The MinorityReport survey will track ethnic groups' media consumption, relationship with brands, the impact of advertising on them, and their attitudes and opinions of life in the UK.
It will be based on a representative sample of 1,700 respondents in England and will cover ethnic groups including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean, Black African, Chinese and mixed race.
Jo Rigby, OMD UK Group's director of research, said: "Current industry currencies fall dangerously below standard in representing the true picture of ethnic minorities in the UK. For example, Barb currently under-represents ethnic minorities by as much as 50%. Some industry currencies do not even capture ethnic background."
Ethnic minorities now account for around 8% of UK citizens and 9% of English citizens, and are an increasingly valuable youth audience. People aged under 16 years form 30% of the ethnic minority population compared to 19% of the white population.
Parveen Bdesha, director of Starfish, said: "We need tools to aid greater understanding of a group that will soon comprise one in ten of our population. At the same time, there has been an explosion of ethnic media -- in the Asian market alone there are now some 30 Asian TV channels -- and yet we still have no credible, large-scale research for this audience."
The move was endorsed by the co-chairman of the IPA's Ethnic Diversity Committee, Jonathan Mildenhall.
In December, MediaCom set up a specialist division, CultureCom, to help its clients understand and build relationships with the UK's ethnic groups. CultureCom offers a full service including planning, buying, creative consultancy, media analysis, consumer insight and effectiveness.
The COI last year adjusted its media strategy for targeting ethnic minorities after research said that its strategy of advertising on specialist media channels could be improved. It also extended its marketing roster to add seven agencies which will help it to communicate with ethnic groups.
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