Elkington was formerly managing director of Enhance Media, where he launched and ran the National Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS). Before joining Engage he was head of research at Workthing.com.

He will be responsible for leading the IAB’s many research initiatives, including the bi-annual online advertising expenditure study that it conducts with PwC, and studies into the effectiveness of digital channels such as mobile, video and social media.

He will also be involved in the UK Online Measurement Compnay (UKOM), which launches its online ad planning system in January.

Elkington said: “I’m delighted to join the IAB at a very exciting time. With rapid advances in areas such as mobile, social media and online video the market needs an ongoing programme of education, and advertisers and agencies need to be reassured that digital is the best place to invest their budgets.”