ARF Partners for Household Digital Device Study

In New York, the ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) is teaming up with seven data and insights firm on a study intended to establish unbiased measures for defining digital device and account sharing and usage.

The Study of Account and Device Sharing is sponsored by 605, Experian, Innovid, Neustar, The NPD Group, Verizon and VideoAmp and will be conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. An online survey will be combined with live interviews of a national sample of 10,000 respondents, examining personal and household sharing and usage of devices, digital media and ecommerce accounts.

ARF says it intends to run the study 'at least annually', and that the partners will apply for MRC accreditation in the study's second year of execution. ARF members and non-members alike will be able to pay a fee to license the data, which will include / establish:

• A comprehensive household device graph, with device and account ownership, sharing and modes of usage
• Television ownership by brand, home location, service mode (cable, satellite, telco, antenna) and smart capability
• TV and live streaming viewing by respondent by device in the past seven days (P7D) and yesterday, including time by daypart and co-viewing; along with time-shifted viewing of live TV
• similar data for PC, gaming console and other digital device usage; Ecommerce accounts; and usage of social media, business networking accounts, apps, and email.

Results will be available at three different levels of granularity, for applications ranging from panel weighting to CRM integration, and the 2021 study is expected to be completed in Q4 of 2021 with deliverables in Q1 of 2022.

Paul Donato, the Foundation's Chief Research Officer, says providers of digital services and research 'lack a consistent, reliable and efficient way to parse the digital world at the user level', with a mish-mash of current methods which are 'often expensive, siloed and unaccredited, and may not be comprehensive enough for all uses'. He adds: 'The ARF wishes to thank our seven sponsors, not only for their support of the project, but for their active participation in its design. Their collegiality and collaboration for the good of the industry has been, and will continue to be, absolutely critical to the success of the project'.

Those interested in licensing the results of this study can contact Rob Palatano on rpalatano@thearf.org . Web site: www.thearf.org .