What a night of celebration for Schibsted Media! No less than 13 prizes were given to Schibsted companies in INMA´s Global Media Awards in Washington DC on Monday night. The most prestigious award – “Best in Europe” – was given to Aftenposten for its efforts to make a more personalized news experience on the front page through the use of algorithms. But also VG and Aftonbladet won first prizes. VG received two first prices for “VG on Snapchat Discover” – and Aftonbladet won “Best use of video” for its amazing project “Armored Glass Girl”. Schibsted Daily and Omni were among other Schibsted winners at the ceremony.
A total of 830 entries from 220 media companies in 39 countries competed for this year´s Global Media Awards.
Personalized front page
Aftenposten´s “Best in Europe” project set out to give readers a more relevant and personalized news experience. The editors wanted to move away from the “one-size-fits-all” front page and instead tailor the front page to each reader´s interests and user habits. The new front page uses the advantages of data science, algorithms and machine learning to present readers with individual front pages. However, the data are mixed with a solid dose of editorial judgements and ethics to ensure the most important stories still reach out to all the readers. The development has been a close cooperation between Aftenpostens editorial team and the Core News Product team in Media Product and Tech. The new front page is still being tested on readers, but the results are very promising with lifts in both user engagement and subscriber conversion rates.
“This is a recognition of the cutting edge work we do in Schibsted and a testament to the fact that we are ahead in the international game in using new technology to change the way our users experience our journalism, says Hans Martin Cramer, product lead for Core News Product.
Eirik Hammersmark Winsnes, development editor in Aftenposten, adds: “This is a fantastic and motivating recognition of the work we are doing in Aftenposten and Schibsted. It is also demonstrates the power of collaboration and joining forces. We would never have been able to create a product like this without the close collaboration between the newsroom and various teams in product and tech. Congratulations to everyone involved, this is your award!” Eirik emphasises that there is still work to be done before the new front page is live for all users on all platforms. “We should use this recognition as a further “call to action” and make sure we keep the speed up and ship many more features and improvements in the months ahead.”
Here are all the Schibsted prizes
• Best in Europe to Aftenposten for “Front page reinvented”. The project also won first place in “Best use of new technology to generate revenue and engage” and third place in “Best idea to grow digital readership and engagement”
• First places to VG for “VG on Snapchat Discover” in both the categories “Best use of mobile” and “Best use of social media”. The project also won honorable mention in “Best idea to grow digital readership and engagement”.
• First place to Aftonbladet for “Armored Glass Girl” in the category “Best use of video”
• Third place to Omni for “The launch of Omni Ekonomi” in the category “Best launch of a brand or product to create an audience segment”
• Third place to Aftenposten for “Aftenposten event A-tech” in the category “Best use of an event to build a news brand”
• Full Schibsted dominance in the category “Best use of new technology to generate revenue and engage”:
• First place to Aftenposten for “Frontpage reinvented
• Second place to Aftonbladet for “What´s on the plate”
• Third place to VG for “Mystery at the Oslo Plaza”
• First place to Aftenposten for “Aftenposten Junior” in the category “Best new concept or innovation to create new profit centers”
• Second place to Schibsted Media for “Touchpoints” in the category “Best new paid content or subscription service”
• Third place to Schibsted Sweden for “The Schibsted Daily” in the category “Best new corporate innovation initiative”
• Honorable mention to Finn.no for “Wanted: Ocean Plastic” in the category “Best public relations campaign”