This looks new to me but, I’m not a daily visitor to The Guardian so, perhaps not.
I spotted today that the front-page, main news article, “‘I lost my children, and I’m afraid of losing my baby again’: a day in the life of a pregnant woman in Gaza” features a highly emotive use of animation, instead of a regular image.
Working in web for 20 years, I am used to clients requesting animations and videos on homepage, and this seems an excellent use of the format. Perfect for the story behind it.