The HbbTV Association has announced the winners of the HbbTV Awards 2025, presented during the 13th HbbTV Symposium and Awards in Istanbul.
Spain’s CCMA – 3Cat took Best Accessibility Solution in an HbbTV Service for its sign-language service using WebAssembly, and also received the Judges’ Award as HbbTV Newcomer of the Year for its strong accessibility features and early use of generative AI in the TV experience.
Everyone TV’s Freely Account Linking won Best HbbTV Technology Innovation, recognised by the jury for seamlessly bridging broadcast and streaming through account-based personalisation on hybrid TV devices. The award adds to Freely’s strong showing at last year’s HbbTV Awards, where the UK platform took multiple honours.
Turkey’s TVekstra, co-host of this year’s symposium, claimed Best Advertising Innovation Using HbbTV for a Pınar Protein Milk campaign that combined brand messaging with live volleyball scores to drive viewer engagement. BCi Digital secured Best Tool or Product for HbbTV Service Development or Delivery with its Ocelot addressable advertising suite, including the Opportune schedule-aware ad decisioning service and Otter HbbTV application, praised for its scalability and precision.
CCMA – 3Cat also picked up Best Use of HbbTV for Content Discovery for its AI Agent for HbbTV, which the jury described as an advanced implementation of AI-driven navigation on a broadcast-hybrid platform – the type of feature many operators are still only piloting on IP-first apps and set-top boxes.
In total, 29 submissions were received for the 8th edition of the HbbTV Awards, one of the highest entry numbers in the competition’s history. Winners were chosen by an independent jury of international industry experts, with the prizes handed out at a gala ceremony on 12 November in Istanbul, jointly hosted by the HbbTV Association and Turkish addressable TV advertising specialist TVekstra.
