Winner: Comedy Central, ViacomCBS Networks International
Comedy Central smashed through its targets to claim the coveted Editorial Team of the Year prize in the highly competitive consumer media and customer publishing field.
A 12-strong team of social-media strategists, producers, editors and community managers handle the Viacom-owned channel’s online presence. By tailoring content to the platform – for example, by focusing on starting a conversation on Facebook through polls and questions and emulating a network on YouTube with regular programme clips – the team delivered a total of 1.2 billion views and more than doubled its online followers to 4.1 million.
Comedy Central’s biggest challenge was standing out among the 80 million videos uploaded in the UK each month. The team provides videos to on-screen stars so they can support their programmes, keeps the conversation going between seasons with exclusive content and showcases new talent via digital-only productions. By delivering on its strategy of publishing sharable and topical content, Comedy Central overtook the digital audiences of its core competitors, UKTV-owned Dave and BBC Comedy.
The judges praised Comedy Central for "putting the audience at the heart of everything it did" and delivering results above target. Comedy Central’s "clearly laid out" submission was also singled out for particular praise.
Highly Commended:
Boxing Social Content Team
The judges also bestowed a highly commended award to the Boxing Social Content Team for a "great multiplatform approach with strong results". Its growth has been stellar: in two years Boxing Social’s monthly unique users ballooned from 212,000 to 2.6 million; its Instagram now reaches 2.5 million viewers a month, up from 75,000 in 2018; and almost half of its website traffic now comes from organic search. This growth has been reflected in high-profile brand partnerships and engagement from boxing stars like Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Shortlisted
MTV (Geordie Shore), ViacomCBS Networks International
Video Team, CNBC International
Digital Spy, Hearst UK
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