Mark Read, the former boss of WPP who stepped down in June, has been appointed chair of Kantar Media, the data and audience measurement company that was acquired by HIG Capital back in January.
Read is familiar with Kantar Media having spent seven years as CEO of agency giant WPP, which established Kantar Group as its market research division in 1992. The company launched Kantar Media in 2010, then in 2019 the holding company sold 60 percent of Kantar Group to private equity firm Bain Capital, leaving it with 40 percent ownership of the analytics group.
In 2023, the group set up Kantar Media to be operationally independent and began exploring sale options, before selling the media measurement company to Miami-based investment firm HIG Capital in January 2025, in a deal worth around $1 billion.
Kantar Media now operates in more than 60 markets, with over 4,500 employees globally. The company is a key player in the European measurement market, providing technical infrastructure to power TV ratings systems. For example in the UK, Kantar Media runs the national TV panel that provides ratings for measurement body Barb, as well as TV data used by ISBA’s cross-media measurement project Origin.
AI and acquisitions on the roadmap
The sale came at an interesting time for media measurement in Europe, with executives touting the company’s ability to meet growing demand from advertisers for cross-media measurement solutions that can join up data points across a fragmented ecosystem, at a time when advertisers are under pressure to prove the value of their media investments.
Now the company is expected to benefit from tens of millions in investment from HIG, according to the FT, in efforts to expand Kantar Media to meet the complexities of this rising demand. And with Read at the helm of a newly formed board of directors, executives expect AI and acquisitions to form key parts of the company’s strategy. The advertising executive previously championed AI at WPP through the formation of WPP Open, the holding company’s AI-powered operating system. Read also oversaw WPP’s acqusition of data collaboration platform Infosum back in April, integrating the clean room technology into WPP Open.
The appointment marks Read’s first role since stepping down from the holding company this summer, and sources suggest the ex-WPP chief is in talks for other non-executive and advisory roles in the US. He spent more than 30 years at WPP, becoming Chief Operating Officer and then CEO in 2018.
Kantar Media meanwhile will remain based in London, according to the FT, and is expected to change its name next year to reflect its separation from Kantar Group.
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