Press Gazette is proud to announce the Future of Media Awards 2025 shortlist.
The Future of Media Awards, now in their fourth year, celebrate editorial, commercial and product excellence across digital media in the UK and worldwide.
Categories include the best websites and apps of the year, digital storytelling, online video, newsletters, podcasts and live journalism. Work must have been published between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025.
Reader revenue strategies and advertising technology are also highlighted.
Judges were looking to recognise technical and commercial innovation that provides a platform for great editorial work. They wanted to celebrate great product teams, effective digital strategies, innovative editors and effective online storytelling.
The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony and dinner on Thursday 11 September at London’s Hilton Bankside.
The ceremony will follow on from the Future of Media Technology Conference being held at the same venue that day.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief and chairman of the judges Dominic Ponsford said: “This year we received more than 200 entries from publishers at the cutting edge of digital journalism in Britain, the US and around the world.
“The growing geographical spread of entries reflects Press Gazette’s increasing reach around the world and the fact that a journalism success anywhere is good news for publishers everywhere because it highlights strategies and tactics which can be adopted in other markets.
“Thank you to all this year’s entrants and to the many independent judges who generously gave up their time to create the shortlists.”
Individual tickets for the awards ceremony cost £200 or a table of ten can be bought for £1,800. Find out more here.
If you are interested in buying a combined ticket including entry to the Future of Media Technology Conference, please book your individual ticket for the awards and then contact Nina De Jesus Egan for more information about discounted entry to the conference: nina.dje@progressivemediainvestments.com.
Future of Media Awards 2025 shortlist
Best Publisher Advertising Technology, sponsored by Admiral
News UK/Illuma – Narr(ai)te: A contextual intelligence tool powered by AI and human insight.
“Narr(ai)te bridges editorial and commercial efforts, expanding brand-safe inventory and offering advertisers access to previously excluded, high-quality content…
“Since launching, News UK has seen a 20% increase in brand-safe content, with improved segment accuracy and ad performance, up to +27.7% CTR and +38.9% attention, driven by Nucleus Narr(ai)te. This drove results for brands and greater revenue opportunities for News UK.
“Additionally, for Halifax’s first digital campaign with The Sun, Nucleus identified high-value audiences, ensuring targeted and effective messaging that drove a 12.7% uplift across key metrics.”
The Telegraph – Digital Hero: A digital display advertising product.
“Digital Hero is sustainable – helping brands to extend the reach of their existing marketing assets. Digital Hero is powerful – leveraging The Telegraph’s 30 years of digital storytelling and user journey expertise. Digital Hero is effective – bringing more people closer to a brand’s stories, craft, product and experiences that will help them decide to buy.
“In short, Digital Hero combines the three key elements at which we excel – intelligent longform storytelling to drive brand consideration and action; high-impact digital display to boost awareness; and quality audience attention from rich first-party data targeting – all into one hero digital display product for the industry.”
Best News Apps of 2025
Der Tag: “Der Tag now delivers ten essential, high-quality, partially personalised stories, the key F.A.Z. podcast, and a daily news quiz… Additionally, Der Tag was unbundled and is now a standalone product with a 30-day free trial and a more affordable subscription model. In the first week post-launch, daily users grew by 18% and app installs by 548%, making us #1 in the App Store’s magazines and newspapers category.”
The Guardian: The Guardian app “has undergone a major overhaul, adding new features to help readers stay informed without feeling overwhelmed and to make it easier to explore the full breadth of Guardian journalism, in all its formats. The app is now visually rich and packed with features that offer more control over what users read, hear and play. Updates include enhanced personalisation, in-app audio, a dedicated puzzles hub, and a more intuitive homepage.”
Sky News: The Sky News app puts a “sharp focus on breaking news and use of fast, engaging and accurate push notifications” as well as premium video and livestreams.
Stylist: Stylist relaunched its app in 2024 and has since “attracted over 20,000 active users and achieved a 4.9-star rating, with app sessions up 239% and retention significantly above industry benchmarks. Key features like in-app games have driven 73% increases in session duration, while push notifications consistently outperform the sector, with open rates twice the average.”
The Hindu: “The Hindu app reimagines digital journalism with its sleek interface offering a personalised feed, seamlessly blending AI-driven recommendations with editorial desked stories. Features like AI summaries, explainers, and configurable alerts ensure users stay informed and engaged.”
The Times: Two-year project culminated in relaunch of the Live App. “Subscribers are reading more stories, and subscribers are reading a far wider variety. More people are playing puzzles, and ‘solvers’ are playing more puzzles per day. ‘Super engaged users’ — those who read 16+ articles in the last 28 days — are the fastest growing of all the user groups.”
Best Digital Storytelling (National/International)
EBU Investigative Journalism Network: Playing With Fire: Are Russia’s hybrid attacks the new European war?
Financial Times: Are the robots finally coming?
Mail Online’s Deep Dive: Grenfell: How the tragedy unfolded
Sky News: Riding The Beast
The Hindu: Gaza war: A worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza – a timeline
The Times: Every eight minutes, a phone is stolen in London.
Best Digital Storytelling (Specialist/Regional)
Birmingham Live: A Child Poverty Emergency
Carbon Brief: Q&A: How the UK became the first G7 country to phase out coal power
Mongabay: Indigenous leaders killed as narco airstrips cut into their Amazon territories
MyLondon: Rough: The stories behind London’s homelessness crisis
Sky News: Make The Moon Great Again
National Trust digital magazine: Henrietta’s Garden
Best Live Journalism (National/International), sponsored by Tickaroo
Bloomberg: Markets Today
Financial Times: ‘Liberation day’
Mail Online: Papal conclave live coverage
Politico: UK general election
Sky News: US election
The Hindu: Union Budget 2025
Best Live Journalism (Specialist/Regional)
Allgemeine Zeitung: Mainz bleibt Mainz live ticker
Bedford Independent: General election results
Chronicle Live: Carabao Cup
Teesside Live: Billy Dunlop coverage
Best Journalism-based Newsletters of 2025 (National/International)
BBC: Politics Essential
Financial Times: White House Watch
Politico: London Playbook
Prospect: Lightbulb
The Economist: The War Room
The New Statesman: Morning Call
The Times: Daily Briefing
The Week: Morning Report and Evening Review
Best Journalism-based Newsletters of 2025 (Specialist/Regional)
Belfast Telegraph: Uncovered with Sam McBride
Financial Times: Free Lunch
Best Journalism-based Online Video (National/International)
Daily Express: Zak Garner-Purkis
Metro: Metro Explains
New Lines Magazine: Role Reversals: A Palestinian in the Jewish Museum of Berlin
Sky News: Digital video team for: What do Texans want from Donald Trump?, I’m 31 and single – am I leaving having kids too late? and How easy is it to get weight loss drugs?
The Sun: Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence
The Times and Sunday Times: How we solved the mystery of David Holden’s murder
Best Journalism-based Online Video (Specialist/Regional)
Financial Times: ‘Film me!’: Russia’s executions of Ukrainian POWs point to a policy
Metro: Game Central
S&P Global Commodity Insights: Reel Pro
The Economist: Investigating Putin’s war
Best Journalism-based Podcast for 2025 (National/International)
InSight Crime: The Shadow of El Dorado
Mail Online: Pipeline: Left To Die
Samizdat Audio and BBC Radio 4: The History Podcast: Invisible Hands
Sky News: Electoral Dysfunction
The Times and Sunday Times: Cocaine Inc.
Tortoise Media: Lucky Boy
Best Journalism-based Podcast for 2025 (Specialist/Regional)
Belfast Telegraph: The BelTel Podcast
Country of Dust: Country of Dust
Radio Kingston: Abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
Reduced Listening/BBC: Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7
The New Arab: Sanaa’s Odyssey
Best Publisher Reader Revenue Strategy
Kyiv Independent: Membership retention and engagement strategy
This strategy “focuses on building a sense of community among members, and it has resulted in a 1.76% monthly churn rate on average between June 2024 and May 2025”.
Reach: Off-platform sport newsletters
Reach launched a collection of paid subscription sport newsletters on Substack, providing “content you can’t access anywhere else written by the journalists who know these topics best… By paying for this exclusive content, the revenue generated, which has increased by 172% within 12 months, contributes to the very journalism being produced at the heart of these newsletters in an engaging and meaningful way with its subscribers.”
The Guardian: Transforming digital reader revenue at scale
“In a landmark year, the Guardian has attracted record digital reader revenue (RR), achieving over 20% year-on-year (YoY) increase… RR has delivered over £100m total income for the first time, reflecting our strategy to be more digital, more global and the transformation of our business model since 2015.” A “reimagined supporter campaign strategy” was a “major growth driver”.
The Hindu: UnMetered – propensity-based paywalls
The Hindu “adopted a real-time segmentation model based on machine learning — leveraging Likelihood to Subscribe (LTS) and Likelihood to Register (LTR) scores. This strategy enabled dynamic and personalized user journeys, resulting in a 20% increase in daily subscriptions and 37% increase in daily revenue from Paywall experience and 43% increase in users falling into the high LTS bucket.”
The Irish Independent: Transforming subscriber growth through content-led performance marketing
The Irish Independent refreshed its subscription strategy “by placing journalism at the heart of its marketing… using a variety of premium articles to drive subscriptions across platforms like Meta and TikTok. The results were striking – subscriptions from Meta ads more than doubled year-on-year, while cost per acquisition dropped by over 50% in some cases.”
Journalism-based Website of the Year for 2025 (Regional/Local)
“The Belfast Telegraph has placed a strategic focus on original, signature journalism. We do not specialise in ‘churnalism’; we give our customers stories that matter to them. We have seen double digit growth in our key metrics of overall subscriber numbers and subscriber attention minutes, measuring how much value for money we give those paying customers.”
“Founded in August 2024, Ipswich.co.uk publishes positive and purposeful journalism on a website that respects its readers’ time, attention and privacy – no banner ads, paywalls, data walls, clickbait or popups. This recipe has driven remarkable growth, increasing from zero to 50,000 monthly visitors and over 2,000 subscribers in its first three months within a highly saturated local media market.
“The website is completely cookieless, boasting near-perfect technical performance: 100/100 Real Experience Scores on both desktop and mobile, 1.4-second loading times, and zero cumulative layout shift. Their commercial model is unlike any other news site. There are no advertisers, only partners. They’ve achieved a yield that far outperforms any other local media company in the country, with an effective RPM of £61.76 in 2025.”
“From 5am to 9pm every day, KentOnline is staffed by dedicated and experienced journalists passionate about giving the people of Kent the news service they deserve. Despite an ever-changing media landscape, it remains committed to its communities, providing the best in news, sport, leisure, and analysis.
“Building on strong figures – more than 200 million page views and three million monthly readers – the website introduced a soft paywall last October. Despite 95% of readers still being able to access news for free, nearly 3,000 paying subscribers have already signed up, proving the value of its content. As well as in-depth reporting on key issues and being first to the big breaking news stories, KentOnline prides itself on holding power to account. While other outlets cut back and scale down, KentOnline is constantly evolving to be the best it can for the people of Kent.”
“More than 18 years has been invested into innovating SoGlos, Gloucestershire’s leading media brand, into a modern, trusted and commercially-sustainable model that combines quality journalism with modern technology to inform, champion and transform local communities. Launched in 2007 by two journalists, 2025 has been significant for SoGlos – with investment and advancements across content, tech and commercial sustainability.
“Editorial focus has been sharpened on positive (not promotional) impactful local content, a new Community section and Lifestyle and Community awards has been launched, while upholding exceptional journalistic quality has been our ‘north star’ – with the brand now reaching 1.6m a month.
“Its tech platform, SoCMS, has evolved into a powerful 360 business management system, improving efficiencies across the publishing ecosystem.
“Through diversified advertising services and marketing investment, SoGlos achieved its 18th consecutive year of profit – with exponential revenue opportunities now being explored through the expansion of the So brand.
“The Moonraker offers intelligent, insightful reporting on the trials and tribulations of fourth-tier football club Swindon Town FC. Launched in August 2024 and run part-time (1.5 days per week) by one reporter, it has maintained a paying subscriber base of more than 500 members for almost its entire lifespan.
“With a focus on value over volume, the site offers a clean-reading experience unencumbered by the popups and autoplay videos that litter much of the regional press. It is slick, stylish and fast – with a focus on delivering a sustainable footprint. The model and design has encouraged loyalty, with monthly retention rates of 95%, and readers directly influencing the subject of the coverage. The Moonraker is on course to gross just shy of £30,000 in annual revenue to July 31, 2025.”
Journalism-based Website of the Year for 2025 (Specialist/B2B)
“Chemical Watch News & Insight reports on actions taken by governments, industry and NGOs across the world to improve the safe management of chemicals – a goal vital to human health and the environment.
“Since its launch in 2007 by two environmental journalists to plug a gap in the market for high-level reporting on chemicals regulation across the EU, the service has grown to become the authoritative source for news and analysis on chemicals management across the globe.
“Now owned by global regulatory and sustainability intelligence provider Enhesa, the news service is powered by a team of 23 highly-skilled journalists motivated by the desire to make a difference with their work.
“Over the past 11 years subscription revenue has increased by more than 500%, growing at an average of 19% per year. More than 17,500 readers receive the subscription publication each week, with a further 34,500 receiving a free version.”
“Opta Analyst is a leading sports data publisher delivering high-quality, journalism-led content for a specialist audience. In 2024-25, our unique blend of deep statistical insight and accessible storytelling reshaped football coverage across the media landscape. From exclusive predictive models and ranking systems to advanced visualisations and interactive tools, our content influenced broadcasters, newspapers, and even managers at the top of the game. Our predictions were featured on Match of the Day, cited by Sky Sports and The Athletic, and referenced in press conferences.
“We also expanded our advanced stats hubs, providing unrivalled access to metrics like expected points and win probability. Designed with usability and performance in mind, Opta Analyst delivers a sleek, data-rich experience that engages fans, informs experts, and sets the agenda in football journalism. With over 200 million social impressions across the 2024-25 season, we continue to grow our influence across digital and editorial spaces.”
“The Premier Christianity website is quickly becoming the go-to place for topical, relevant Christian commentary. A small editorial team has delivered first class commentary on the resignation of Archbishop Justin Welby and the appointment of the new Pope. We also became the only Christian outlet to publish interviews with both Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak in the run up to the last election. We have also interviewed former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, The Traitors’ Rev Lisa and The Diplomat’s David Gyasi (Netflix). Our digital subscription base has increased by 9% in the past year. And the site is now attracting a global audience, with 40% of traffic coming from the USA.”
“The Racing Post website is the flagship platform of a dynamic and expanding digital publishing business. It serves a broad and varied audience through a range of monetisation models and is supported by consistently growing revenues. At its heart lies a powerful mix of content, combining in-depth sports journalism and industry reporting with lighter, accessible material designed to engage casual users. This distinctive blend is enriched throughout by our unique horseracing data, which underpins the site’s authority and appeal.”
“In 2024, The Jewish Chronicle completed a major digital rebrand and website relaunch, transforming the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper into a modern, mobile-first news platform. The new site delivers faster load times, improved navigation, and seamless multimedia integration. Editorial innovation was central to the project, with the JC leading national reporting on antisemitism, Jewish education, and diaspora affairs. A refreshed visual identity, drawn partly from the paper’s archive, helped restore clarity and authority. The relaunch also introduced upgraded subscription systems, intelligent search, and new article templates to support data and specialist reporting.
“In just three months, the JC added over 4,000 new registered users, rebuilt its newsletter strategy, and opened new revenue streams through sponsorship and partnerships. The result is a future-facing publisher that retains the trust built over 180 years—serving a specialist, engaged audience with urgency, credibility, and a renewed commitment to impactful journalism.”
Journalism-based Website of the Year for 2025 (National/International), sponsored by PushPushGo
“When Donald Trump announced global tariffs, readers worldwide flocked to Bloomberg.com in record numbers to understand this historic moment for markets, business and the economy in live blogs, charts, video and interactive live audio.”
“Over the past year the Financial Times has delivered world-class reporting and analysis, unpacking complex geopolitical and financial stories at a time of global upheaval. The FT’s worldwide network of journalists has provided authoritative coverage of events reshaping the world including Donald Trump’s second term and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
“The news coverage on ft.com comes in multiple formats, ensuring our readers have a breadth of content to choose from on the top stories of the day. With news stories, live blogs, analyses and dispatches, the FT has tirelessly covered all aspects of the early months of the Trump White House and its impact on markets and the global economy. With news stories, live blogs, analyses and dispatches, the FT has tirelessly covered all aspects of the early months of the Trump White House and its impact on markets and the global economy.”
“In barely a decade, inews.co.uk has grown from nothing into a trusted destination for 7.5 million readers, driven by fearless public interest journalism and non-partisan reporting. Despite a newsroom a fraction the size of its rivals, The i Paper has delivered agenda-setting scoops: exposing Elon Musk-driven cuts to a US unit which had been helping to find kidnapped Ukrainian children, driving genuine policy change on sewage dumping through its Save Britain’s Rivers campaign, and revealing government misuse of tax-funded car schemes.
“Digital subscriptions have soared nearly a third in a year, with subscriber sessions up 50%, thanks to impactful storytelling, a fresh, new visual identity, and product innovation like the side-by-side ‘Perspectives’ format. Politically unaffiliated, The i Paper was uniquely placed to hold power to account in a key election year, and excelled in its core mission – delivering trusted, non-partisan public interest journalism across every platform.”
“The Sky News website attracts millions of users who rely on our coverage for trusted information during the biggest of news stories. This is supported by our figures being strongest during crucial moments, such as the UK general election, or following the US election – where we had dedicated results pages for both.
“Content groupings have allowed us flexibility, meaning we can showcase premium, video-led content, offering our readers further in-depth analysis on the biggest stories. Our feature of ‘big hero live’, where we are able to tie TV output or livestreams and blogs together at the top of the website, gives us the chance to make the most of the biggest news moments. The website remains at our forefront, and is where we have published breaking news moments first, for example the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the death of Pope Francis or on the UK general election.”
“The Athletic delivers powerful stories and smart analysis that bring sports fans closer to the heart of the game. From breaking news and live commentary, to deeply-reported long reads and exclusive interviews, subscribers rely on The Athletic for every sports story that matters.”
“In an era of unprecedented industry upheaval, The Sun Online has re-prioritised and emerged as the UK’s digital leader with a pioneering strategy, focused on deepening user relationships, diversifying revenue, and showcasing unparalleled journalism. May 2025 Ipsos data confirms The Sun as the number one website in the UK, reaching an astounding 22.7 million on-platform users and over 40 million off-platform.
“In an era of unprecedented industry upheaval, The Sun Online has re-prioritised and emerged as the UK’s digital leader with a pioneering strategy, focused on deepening user relationships, diversifying revenue, and showcasing unparalleled journalism. We’ve tackled seismic shifts by prioritising engagement and quality content. Our strategy encompasses new content formats, a robust video presence, and innovative membership products.”
Thank you to the 2025 Future of Media Awards judges
The Future of Media Awards judges for 2025 are as follows:
- James Rosewell – co-founder of Movement for an Open Web
- Adam Tinworth – digital journalism lecturer and consultant
- Alan Hunter – co-founder of HBM Advisory, former head of digital at The Times
- Chris Waiting – chief executive of The Conversation
- Gina Hamilton – partnerships director at The Telegraph
- James Morris – lecturer in digital journalism at City University
- Serena Kutchinsky – head of news at The i Paper
- Cecilia Campbell – media journalist and CMO for United Robots
- Jeremy Walters – editor, What’s New In Publishing
- Chris Stone – executive producer of audio and video, The New Statesman
- Leon Hawthorne – former world news anchor for CNN International.
- Martin Ashplant – product development and operations director, PA Media
- Dominic Young – founder of Axate
- Henning Johanneson – chief product officer, United Robots
- Richard Fairbairn – chief product officer, Glide Publishing Platform
- Ian Carter – chief operating officer, Iliffe Media Group
- Roz McKenzie – head of apprenticeships training at PA Media Academy
- Rob Picheta – twice Emmy-winning investigative journalist at CNN
- Jeremy Clifford – executive leadership coach, former editor in chief at Archant
- Mike Butcher – former editor at large of Techcrunch
- Caroline Fenner – chief revenue officer at Pink News
- Chris Duncan – CEO of Seedelta, former CEO of Bauer Media UK
- Paul Hood – consultant, formerly News UK, Reach and Bauer
- Richard Headland – former editor in chief at Which?
- Sarah Marshall – VP of audience strategy at Conde Nast
- Robert Marr – CEO of Metropolis
- David Buttle – founder DJB Strategies, former director of platform strategy at the FT
- Glenda Cooper – head of journalism at City University
- Charlotte Tobitt – UK editor, Press Gazette
No judges reviewed work with which they had a commercial connection.
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