The study of account and device sharing will involve an online survey and live interviews of a sample of 10,000 people, and will assess how people and households share and use devices, digital media and ecommerce accounts.

The research will be carried out by social research organisation Norc at the University of Chicago, and will capture data such as television ownership and viewing, viewing of live and streaming services, and device ownership.

Use of social media and business networking apps, and ecommerce account registration and usage will also be examined in the research.

ARF said it intends to run the research at least annually, and use the findings to create a reliable set of standards for the advertising industry. The first study is expected to conclude by the end of 2021.

Paul Donato, chief research officer at the ARF, said: “Providers of digital services and research lack a consistent, reliable and efficient way to parse the digital world at the user level.

“The initiative will provide a critical and much-needed, unbiased standard to the industry for the measurement of digital device and account sharing.”