The application, EMO Scan, tracks consumers’ facial movements in real time via their own webcams as they view advertising.

The company is currently expanding the platform with further measures for recognising human emotions and covering additional research applications.

GfK’s global director for communication efficiency Nathalie Mandavit said the system reads people’s “authentic emotional response” to advertising using an exposure environment that is not forced.

“A low-involvement viewing experience is absolutely essential, to capture people’s spontaneous reactions to the advertising creative, unaffected by influences from an artificial environment,” she said.

GfK’s move follows that of Millward Brown, which revealed last month that it was integrating Affectiva’s facial coding system with its Link copy-testing solution and had signed up Unilever and Coca-Cola as early adopters.