Adwanted Media Research Awards 2026 announces finalists
The Media Leader is excited to reveal the finalists of the 2026 Adwanted Media Research Awards.
Now in its 11th edition, the awards celebrate businesses that best demonstrate the excellent work taking place across all parts of the media research industry.
Following another stellar year of submissions, over 50 companies are included within the list of finalists. In terms of finalists, the7stars leads the way with six shortlisted submissions, closely followed by Global Media and Entertainment and Wavemaker with five.
See below for the full list of finalists.
Winners will be announced at a lunch ceremony at Banking Hall in London on Wednesday 4 March 2026. Tickets are now available for the event here.
This year’s judging panel was due to be led by our head judge, Denise Turner, research director at The IPA. However, the media industry was shocked and deeply saddened by her sudden death in November last year.
The judging panel this year comprised: Emily Alcorn, chief effectiveness Officer, Talon; Donna Burns, head of insight, Radiocentre; John Carroll, director of research and audiences, RAJAR; Anna Cremin, head of research and consumer insight, Pearl & Dean; Heather Dansie, research and insight director, Newsworks; Matt Hill, director of insight and research, Sky Media; Sumran Kaul, consultant; James Longhurst, content director, The Media Leader; Euan Mackay, CEO, Route Research; Neil Mortensen, director of ITV Insights Group, ITV; Tony Regan, partner, Work Research; Laura Rowe, board director and managing partner, head of decisions science, OMD; Kathryn Saxon, head of audience intelligence, Wavemaker; Tara Watkins, head of insights; the7stars.
The awards are kindly supported by our sponsors; On Device – Gold sponsor, UKOM – Silver sponsor, together with Catalyse Research, Kantar Media, Azerion UK, Potentia Insight and RAM UK Ltd.
Find more information about the awards here.
Full list of finalists
Best Custom Media Research Project — Trade Body
Newsworks, Lumen & Peter Field – Attention: A Newsworks study
Radiocentre & Colourtext – Radio: The Performance Multiplier
Marketreach & Thinks Insight and Strategy – Landslide: Proving Mail’s Power in the 2024 General Election
Best Custom Media Research Project — Media Owner
Brainsights & Allvision – Reimagining Out-Of-Home – Proving the Value of Digital OOH through Neuroscience
Digital Cinema Media & everyday people – Maximising Price: How Cinema Delivers Commercial Success for Brands
Google – The Effectiveness Equation
Vevo – Unlocking the Power of Premium on YouTube CTV
Best Custom Media Research Project — Agency
Sponsored by Catalyse Research
PHD UK – Is Optimism Dead?
Savanta & Samsung Electronics – From Features to Feelings
Wavemaker – Wavemakers GOAT Insight; Unlocking Growth for Paramount+
Best Custom Media Research Project — Budgets under £50,000
Azerion, Mindshare & Differentology – Meaningful Connections
ITV, Strat7, ResearchBods & Mediaprobe – ITV Project Agyemang
OMD UK – Defining Premium for Mercedes-Benz Vans
Thinkbox, EssenceMediacom & WPP Media – Why the Eff Would You Cut TV?
Best Media Research Tracking or Syndicated Project
Goodstuff & Beatgrid – OVO 2025 Cross Channel Effectiveness
OMD UK – Dyno-Rod Brand Health Tracker
Wavemaker – Wavemakers GOAT Insight; Unlocking Growth for Paramount+
Best Use of AI in Research Project
BBC – From Segmentation to Conversation: AI at the BBC
ITV – ITV Content Similarity
JCDecaux UK & System1 – Starting Brand Revolutions through Creative Testing
the7stars – ClaireTalk: Turning Data into Dialogue
Best Use of 1st Party or 3rd Party Data
All Response Media – How WRPlive Democratised Behavioural Insight
Global Media and Entertainment & Colourtext – Global IQ: A Data Transformation
the7stars – Gravity Connect
Wavemaker & WPP Media – Precision-Targeted Gold – How Data Drove Olympic Dominance
Best International Media Research Project
Google, MTM & Behavioural Architects – Why We Watch 2.0
Haleon & mediasense – The Media Impact Model
OMG & OMD UK – OMD Signals 2025
Wavemaker – Anything is e.l.f.ing possible: Crafting the Perfect Foundation for Global Media Success
Pulse of the Nation
Craft & Channel 4 – Gen Z: Trends, Truth & Trust
OMD UK – The Real Britain Series
WPP Media, Mindshare UK, Blis, Captify, JCDecaux, Mobsta, Reach, 5 & Sky – Shaping the Nation
The Adrian Edwards Award for Best Use of Datasets
In partnership with Barb
Global Media and Entertainment & Colourtext – Global IQ: Full-Funnel Attribution for Audio and Outdoor
Haleon & mediasense – The Media Impact Model
Thinkbox & EssenceMediacom – The Media Mix Navigator
Best Representation of Data
All Response Media – How WRPlive Democratised Audience Insight
the7stars – ClaireTalk: Turning Data into Dialogue
Thinkbox & EssenceMediacom – The Media Mix Navigator
Research Effectiveness
Global Media and Entertainment – TfL Ad Tracker
Haleon & mediasense – The Media Impact Model
ITV – ITV Creative Boost
the7stars – Tuning Into Tomorrow: Forecasting Audiences in a Reimagined Radio Landscape
Media Agency of the Year
Sponsored by Kantar Media
OMG
PHD UK
the7stars
Wavemaker Audience Intelligence
Media Owner/Trade Body of the Year
Sponsored by On Device
Global Media and Entertainment
JCDecaux UK
Mail Metro Media
Thinkbox
Research, Data or Measurement Company of the Year
Differentology
Ipsos
Rising Star
Sponsored by UKOM
Abbie Smith – Global Media and Entertainment
Hannah Pereira – OMG
Aditya Vikram – the7stars
Simran Gill – EssenceMediacom & WPP Media