‘A brilliant example of how to do big niche in the digital space, and of building a passionate fanbase around a legacy brand’
Time Team, which ran for 20 years on Channel 4 before coming to an end in 2014, remains one of the UK’s most iconic and beloved factual television shows – and thanks to dedication, ingenuity and clever harnessing of an adoring fandom, it has been reimagined and revitalised for the digital age.
Time Team is now a dynamic specialist digital brand, which spans original YouTube documentaries, podcasts, digitally restored classic episodes, standalone Patreon content, online chats, live events and more.
It is, our judges observed, “a brilliant example of how to do big niche in the digital space, and of building a passionate fanbase around a legacy brand”.
In the past year, the channel has achieved 15.4m total views from 134 different countries, as well as 68,200 new YouTube subscribers, bringing the total number of subscribers to 365,474.
More than simply reviving a much-loved show, the digital model has allowed for direct audience participation in the content – through the channel’s Patreon community, members can access exclusive content, contribute questions to podcast discussions and even volunteer on real excavations.
“A perfect example of a specialist channel, building a highly engaged audience across multiple platforms and creating content that really resonates,” one judge says.
“They know the audience and they’re serving them in real time,” another judge enthuses, observing that there are likely more brilliant things to come from this channel.
Shortlisted
A Comedy Thing
A Comedy Thing set out to offer a new generation of up-and-coming comedians a new platform to experiment, collaborate and reach potential audiences at a time when the panel shows which have traditionally supported the talent pipeline are in decline. Since the channel launched in July last year, it has accumulated 4.2m views on YouTube, 4.5 million on Instagram and 592,000 on TikTok.
CBBC
Impressively, over the past 12 months the CBBC channel been one of the only channels in the UK to stabilise its live audience and increase viewing of on-demand services. Judges praised the way in which the channel, aimed at viewers of 7 to 12 years of age, is “constantly evolving and engaging new audiences”, noting the “really brilliant” breadth of content and deeming it “absolutely essential for any parent, let alone child”.
Channel 4 Documentaries YouTube
Judges commended the Channel 4 Documentaries YouTube as being an “impressive distribution strategy”. The channel’s combination of landmark films, rigorous and hard-hitting Dispatches investigations and intimate first-person storytelling pulled in more than 100 million views in 2025.
ITV Quiz
The first new ITV channel in 11 years, this quiz-focused offering leaned into the broadcasters 70-year heritage in the genre to replace the reality-focused ITVBe. Launched in June 2025, it became the fastest-growing channel in the UK’s top 50 following a 79% surge in viewership in the second half of 2025 (compared with ITVBe’s figures for the six months of the year). Overall, 14.3 million people (23% of the UK’s population) engaged with ITV Quiz last year.
LumoTV
Judges described LumoTV, the world’s only commissioning channel exclusively dedicated to sign language content as “inclusive and revolutionary”. Last year saw the channel rebrand from its previous incarnation as the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust and move beyond traditional niche programming, commissioning the world’s first deaf comedy panel show, dating show and renovation series. “Really loved the ambition of this and the premium approach to specialist content,” one judge said. “More please!”
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