Obomate Briggs
Category:
Individual Excellence Awards
Rising Star
From video intern to becoming an irreplaceable part of the video team in under a year, Obomate Briggs has accelerated New Scientist’s video output, making our science journalism relevant to a younger audience.
A Londoner from a Nigerian family with a degree in chemistry and a sci-comm masters, Obomate brought her youthful, fun approach to filmmaking and fresh perspectives on science journalism and life to New Scientist, articulating all this both onand off camera in her warm and engaging way.
Based on research showing younger people consume more news via social video platforms, New Scientist developed a strategy to engage a younger audience with authentic, trustworthy science news videos and to introduce people from all backgrounds and geographies to the brand, excite them in science. Arriving with little video experience but bags of ideas and
enthusism, Obomate quickly learned the technical, creative and journalistic skills required, using them in stunningly creative ways to script, present and publish videos for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, growing audiences across all channels, meeting our strategic aims.
Highlights include:
Thanks to Obomate, YouTube viewership increased 65% YoY. Instagram video views are up 97% to 22m YoY and the New Scientist has 809k followers, an increase of 13.1%. The New Scientist pivoted to Facebook 4:5 video format and views skyrocketed by 1600% in the first two months. Obomate leads our TikTok strategy, which grew 28%. She produced exclusive video interviews with prizewinning authors for the New Scientist Book Club, created videos that illustrate digital news articles and, above all, has been a thoroughly wonderful colleague who contributes
smart, creative ideas and always delivers beyond what’s expected. A rising star in all ways.
