BBC Studios, NBCUniversal and Genius are 2025 Digiday Media Awards winners
By Digiday Awards • May 13, 2025 •
This year’s Digiday Media Awards winners celebrate the power of partnerships and emerging technologies. Across the 2025 winners, themes include a continued embrace of short-form video, a rise in interactive storytelling through formats like VR and AR, and a focus on collaboration to drive engagement and innovation.
BBC Studios’ StoryWorks and Brand USA took home Best Branded Content Program – B2C for their joint effort on “USA Through Film,” a global campaign aimed at inspiring international travelers by showcasing the cultural and geographic diversity of the United States. Leveraging the emotional power of storytelling, each episode followed a familiar film or television personality as they explored a beloved American city, offering personal insights through food, art and local experiences. This human-centric approach allowed audiences to see the U.S. through the eyes of recognizable hosts, building emotional connections and shifting perceptions of the country from a monolithic destination to a mosaic of unique regions and cultures.
Meanwhile, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships earned recognition in a new category: Sales Team of the Year. Over the past year, the division made its mark on the advertising landscape by combining iconic cultural moments with breakthrough ad tech and strategy. For the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” the team invited marketers to pitch their brand’s alignment with the legacy show — flipping the traditional RFP process and resulting in multi-year deals with five presenting sponsors. The division also set a company record for Olympic advertising revenue with the Paris 2024 Games, opening up the program to smaller advertisers through programmatic access and delivering major wins with first-time sponsors.
In the Best Brand Partnership – B2C category, music media company Genius and PepsiCo’s Brisk are winners for their Doja Cat collaboration. Centered around a claymated version of the rapper in a stylized Q&A titled “Cold Takes with Doja Cat,” the custom content series asked music-focused, on-brand questions like “What’s the coldest lyric you’ve ever written?” The static yellow backdrop, inspired by Genius’ Verified series, gave the video authenticity while anchoring Brisk within a cultural hub Gen Z already trusts. The result was playful, visually distinctive content that seamlessly merges Brisk’s nostalgic roots with the music star’s bold personality, resonating with young audiences who value originality and cultural relevance.
Explore all the winners of the 2025 Digiday Media Awards below.
Best Ad Tech Platform
Dstillery’s ID-free® Targeting Technology
Best Brand Partnership – B2B
BACK TO SCHOOL WITH RECESS THERAPY & LYSOL
Best Brand Partnership – B2C
Brisk x Genius: Cold Takes Featuring Doja Cat
Best Branded Content Program – B2B
Fortune Brand Studio & Accenture—Reinventing the Fortune 500
Best Branded Content Program – B2C
BBC StoryWorks and Brand USA – USA Through Film
Best Commerce Strategy
Rising to the Occasion: Uber & Pizza Hut’s Handcrafted Range
Best Contextual Targeting Offering
Molson Coors x Pixability – Happy Thursday Launch
Best Custom Advertising
Apartment Therapy’s Custom Advertising Solutions
Best Design
Harvard Business Review Re-Brand
Best Digital Product Innovation
Mobsta leads the sustainable media planning evolution
Best Editorial Package
Fortune x Nike’s Refounder, Elliott Hill Exclusive Interview
Best Event
Own the Sky: Kargo Drone Shows at Cannes Lions
Best First-Party Data Strategy
Bloomberg Year-in-Review: Your Year, Your News, Your Impact
Best Gaming/Esports Brand Activation – NEW
Moon Music Lands on Roblox: Coldplay Meets Next-Gen Fans
Best Multichannel Campaign – NEW
OrangeTwist + Father Time Turn Back the Clock on Aging
Best Newsletter
Sport & Story: The Brew – Daily Fan Newsletter
Best Podcast
Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect
Best Publisher Platform
Intent IQ Bid Enhancement cookieless monetization
Best Story
Tom Brady on the Art of Leading Teammates
Best Subscription or Membership Product
Storyful Newswire – Trusted Content for Fast-Paced Newsrooms
Best Sustainability Initiative
Mobsta leads the sustainable media planning evolution
Best Use of AI – NEW
BrandMatch: New GenAI solution by New York Times Advertising
Best Use of Audience Insights
First Hawaiian Bank and Razorfish – It all starts with yes
Best Use of Emerging Tech
Nike x Snapchat – Victory Mode
Best Use of Livestreaming
Tom’s Guide x Sleep Number Smart Bed Showcase
Best Use of Social
EssenceMediacom & SHEBA® – Gravy Race
Best Use of TikTok
Mindshare & The Goat Agency – John Deere’s First CTO
Best Use of Video
BBC StoryWorks and Brand USA – USA Through Film
Best Use of YouTube – NEW
Paze & Nomology: Launching Paze’s Winning YouTube Strategy
Best Website
Best Website – HBR.org
Content Studio of the Year
Apartment Therapy Media’s Homemade Studios
Editor of the Year – NEW
Thatiana Diaz, Editor-in-Chief, REMEZCLA and HipLatina
Editorial Team of the Year
Fast Company
Media Brand of the Year
Boardroom
Media Company of the Year
The Outlaw Ocean Project
Most Engaged Community
Overtime – The Voice of Next Generation Sports Fans
Product Team of the Year
Condé Nast
Sales Team of the Year – NEW
NBCU Advertising & Partnerships
Short Form Video of the Year – NEW
Fortune Brand Studio & Accenture—Reinventing the Fortune 500
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