The Connected Life.dx study is being conducted together with web analytics firm Nurago, in which GfK holds a majority stake.

The study aims to produce a complete picture of how people browse the web and use mobile apps, investigating the relationship between mobile and fixed internet usage and understanding how this drives consumer behaviour.

Four hundred participants in Europe, the Americas and Asia will have their online activity on a range of devices tracked continuously for three months. They will also complete regular surveys about their attitudes and intentions. The study will look at how people move between devices, what the barriers and drivers are to accessing the internet in different ways, and how people come into contact with the same brands through different devices.

When the project is complete GfK will be selling a report based on the results, which it hopes will be of inteest to device manufacturers, content providers and digital marketers.

Babita Earle (pictured), digital strategy director at GfK said: “We live in an increasingly convergent world, with consumers using many different devices to reach and act upon decisions in their online activity – and yet our understanding of consumer online bahviouar is currently silo’d by platform. What makes this study really unique is the combination of true cross-platform beahviour monitoring and survey-based measurement of consumer’s attitudes and preferences.”

Arno Hummerston, international director of client services at Nurago, said: “Internet access via smartphones is growing at an explosive rate – not just through their browsers, but also via web-enabled apps… Connected Life.dx will, for the first time, answer urgent questions about how different kinds of web access complement each other and demonstrate how to integrate multichannel activities.”