This form of presentation (a specific layout for a single longform article) got really popular recently. That "snowy thing NYT did" happened a few years ago, if I recall correctly, and indeed, it might be considered the trend starter.
Personally, I'm very often impressed by work of theverge.com/polygon.com in this regard. Here's just one example: http://www.polygon.com/a/xbox-one-review
They perfectly handle the toughest thing, which is the balance between flashiness and readability.
As for the BBC article: I don't like the font choices they've made. A serif (Georgia or Cambria) for body content and sans-serif for distinctions would work better, IMHO.
Yeah, and aside from the font I also felt that the transitions were a bit too abrupt, like they just stitched together a bunch of (in themselves pretty) pages.
The German newspaper 'Die Zeit' has been experimenting with this style as well, to the point of (as I understand it) starting Zeit Online as a completely separate department in Berlin.
Personally, I'm very often impressed by work of theverge.com/polygon.com in this regard. Here's just one example: http://www.polygon.com/a/xbox-one-review They perfectly handle the toughest thing, which is the balance between flashiness and readability.
As for the BBC article: I don't like the font choices they've made. A serif (Georgia or Cambria) for body content and sans-serif for distinctions would work better, IMHO.