, 709 new media appearances were identified, linked to four major tobacco industry actors, with a total of 15639 appearances across online (75.2%) and offline (24.8%) platforms. The Contribution Score analysis identified that the type of media platform has almost twice as much importance in the choice of the ads placements: tobacco harm reduction awareness promotions published mainly in printed media or in sponsored content on the internet, and they appeared less often on internet video platforms and in television. However, the differences in the associated topics are also observable: auto-motor contents are the most exposed to tobacco harm reduction promotions, technology and travel platforms are also popular, while gastronomy and economy topics seems to be less attractive to the tobacco industry.

CONCLUSIONS:
This study explores how a Contribution Score could capture different topics, platforms, and creative formats that can collectively shape the visibility of tobacco industry’s harm reduction narratives. Innovative monitoring techniques of the tobacco industry’s messaging tactics in media platforms may provide new evidence to strengthen tobacco advertisement, promotion and sponsorship regulations.