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WPP to restrict ads to legitimate sites only

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

June 9, 2011 | 2 min read

Advertising giant WPP has blocked more than 2,000 US based websites from displaying its advertising content over concerns that they had been carrying illegal or pirated content.

In addition all publishers wishing to sign up for GroupM advertising will have to sign up to a new anti piracy policy.

The measure means that the group will now only display content on legitimate websites in America, a move which is expected to be expanded globally in time.

Currently GroupM, WPP’s media buying operation, expends around £2bn annually on acquiring ad space for clients including Ford, Unilever and IBM.

GroupM chief executive Rob Norman said: “We're serious about combating piracy and protecting our clients' intellectual property as forcefully as we possibly can.”

Norman added: “Pirate sites are known to 'domain hop,' so we need to keep on top of the latest list of identified offenders as best as we possibly can in order to enforce this new policy to its fullest effect.”

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