The group, which includes advertisers, media agencies and TV content providers, has partnered with the Association of National Advertisers, the Internet Advertising Bureau and the American Association of Advertising Agencies ( 4A’s) to launch Project: TAXI , which stands for track-able asset cross-platform identifier.

Mike Donahue, executive VP of the 4A’s, said he hoped the project would “lead the industry to coalesce around one advertising asset identifier to reduce friction in the supply chain”.

The organisations said that the investigation had been launched in response to the “growing difficulty” that advertisers and content owners face in making the most of multi-platform media. Eventually, it aims to provide transparency, simplified accountability and improved economic efficiency “across the value chain”.

Jane Clarke (pictured), CIMM’s managing director, said: “Given the staggering increase in the volume of content available, it is harder and harder for media companies to track where and how often their assets are consumed – whether on TVs, PCs or mobile devices. This project is intended to help companies understand how and where their content is being viewed, so that they can effectively ascribe value to distribution partners, advertisers and consumers.”