WPP is in final negotiations to acquire Blast Radius, the internet agency.

The Vancouver-based company, which has annual revenues of at least $50 million (£24.5 million) and about 350 employees, is one of the few large independent agencies of its kind.

According to sources, WPP, headed by its founder Sir Martin Sorrell, would make Blast Radius part of Wunderman, its marketing services network.

Blast Radius was founded in 1997 and is privately owned. Its projects include launching the Jordan XX2 basketball shoe with a wide-reaching digital campaign and creating a platform for Madden NFL, the Electronic Arts American football video game, which allows players to share their strategies with other users.

The business does about 75 per cent of its work in the United States, despite the fact that its headquarters are in Canada.

The acquisition would follow other digital assets deals in the advertising industry in recent months. WPP said last month that it had acquired Schematic, the Los Angeles-based interactive agency. WPP also paid $649 million for 24/7 Real Media, an advertising network and technology company. This year Publicis, the French advertising group, paid $1.3 billion for Digitas, the digital marketing company.

WPP is expected to produce an up-beat third-quarter trading update later this week, according to analysts. The global advertising outlook for next year is expected to be boosted by the Beijing Olympic Games and the American presidential election.

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