INPUT / … / … / Programming for Platforms

When INPUT was founded more than thirty years ago the only platform any broadcaster spoke about was a train platform. Today, when you pitch a story, commissioning editors tend to ask “For which platform is your pitch?” The broadcasters have now gone over into the daily business of making productions with a specific platform in mind – and each platform brings its own pitfalls and challenges along. On the Web, the average attention span is about seven minutes – max. So how do we get our 90 minute documentary slot onto the web – but still tell the story we want to tell? When we produce fiction for the Internet are we obliged to use “YouTube Lingo” in other words always end with a cliffhanger or a question? How can we produce web projects that reflect our integrity as public broadcasters – but still not go missing in the World Wide Wonderland? Let’s take a closer look at a few of the productions that were submitted to this conference to see if we can recognize a strategy.