09 January 2023 - 05 April 2023

Digital Media Awards Europe

Recognising the best projects in the news media industry

WINNERS OF THE DIGITAL MEDIA AWARDS EUROPE 2023

 

Best Data Visualisation


VG’s Energy Crisis Monitor

– Verdens Gang (VG)
– Country: Norway

 

The topic of increasing electricity prices in Norway was one of the most important stories for readers in 2022. As the leading news provider in Norway with a long history of making data driven services, Verdens Gang (VG) took the role of making the most extensive site covering the energy market in Norway. Their service launched in January 2022 along with several in-depth feature stories.

The site features daily prices – hour by hour – for every municipality in Norway. Their electricity tracker had more than 11 million page views in 2022. More than 10% of the views came from Google – making it their most successful SEO article of the year. This is an ongoing project continuously evolving with new statistics.

Best in Audience Engagement


How a birthday party in Minecraft made a massive impact on engagement, brand awareness and sales

– Schibsted Norge
– Norway

Aftenposten Junior is the only newspaper for children in Norway, with a solid coverage within the target group since the first publication in 2012. But increasing competition from digital media has made it more difficult to engage readers and maintain a high readership.

In 2022, Aftenposten was determined to celebrate Aftenposten Junior’s 10 year anniversary in a way that would boost brand awareness, engagement and sales. They chose to create their own universe in Minecraft, a popular online game, and invite children to a birthday party unlike any other. The event was brand coherent, highly relevant to their target group and on the children’s turf and terms.

Not only did Aftenposten increase engagement with their young readers, but they managed to get attention and recognition from their parents as well. It resulted in boosted brand awareness, reader engagement and subscription sales. Aftenposten engaged 1,708 unique users, sold a total of 1,623 subscriptions, and reached an all time high number of sales from social media. This was a 57% increase in sales compared to an equal campaign during the same period in 2021.

Best News Website


A sports news site for the TikTok Generation

– Relevo
– Spain

 

Launching a sports news brand for Gen Z and Millennials disconnected from traditional media requires understanding the rules and formats they have learned through years of social media use.

In 2022, the Spanish group Vocento launched Relevo, a website for young sports fans, with commitment to users and constant innovation as its main values. Staying true to these goals, and after researching users’ unmet needs, the team, deliberating collaboratively in a series of sprints, took two bold steps: Making the home page look and feel like a TikTok feed and offer an extremely simple and clean article design, free from distractions such as intrusive ads or annoying content offerings.

The goal was to serve Spanish-speaking sports fans with a differential editorial product, in a crowded but rather undistinguishable market.

As a result, Relevo successfully established itself as one of the most original and innovative sports news brands in the Spanish market. User engagement included an amount of  77% of users swiping down to watch more headlines versus the 50% average user drop-off rate on standard news.

Best Use of Video


Paint your heroes: original multimedia content to support the rise of women’s football

– Relevo
– Spain

Women’s football (or ‘futfem’, as it is called in Spanish) is on the rise, but there is still a long fight ahead for true recognition and respect. For Relevo, the sports news brand launched by Vocento in 2022, women’s football is key in its strategy, aimed at Gen Z and Millennials tired of traditional sports coverage.

Relevo’s goal is to promote inclusiveness and equity in sports coverage in Spain. By distributing through social networks original multimedia content based on the Spanish national squad, Relevo both raised awareness about the upcoming futfem revolution, and established itself as an innovative sports brand.

Three out of the four components of their content strategy were video-based, combining live and on-demand content for maximum impact: An emotional video message from the former squad’s captain (Instagram / Twitter / TikTok); a series of custom-made urban art portraits of every player in the squad (Instagram / Twitter / TikTok); a daily live video from the tournament (exclusive for Twitch), as well as a weekly live video analysis (exclusive for TikTok).

The campaign was a success both in terms of views and increased engagement in TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. It also firmly established Relevo as the incumbent medium for women’s football coverage among top sports news brands in Spain.

Best Digital Subscription Strategy


Omni Mer

– Omni
– Sweden

The Swedish news app Omni has been developed from the start based on in-depth studies of Swedish news consumers and their problems and needs. Through a long series of breakfast conversations, their behaviours and needs were mapped, and then the first version of Omni was developed with readers constantly present in the process. It then went deep into the minds of their readers to understand their frustrations and needs, and developed an entirely new product in collaboration with them.

The result is both an innovation and a huge commercial success: Omni’s new freemium service Omni Mer (”Omni More”) launched in February 2022. It consists of four parts, each of which are innovative product and business solutions: Facts and explanations, in-depth reading, ad-free reading, and a smart paywall solution.

 Omni Mer has become a great success, both commercially and in terms of the extremely positive reception among users. It currently has 16,200 members who have read over 4 million Omni Mer deep dives. In addition, Omni Mer has opened up paid access to more than 20,000 different international premium articles.

Best Newsletter


Inside Politics

– Financial Times
– UK

Inside Politics, the Financial Times’s weekday morning newsletter from Stephen Bush, launched during a political year like no other. They started 2022 unpicking the madness from Partygate, rolling Brexit disputes and a flurry of Tory sleaze scandals which eventually cost Boris Johnson his premiership. Then, as the cost of living crisis deepened, Liz Truss launched an economics experiment, wiping £300bn off the UK stock market. Stephen, an award-winning journalist and former political editor of the New Statesman, treats each plot line with sparkling flair and humour, updating readers on what just happened and why it matters. 

Every day, he also strives to brighten people’s inboxes with short commentary on books, recipes, music and films – a feature which has proved hugely popular with readers (who regularly share their own suggestions in turn).

Inside Politics is read at the highest levels of Downing Street and across Whitehall, and brings the latest intelligence from insider sources to our readers as well as the top stories from the FT’s global network of reporters. Of its more than 21,000 subscribers (a list that has more than doubled since May, when Stephen began writing the newsletter), 41 percent regularly open the newsletter and two-thirds rate it five out of five.

Best Podcast


The Indo Daily

– Irish Independent
– Ireland

For decades the Irish Independent has been Ireland’s best-selling daily newspaper. Generations of Irish families have viewed them as a trusted source of news, information and entertainment. But with the media landscape changing at a rapid and often unpredictable pace, they identified a greater need to be where the audience are. They identified a gap in the market and in 2022, the Irish Independent prioritised building an audio brand and output that could turn the newspaper’s readers into listeners and also attract a new audience that are unlikely to ever buy a newspaper. While this was not exactly a novel idea for a newsroom, their aim was to bring a news offering that Ireland did not currently have.

With an emphasis on story-telling and high production values, The Indo Daily delivers a crafted 20-minute listening experience six days a week. They bring the stories that matter to people to suit their daily routines. The trusted reputation of the podcast has grown.

Apple listed The Indo Daily podcast as “one to watch” in its annual roundup and in less than a year they have become the Number 1 news podcast on iTunes for Ireland. They are also regularly in the overall Spotify Top 5.

Best ePaper-Concept


New NPG e-paper product

– NPG Digital
– Germany

NPG Digital’s goal was to focus on the subscription business model for online news and to strengthen their e-paper business. With the launch of new apps for the Lausitzer Rundschau (LR), MOZ.de and SÜDWEST PRESSE, they have successfully combined the world of online news and the e-paper, providing users with a comprehensive platform for accessing their preferred news content.

The app’s visually separated interface offers an easy and seamless experience, allowing users to navigate and consume news content effortlessly. The added feature of the Modern View is a game-changer, taking the e-paper experience to a whole new level.

The Modern View is produced automatically from the print edition, providing a contemporary look and feel, making it easier to read on any screen size. In summary, the integration of the online news and e-paper worlds with the Modern View and added features is a fantastic innovation, making the app stand out in the market.

Best Trust Initiative


Transparency portal – How we make VG

– Verdens Gang (VG)
– Norway

 

With news fatigue among many users, especially young people, VG wanted to do something concrete to show people new solutions in the way to understand and consume news. They wanted to make their audience understand their editorial coverage, by being open about the considerations inside the newsroom and provide answers on topics. These things are especially important for a young audience. They then decided to build on existing initiatives, and create a transparency solution easily accessible to their users. They called it “How we work in VG.” Their project would also move the mindset in their organisation towards a more modern thinking.

A key to succeed in the future is to build trust in the brand, and also news providers in general. The transparency portal and its thinking provide a big shift compared to traditional ways of doing things. The addition of features like the read-aloud function and bookmark list makes it even more convenient for readers to engage with the content. The app’s design and features are not only aesthetically pleasing but also practical, providing users with an optimal reading experience. The successful launch of the transparency portal is a big achievement itself. It shows VG is willing to be open to users about internal discussions, putting this into best practice in the media house.

Contact us!

Virginia Melero

Senior Project Manager - Digital Revenue Network

virginia.melero@wan-ifra.org

Frankfurt am Main