MBI first trialled the Touchpoints approach – a smartphone app that allows study participants to record the media they use, where they are, what they are doing and how they are feeling throughout the day – as part of ESPN’s XP project to measure audience behaviour around the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

ESPN has also had an inside look at a recently completed pilot project, funded by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, of which it is a member.

Glenn Enoch, ESPN’s vice president of integrated media research, said: “We believe that the ability to deliver insight on media consumption in the context of a sports fans’ hour-by-hour total life experience will bring us valuable insight into the use of our content across all platforms, and deliver better value to our advertising clients.”

MBI is headed by CEO Jim Spaeth (pictured) and recently received investment from Nielsen and GfK MRI, with each firm now owning 25% of the business.

The Touchpoints survey was first launched in the UK by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.