PlayStation and MOCEAN, PinkNews, TheSoul Publishing and INNOCEAN USA are 2023 Digiday Video and TV Award winners

The winners highlighted this year all secured two wins.

PlayStation and MOCEAN won Best Ad and Best Multi-Platform Video Campaign for the ‘All Parents Can Relate’ campaign built around PlayStation’s ‘God of War’ franchise. The campaign leveraged the successful father-son dynamic of the franchise by featuring famous parents —  Ben Stiller (as a therapist), LeBron James and John Travolta — alongside their teens as they discussed parenting models informed by Kratos from ‘God of War.’ The core gaming audience was delightfully surprised by the unexpected portrayal of a beloved franchise. The campaign resulted in the next installment within the franchise becoming the fastest-selling first-party launch game in PlayStation history. 

PinkNews dominated Snapchat, winning Best Snapchat Show for ‘Closet Critic,’ a snappy 3–5-minute weekly show detailing the fashion evolution of Gen Z’s favorite stars and their impact on the world — PinkNews’ answer to a lack of fashion content on Snapchat. On top of that win, PinkNews’ strong presence across Snapchat Discover as the only LGBTQ+ publisher, now with 27 daily shows on the platform, earned it the Best Snapchat Shows Producer award. PinkNews increased staffing and created more original content to appeal to more niche segments within the younger LGBTQ+ community, all the while focusing on the stories that are otherwise neglected by mainstream media. 

The award for Best Production Strategy went to TheSoul Publishing for its dedication to improving its internal practices by establishing more efficient historical data processes and instituting no meetings and no internal email policies to keep content production flowing without sacrificing quality. These changes led to incredible growth and views across social media, as well as a second win for Digital Studio of the Year. 

As the trend of short-form video continues to rise, TheSoul worked toward capitalizing on this with cutting-edge technology and techniques such as stop-motion, live-action, engaging music videos, vibrant animation and more. To expand the distribution of this content and reach audiences across a wide age range, TheSoul formed new partnerships with platform providers such as Samsung, YouTube and Kidoodle. 

INNOCEAN USA secured two wins for its campaign for Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 — Best Brand Film – Single and Best Social Video Campaign. To celebrate Hyundai’s new EV, the company’s media group, INNOCEAN, created a film to celebrate the innovation in a humorous manner, featuring Jason Bateman. The film follows Bateman through time as he experiences the harshness of pre-modern-era life to demonstrate how far technology has come to paint Hyundai’s EV as the ultimate evolutionary proof point. This fresh and funny take gained earned media from TikTok and remained top of mind among consumers throughout the Super Bowl season. 

Check out all of the 2023 Digiday Video and TV Awards winners below and learn more about the winning programs, why they were selected as winners and critical learnings from each. You can also download the complete guide here.

Full 2023 Digiday Video and TV Awards winners list below:

Best Ad

• Sony Interactive Entertainment & MOCEAN

Best Ad Tech Innovation

• Curastory
• MiQ & iProspect – Hilton’s Audience Awareness Campaign

Best Advertiser in TV or Video

• Calix

Best Brand Film – Series

• VICE Media Group, DeVito/Verdi, and Laurel Road – I’m Also A Doctor Docuseries

Best Brand Film – Single

• INNOCEAN USA

Best Brand Studio

• Roku Brand Studio

Best Connected TV Platform

• Beachfront | The Sell-Side Ad Server Built for Convergent TV

Best Digital Video Monetization Program

• EX.CO’s Publisher-First Video Platform for BoardingArea

Best Digital Video Platform

• Publica
• ViewLift

Best Distribution Strategy

• Jellysmack

Best FAST Channel

• The Vevo Pop Channel

Best Live Video Strategy 

• Firework & The Fresh Market – Launch Thanksgiving Video Commerce Campaign

Best Multi-Platform Video Campaign

• Sony Interactive Entertainment & MOCEAN

Best Original Programming

• In The Know

Best Production Strategy

• TheSoul Publishing

Best Shoppable Content Strategy 

• Horizon Media & Petco

Best Snapchat Show

• PinkNews

Best Snapchat Shows Producer

• PinkNews

Best Social Video Campaign

• INNOCEAN USA

Best Streaming Service

• Local Now

Best TV/Streaming Ad Sales Program or Product

• The Trade Desk

Best Use of Instagram Reels

• Goldthread

Best Use of Stories 

• Barkley

Best Use of TikTok

• The Washington Post

Best Use of YouTube

• The Social Standard x Adobe

Digital Studio of the Year

• TheSoul Publishing

Video Executive of the Year

• Erica Berenstein, News and Documentary – Insider