• The Guardian, Tuesday, April 1, 2014 10 AM

WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell believes the media industry has underestimated the impact of Edward Snowden's electronic surveillance revelations. At WPP, he reveals, the impact has been to distance the global advertising giant from third-party advertising networks.

"The NSA controversy has heightened awareness of [privacy and security]," he told the Ad Week Europe conference in London yesterday. "Being very transparent with clients, readers, customers about the [browsing] experience they are having and consequences of it. We have been removing third-party networks for our sites; those ads are also data-gathering mechanisms. We want to be more respectful of privacy and also want to monetise our audiences our way. Being more focused on privacy is not bad for business -- it can be good."

Sorrell pointed out that it is crucial advertising companies get the balance between data acquisition and privacy right because, in WPP's case, he estimates a quarter of its $5bn a year income derives from data and research services. "We underestimate the importance of this, it worries me," he said. "Having access to data ... is critically important. My point is that it is very important -- people are underestimating its significance among consumers."

Read the whole story at The Guardian »