The B1M named Media Brand of the Year 2024

The B1M has been named Media Brand of Year at the 2024 International Building Press (IBP) Journalism Awards.

The publisher saw off competition from several established industry brands – including Building and Architect’s Journal – to take home the biggest prize of the night.

Announcing the winner of its coveted award at a special event in London, the IBP judges said:

“This category was fiendishly difficult to judge, with a string of high-calibre entrants – all with a strong story to tell. In the end, the winner stood out for its ambition, its innovative commercial and editorial model, its charitable fundraising, and its ability to engage a large global audience from the industry and beyond. In a market dominated by brands that have been established for decades, centuries even, the 2024 IBP media brand of the year is a relative newcomer whose time has come.”

Above: The B1M's founder Fred Mills on site.

Commenting on the news, The B1M’s founder Fred Mills said:

“This is fantastic recognition of The B1M’s impact, the quality of its journalism and the hard work and dedication of our amazing team. 2024 has been our most successful year to date on every front. To be named Media Brand of the Year ahead of five other long-established publishers is a serious coup for us and the perfect way to cap a remarkable period of success.”

“Starting a media brand from scratch isn’t easy and few people ever truly see the struggles behind the scenes. To have reached this point is incredible and I hope it stands as inspiration to all those currently in a similar fight to keep going. No matter how many people tell you something is impossible, it can in fact be done.”

The trophy was collected in London on behalf of The B1M team by Ian Parkin, senior content producer.

Above: The B1M's Ian Parkin, senior content producer, receiving the Media Brand of the Year trophy in London.

The award comes amid a period of very strong performance for The B1M. In the past 12 months the publisher has grown its revenue, increased profitability, expanded its team, hosted events in Sydney and New York and seen solid audience growth across its video and podcasting activities.

Mills first founded The B1M in his spare bedroom and boot-strapped the business through its early years. It has since flourished into the world’s largest and most subscribed-to video channel for construction with over 3 million YouTube subscribers and 30 million viewers across its platforms each month. The publisher now employs a 16-strong team across London and Sydney and has been named by The Times as one of the 20 best educational YouTube channels in the world.

Under Mills’ leadership, The B1M has interviewed Sir Richard Branson, taken viewers inside a nuclear fusion reactor, run campaigns across the London Underground and New York's Times Square, launched a chart-topping podcast, created the Tomorrow's Build channel and grown it to 500K subscribers, invested in a LEGO subscription service to inspire young builders, and produced acclaimed documentaries on the world’s most impactful construction projects.

Above: Behind the scenes of The B1M's shoot inside Merdeka 118, the world's second tallest building. 

In 2024 alone, The B1M’s in-house team has filmed documentaries across Malaysia, Japan, the United States and the remote Faroe Islands. In June Mills and his production crew climbed to the top of Kuala Lumpur’s 679-metre Merdeka 118, the world’s second tallest building; a moment captured in some remarkable drone footage.

The results of The B1M’s 10-day shoot across Japan this summer will be published in a series of original documentaries during the 2024 Christmas holiday season.

Above: The B1M's Fred Mills filming on a tunnel boring machine (TBM) deep beneath the streets of Tokyo. 

Alongside its media business, The B1M’s “Get Construction Talking” mental health initiative, co-founded with leading technology firm Procore, has held events across three continents and had a huge impact in raising awareness around one of our industry’s most pressing issues. 

Mills has openly shared his own mental health struggles as part of the campaign and raised more than $140,000 for construction’s leading mental health charities worldwide to date.

Above: The B1M and Procore's Get Construction Talking campaign raising awareness of construction mental health in Times Square, New York.

As The B1M has grown, Mills has been awarded an Honorary Masters Degree by UCEM and been named an Honorary Fellow of the IET in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the public understanding of construction”.