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Overview

DIGIDAY and the producers of DIGIDAY:ON VIDEO Proudly Announce the

Winners of the 2010 DIVA Awards;

CBS Interactive Takes Best in Show for "Around the World For Free"

New York, Nov. 11, 2010 -- It was a triumphant -- yet somehow bittersweet -- night for both winners and finalists in the inaugural Digital Video or DIVA Awards. Jason Krebs, in picking up ScanScout's prize for Best Video Ad Network, judged in juxtaposition to the company's acquirer and category finalist Tremor Media, offered his thanks, then said poignantly, "It will be the last time the name ScanScout appears in public," since the company is being cheerfully absorbed by its new partner. Krebs sheds his EVP title at Scanscout to become Tremor Media's Chief Media Officer. The team still has formidable marketplace competition in the form of MediaMind, which won "Best Video Advertising Platform" against tough competition from adap.tv and YuMe.

Kyte would have to be considered an "upstart" winner for besting perennial favorite KickApps in the best video content platform category. As finalists, both offer exceptional tools for both Web and mobile video, but Kyte's recent mastery of real-time streaming to any iOS device may have been a differentiator. The third finalist in this cateogory, Limelight Networks, can hardly be considered an also-ran, since it serves as the backbone for Kyte's real-time streaming.

DIVA judges also soundly disagreed with those ( like comScore) who claim creativity is absent from Web marketing and media, especially where video is concerned. Whether it was the tintillating promise of a passing encounter, as captured in RAPP New York's campaign for Guess' fragrance, the slam-bang action of Gorilla Nation Media's Halo Reach: Deliver Hope Experience, or the ultimate "Best Video Creative" winner The Visionaire Group's Fugitive Chronicles NYTimes.com's Home Page Takeover, the emotive and entertaining power of online video creative in this year's entries demonstrated that online can hold its own against any other medium.

The Fugitive Chronicles entry also took first place in the Best In-Banner Video Ad, and The Visionaire Group's Chatroulette spoof of how how viewers reacted to being presented a potential "date" with the lead character in The Last Exorcism took top honors in "Best Viral Video Branded Content" over stiff competition from Snoop Dogg for HBO and Threshold Interactive's elaborate online competition for Nestle Butterfinger. Butterfinger still took home its own "bar," though, winning "Best Viral Video Ad" hands down. HBO, likewise, didn't go home empty handed, snagging "Best Video Website" for its TrueBlood portal, perhaps aided by creative elements like Snoop's Oh Sookie fan-rap tribute.

It was a good year for the macabre generally; along with the sweetly addictive PopSugar, FEARNet was a finalist in the "Best Video Website" category, and Medialets' Vampire Weekend snatched "Best in-App Video Content" honors away from both HBO's The Pacific Interactive Battlemaps and Jirbo's camp app for Kick-Ass the Motion Picture.

On the technology front, innovation is often hard to recognize except in the disruption it brings. It's something that changes the way an industry does business. Adap.tv does this by providing an open platform where all elements of the video advertising ecosystem can do business with each other effectively in a frictionless environment for transparent buying and selling. Put simply; it's a game changer, justifying the company's "Best Video Innovation" honor.

Homeaway, Publicis and Kyte won "Best Viral Video Branded Content" with the Griswold's Hotel Hell Vacation; Volvo / Euro Rscg and Media Contacts won "Best In-Stream Video Advertisement" (thought the real winner in the category was probably Innovid, whose iRoll format underlay all three finalists in this category); Mindshare took "Best Branded Video Content (Long Form)" with it's Bertolli Frozen Meals "A Taste of Italy": Cosmopolitan won for "Best Social Branded Video Advertisement": and Oprah Winfrey Network won "Best User Generated VIdeo for a Brand" (supported, incidentally by Kyte).

Last but not least in this celebration of all things new and digital, it was a member of the "old guard" that stole the show. CBS Interactive's Around the World for Free -- a Web-original spin-off of the parent network's Emmy-award-winning Amazing Race -- took both "Best Video Series or Show" and "Best of Show" honors. While some of CBS's competition in the Best Series category still hailed from traditional cable -- ESPN's The Next Round -- it wasn't alone. SheKnows, an Internet-only upstart, also broke into the top three in this rarified winner's circle, paving the way for other niche content category winners in future. Links below will stay open so our readers can browse the winning and finalist entries for a short time before they are archived in our DM2PRO.com knowledge base.

Best Branded Video Content (Long Form)

WINNER: Mindshare / Bertolli Frozen Meals

Alloy Digital / First Day for Kmart

Alloy Digital / Hollywood is Like High School with Money for L'Oreal Paris Go 360 Clean

Best Branded Video Content (Short Form)

WINNER: Momentum Worldwide / Triscuit Home Farming

Revision3 / Team Detroit / Ford

Threshold Interactive / Nestle Butterfinger

Best In-App Video Content

WINNER: Medialets/ Vampire Weekend

HBO / The Pacific Interactive Battlemaps

Jirbo, Inc. / Kick-Ass the Motion Picture