BVA Awards 2012

The best of British talent and skills was honoured at the British Video Association’s Annual Awards ceremony in Old Billingsgate, London on 3rd May 2012. The sell-out event was hosted by the hilarious Miles Jupp who presented the awards and led tributes to the recipients. 

In the year that Britain hosts the Olympic Games and marks our Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this celebration of British video entertainment achievements was a timely reminder that, while times are tough, the UK video entertainment market was still worth over £2.3bn in 2011 and punches well above its weight on the world stage.

It was a great night for Warner Home Video, who dominated the night as Retail Distributor of the Year and picked up three further awards with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2, the final chapter of the best-selling franchise of all time (having sold over 41 million discs in the franchise). The title earned Warner’s the prestigious Marketing Initiative of the Year (Box Office over £10 million category) and coveted Retail Title of the Year (Film) and while HMV online users voted the final Harry Potter as Best British Title of the Year (Film). 

HMV online visitors also voted BBC Worldwide’s Frozen Planet – The Complete Series Best British Title of the Year (Non-film).

This year the highly prized ‘Marketing Initiative of the Year’ for Film award was divided into four categories, according to box office takings. The winners were:  Revolver Entertainment won two of them, for Fire in Babylon (up to £1 million Box Office) and Anuvahood (up to £1 to £3 million Box Office category), in what was an especially good night for them too, as Revolver’s latter campaign also scooped Creative Initiative of the Year.  Universal Pictures (UK) won with Senna in the £3 to £10 million Box Office category, with Warner Home Video taking the prize in the £10 million+ Box Office category for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

British stars and marketing excellence were also recognised through Distributor Marketing Awards for George Harrison - Living in The Material World from Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Sarah Millican - Chatterbox Live from Channel 4 DVD, Arrow Films’ The Killing – Complete Series One, Universal Pictures’ Barbie Princess Charmschool, 20th Century Fox’s Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Sony Pictures’ Moviextras campaign.  Tesco’s was rewarded for its “Get the Physical, Get the Digital” initiative, promoting its new service which allows Tesco Clubcard customers to automatically get a digital copy of any title credited to their Blinkbox account so they can view it seamlessly on connected devices as soon as they buy the physical copy in-store or online, while HMV picked up the Bricks and Mortar Retailer of the Year for the third year running. 

In the online environment competition grows each year to fulfil viewers’ demand for new ways to obtain video entertainment.  Amazon, iTunes and LOVEFiLM were all successful, winning 2012 Online Retailer, Online Digital Service and Rental Service of the Year respectively. 

The BVA award for Supplier/Agency of the Year went to marketMe and this year’s Best British Authored Disc was won by StudioCanal’s Submarine authored by Dubbs|Eyeframe.

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the BVA, said, “The judges found a phenomenally high quality of entries this year and the difference between winners and highly-commended was wafer thin.  This is a reminder of the importance attached to the video sector, without which much of our favourite content would never get made or reach such wide audiences, whether on dedicated players, connected devices or standard television screens and that so much of its success comes down to British talent and ingenuity.

“We were delighted to present the BBFC with a BVA Special Award to mark their achievements in adapting to industry’s needs over the video industry’s relatively short life in this their centenary year.  And our copyright awareness campaign, “Moments Worth Paying For” run by the Industry Trust for IP Awareness, deservedly won Industry Initiative of the Year as another British success story in cross-sector collaboration for the benefit of the entire audiovisual industry.”

The Awards were sponsored by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, AGI-Shorewood, Apollo Cinemas, Arrow Films, Bezier, CTBF, Delga Print, Dubbs|Eyeframe, DVD Intelligence, EDC, Freeform.London, Handle, HMV, IHS Screen Digest, ITV Studios Home Entertainment, Kantar Worldpanel, Lumacoustics, Koch Media, MPO, Momentum Pictures, Official Charts Company, Paramount Home Entertainment, Pictureblast, Rovi, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, VDC, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Home Video.

Please click here to download the 2012
BVA Awards commemorative brochure.