McArthur has been working with UKOM as a consultant since the departure of the previous chairman Mark Cranmer following his appointment as CEO of Aegis digital agency network Isobar earlier in the year.

UKOM director and Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) chief Guy Phillipson said: “Douglas McArthur’s broad experience and mature approach is just what UKOM needs now we’re preparing for the launch of the UKOM Audience Planning System (APS) in just a few months.”

Data from APS is intended to be used as the official planning currency for online advertising. The publisher-funded measurement system is being delivered in partnership with Nielsen and is scheduled to launch in January 2010.

McArthur is credited with having played a key role in establishing the Rajar radio audience measurement system in 1992, before establishing and leading the RAB for 14 years. In May 2006 he launched his own marketing consultancy, Planning for Results.

Early in his career McArthur worked as a marketer within consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble, brewer Scottish & Newcastle and Campbell’s Soups before moving agencyside as an account planner.

He said: “Advertisers have been calling for a consumer-centric planning system for their investments in areas like digital display. I aim that under my chairmanship, UKOM will deliver what they asked for – a planning system for digital display, digital video and mobile.”