Dave, Yeti and Channel 4 win big at Broadcast Digital Awards

Dave was crowned Channel of the Year and Yeti Television was named Multichannel Production Company of the Year while Channel 4 bagged multiple gongs at the Broadcast Digital Awards. 

Judges called Dave “a brilliant jewel in the UKTV crown” and praised its unique, topical and comedic programming. With the brand offering also podcasts, comedy events and an entire personality which shines through its social media and advertisements, judges were impressed by its ethos of being “more than a channel” and commitment to new talent.

Yeti Television bagged its gong after the past year saw the Cardiff-based indie double its turnover and expand into new genres, including food, crime, premium documentary and competition formats. It was described by judges as “an emerging Welsh powerhouse which proves that a smaller company can punch above its weight”. 

Channel 4 picked up six awards with a bumper performance in short-form output.  

More 4 won Best Factual Channel for a consecutive year, while youth-skewing Channel 4.0 – which launched in November – took home the gong for Best Entertainment Channel, with one of its launch titles Nella Rose’s Flight Mode (Goat Films) picking up the award for Best Short-Form Format.  

All 4 (recently rebranded to Channel 4) comedy blap Red Flag (Baby Cow Productions) won the Best Short-Form Scripted award while Kingpin Cribs: Drugs, Death and Pet Tigers (Zandland), which broadcast on C4’s Documentaries YouTube channel, landed the Best Short-Form Documentary trophy.  

Hollyoaks (Lime Pictures) retained the Best Digital Support for a Programme crown for a second year for the immersive experience it created around a storyline in the E4/All 4 soap.  

The BBC brought home four awards, including Best Current Affairs Programme for Sexsomnia: Case Closed? (BBC UK Insights Team) and Best Digital Children’s Content for Newsround Special: Ukraine – The Children’s Story (BBC). 

Game & Glory (BBC Studios in partnership with ESL) for Twitch and Youtube landed Best Content Partnership or AFP. It also secured the Best Programme Acquisition gong for The Dangerous Rise of Andrew Tate (Vice News).   

Sky channels won three awards between them, with Sky Atlantic’s I Hate Suzie Too (Bad Wolf) named Best Drama Programme, Sky Crime’s Libby, Are You Home Yet? (Candour Productions) winning the inaugural Best True Crime Documentary and Sky Sports’ coverage of The Hundred scooping Best Sports or Live Event Coverage.   

ITV bagged two awards, with ITV2’s Don’t Hate the Playaz (Monkey Kingdom) winning Best Entertainment Programme and ITVBe’s The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash (Collective Media Group) named Best Documentary Programme.  

Dave flagship Big Zuu’s Big Eats (Boom) scooped the gong for Best Popular Factual Programme. Its UKTV stablemate Yesterday also received an award with Bangers and Cash (Air TV) winning the Gamechanger Programme of the Year.

It was also a big night for the streamers with Disney+ and Apple TV+ winning their first Broadcast Digital Awards.   

Disney+ UK original Extraordinary (Sid Gentle Films) won Best Comedy Programme, while Prehistoric Planet (BBC Studios) on Apple TV+ won the Best Specialist Factual category.