AsiaOne clinches 5 awards for online strategies at Digital Media Awards Asia 2025

AsiaOne bagged five awards, including Best News Website and Best Fact Checking Project, at the Digital Media Awards Asia 2025.

The 16th edition of the Digital Media Awards Asia saw 193 entries from news content companies across Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, and more. Organised by World Association of News Publishers, the awards were created to recognise news organisations for leadership and innovation in the adoption of media strategies for the digital age.

Winners were awarded on Wednesday (Apr 23) at Pullman Kuala Lumpur City Centre, as part of the Digital Media Asia conference, Asia-Pacific's largest regional digital news media event.

AsiaOne wins Best News Website for coverage on Pope Francis' visit

Before his recent passing, last year in September, Singapore had the honour of welcoming the late Pope Francis for a historic papal visit.

It marked the head of the worldwide Catholic Church's first visit to Singapore. He was rounding up his 45th Apostolic Journey abroad and held a Holy Mass at the Singapore National Stadium to some 50,000 attendees.

To chronicle this momentous occasion, AsiaOne created a dedicated microsite, collaborating with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore to bring audiences a behind-the-scenes look at the human-interest stories that shaped Pope Francis' visit. This captured the efforts of everyday Singaporeans from diverse backgrounds and faiths, who also tended to the pontiff's arrival, safety, and accommodation arrangements.

For this project, AsiaOne emerged as the winner for Best News Website under the small/medium media category.

Investigative piece on OBU for Singapore-registered vehicles

AsiaOne also won Best Fact Checking Project for What the Fuss: What you need to know about ERP2.0's Onboard Unit (OBU).

When Singapore rolled out the ERP 2.0 system in 2023, the on-board unit (OBU) was created in tandem to improve operations, with advanced technology to facilitate traffic monitoring and management. However, the initial launch of the OBU met with negative feedback, particularly around the placement of the card reader.

In hopes to inspire more nuanced perspectives, AsiaOne produced an informative video to showcase the features and installation process of the new OBU for ERP 2.0, detailing the various decisions that went into the making of the device in a bid to create more objective and balanced views in the adoption of the new OBU.

Recognising the heroes behind Team Singapore athletes' triumph

To highlight Team Singapore's commitment to uplifting the careers of local athletes, AsiaOne worked in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) to a cast a spotlight on the diverse group of professionals working behind-the-scenes to nurture sporting success.

The campaign featured personal stories of sporting professionals such as a biomechanist, dietitian and more as they journey with athletes for a more holistic approach in the pursuit of high-performance sports.

"We used data insights from AsiaOne's in-house research to guide our content development and focused on creating engaging, educational content that resonates with sports enthusiasts, youth, and parents. By showcasing athletes' personal stories through relatable interviews, each video ended on an inspiring note, highlighting their dreams for Singapore's sports scene. The video series was complemented by four branded editorial articles aligning with AsiaOne's Off-Centre, On Trend brand voice, offering refreshing, less mainstream angles," shares Lynette Phua, Director of Clients and Brands Partnership at AsiaOne.

For this collaboration, AsiaOne clinched the winning title of Best Native Advertising / Sponsored Content Campaign in the small/medium media category.

AsiaOne: Silver Winner for Best Use of AI in the Newsroom, Revenue Strategy

AsiaOne was also recognised for its effective use of AI tools to gather audience insights and conduct social listening. This informs the publisher's content strategy, enhancing its ability to create alternative angles, reinforcing its positioning as a publication that values stories that are Off Centre, On Trend.

"Being 'Off Centre, On Trend' was never just a slogan for us, it is our continuous promise to deliver to users unique content that they want, not what we think they should have. By using AI to conduct social listening and behavioural analysis, we are able to clearly identify what matters to our audience. With this we take one step further to deliver our promise to our audiences," says Edmund Chua, Head of Consumer Insights and Analytics Group.

Further, AI integration is utilised for revenue generation, with content classification for in-depth behavioural analysis and precise ad targeting.

For the meaningful implementation of the technology, AsiaOne bagged the Silver award in two technical categories: Best Use of AI in the Newsroom as well as Best Use of AI in Revenue Strategy.

Summary of AsiaOne Awards

News media content

• Winner (small/medium media category): Microsite on Pope Francis' State Visit to Singapore
• Winner (small/medium media category): What the Fuss: What you need to know about ERP2.0's Onboard Unit (OBU)
• Winner (small/medium media category): Supporting the Next Bound of Sports in Singapore: Beyond the Dream

AI Strategies

• Silver Winner: AI-Assisted Content Classification Model for In-Depth Behavioural Analysis and Precise Ad Targeting
• Silver Winner: AI-assisted Social Listening for Impactful News Coverage

Chief Executive Officer of AsiaOne, Sean Ler shares: "Now in our third year since privatisation, AsiaOne seeks to achieve excellence in not only the news front, but also on the media solutions front".

"It is no longer just about the art of content or having a seasoned creative director that ideates advertising solutions, but about being able to marry the art and science together. The art is still relevant, but it must be paired with the science which tells us where the consumption patterns are, about who and what people are talking about," remarked Ler, as he noted how AsiaOne adopts AI and technology to facilitate its decision-making processes, shaping its products to be more relatable to audiences and effective for clients.

kimi.ang@asiaone.com

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