ANNOUNCING: EMEA BIGGIES Awards winners 2018

Wednesday, 31 October 2018 — The Data & AI for Media Association is pleased to announce the Winners of the EMEA BIGGIES Awards Competition for 2018., including its Best of Show winner, Channel 4 Television Corporation, based in London.

The esteemed international panel of 12 judges, including data and AI scientists, academics and professionals from the media industry, determined the 12 finalists in six categories, plus Channel 4’s Best of Show winner.

The judges lauded Channel 4’s powerful foray into artificial intelligence products and processes, particularly Contextual Moments, an AI-driven product that uses AI to automatically identify everything in content and highlight specific moments in TV programmes that are contextually valuable to advertisers. The technology places adverts on linear TV in an adjacent break to “match” this moment.

For example, if two characters in a programme are talking about an unexpected pregnancy, the next break features a family planning advert. The objective was to create a solution which rapidly detects brand-safe Contextual Moments, to do this C4s Data Science team utilises cloud-based AI services combined with a significant layer of in-house machine learning which makes this 3rd party data actionable for a broadcaster, according to Channel 4’s BIGGIES Award entry.

The judges said, of Contextual Moments:

  • Very interesting concept with impressive recall improvements to the adverts. Clearly, we are at the start of a very exciting journey with AI playing a huge part in the relevancy of adverts shown.
  • A fascinating project that uses data, AI and machine learning to unlock value for advertisers and content creators, as evidenced by strong positive impact on revenues and brand reputation.

In addition to Channel 4, the BIGGIES awards competition drew participation from some of EMEA’s most innovative media companies implementing data and artificial intelligence initiative across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The winners were announced at the BIGGIES Awards Gala on Wednesday, 31 October at Condé Nast International’s Headquarters in London, during the 8th Data and AI for Media Week, which is taking place in London from 30 October to 2 November.

The BIGGIES Awards aim to reward best practices in data and artificial intelligence products and strategies to media companies from around the world.

For more information about the conference, and to register for events including the London study tour and conference, focused on growing revenues and audience by leveraging artificial intelligence and data, the Data & AI for Media conference, and the BIGGIES Awards Gala, go to https://london.bigdatamedia.org

The conference will take place from 1-2 November at Microsoft, 2 Kingdom St, London, near Paddington Station. The BIGGIES Gala and conference Opening Reception took place on 31 October at Condé Nast International, The Adelphi Building, 1-11 John Adam St., London, near Covent Garden.

Data & AI for Media Association is proud to announce this year’s winners of the BIGGIES Awards for EMEA. The BIGGIES were judged by an independent panel of media professionals from around the world, including media company executives, academics and high-level data and AI consultants.

The 2018 EMEA BIGGIES Awards are divided into two groups: A and B

  1. Media including newspapers, magazines and digital publications, broadcast, advertising agencies and marketing agencies that circulate/broadcast widely in three or more countries in the world, considered to be international media.
  2. Media including newspapers, magazines and online publications, broadcast, advertising agencies and marketing agencies that circulate/broadcast primarily in one area or location, considered to be regional, local or niche media.

The BIGGIES Winners for the EMEA competition in 2018.

Excellence in Data Strategy

Groups A & B First prize Channel 4 Television's Data Strategy, Channel 4, United Kingdom Tied Second prizes HQ Data Strategy, Conde Nast International, United Kingdom eJobs, eJobs Group and Mather Sales Intelligence Platform, Romania

Excellence in data-driven product development 


Group B First prize Taste Segmentation, Channel 4 Television Corporation, United Kingdom Second prize RecTec, Adresseavisen, Norway

Excellence in use of Artificial Intelligence

Group B First prize Contextual Moments, Channel 4 Television Corporation, United Kingdom Second prize Super/Sync Shoppable Banner Ads, TV Guide UK, United Kingdom Award of Excellence RADAR: Reporters & Data & Robots, RADAR AI Limited, United Kingdom

Excellence in Creativity in a Data-Driven Project

Group A First prize House prices: Have they actually gone up in your neighbourhood?, BBC, United Kingdom

Excellence in data-driven business process efficiency

First prize eJobs, eJobs Group and Mather Sales Intelligence Platform, Romania Second Prize HQ KPI Reporting Suite, Conde Nast International, United Kingdom

Excellence in Data-Driven Advertising

First Prize Contextual Moments, Channel 4 Television Corporation, United Kingdom

The Global BIGGIES Awards are presented by the Data & AI for Media Association. For more information, contact Martha Stone, CEO of WNMN, at mstone@wnmn.org; or Sarah Maguire, BIGGIES Awards Administrator, at bigdataawards@gmail.com

The Data & AI for Media Association is part of the

World Newsmedia Network