Two DW productions were awarded with gold prizes at the 16^th annual World Media Festival in Hamburg. DW’s youth-oriented documentary format Life Links won a gold award in the “web-based new media” category. Winning a gold medal in the “E-learning and education” category was the DW Global Ideas production, A school for orangutans: learning to survive in the wild.

Life Links impressed jury members with well-produced and intimate personal portrayals of challenges that are similarly faced by young people around the world. The format combines a televised episode with an attractive website that expands on the issues in focus and invites the audience to discuss ideas.

A school for orangutans: learning to survive in the wild is another successful example of the interactive web documentary format. This emerging medium brings together stunning graphics with entertaining interactive features that create an entertaining learning process. This year’s gold-winning web documentary feature was produced in cooperation with the Federal Environment Ministry of Germany.

A new joint-project from DW, RBB and Berlin Producers is proving just how small the world is. Worldwide Berlin is hoping to create a connection to the more than 80 different Berlins that exist around the globe. Along with a four-part documentary airing in January, viewers can already dive into more than 100 Berlins on an interactive world map – each more colorful and curious than the last. It turns the world into a village, effortlessly eating up kilometers, climates and time zones.

Worldwide Berlin is a global interactive web documentary in the making. It is also the most comprehensive collection of stories from over 100 places worldwide called Berlin. If you want to find out how such a global, grassroots project got started – just take a look at the “making of” segments on the blog.

A DW web documentary was highly commended by the Association of International Broadcasting (AIB) at the media excellence awards ceremony in London.  Serengeti– Towards an uncertain future takes an up-close and interactive look at the unique natural beauty of this famous national park and addresses the tough challenges of conservation. The documentary was produced as a part of DW’s environmental series, Global Ideas, and was distinguished in the Factual Online Production category at the AIB awards. It premiered in August 2013 in English, German and Spanish and has already won several awards. The Frankfurt Zoological Society was also an integral production partner.

And there is a new interactive web documentary from DW’s Global Ideas. On Expedition is an interactive guide to everything researchers need to survive long journeys into exotic field locations.  The web doc follows the story of a WWF researcher in South America who encounters a very unexpected challenge during a research expedition.

Guest Commentary

Benjamin Schnabel, Distribution Representative for Global Partnerships at DW

MIP Digital Fronts will be the first international digital content marketplace for the production, distribution and acquisition of high-quality original content produced exclusively for online audiences.

Even as television and the Internet merge closer together, online video is still in the early stages of its development as a conventional medium. But in the next few years, it will really take off as audiences become more comfortable with using hybrid television and streaming video. Online networks and channels are beginning to feature programming created specifically for the web that has mass appeal. The fact that MIP is exploring digital fronts indicates it could be where the market is heading in the future.

Traditional news outlets can redefine their place in the digital landscape by producing or distributing innovative and interactive web documentaries. DW has been exploring the world with interactive documentaries for years now. And this definitely shows another direction that interaction, digital content and smart TV could have – a type of “choose your own adventure” documentary.  These productions unlock the multimedia potential of the digital world by combining insightful and interesting journalism with captivating visual settings and video. DW’s WebDocs for example take you deep into the rainforests of Papua New Guinea or the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. And unlike traditional documentary formats, the user interacts with the environment and can choose actions, questions and decide where the story goes. All of these elements combine to place the user in the journalist’s shoes.

There is a demand on the emerging digital content market for productions that meet journalistic and intellectual standards. While Digital Fronts seems to focus nearly exclusively on entertainment, fiction and series, the large-scale success of documentaries in the recent past like “An Inconvenient Truth” or “Super Size Me” suggest that real stories can also have a place in the digital world. Interactive Webdocs could play that role on digital channels. Take for example NPR’s “Planet Money Makes A T-Shirt” or “Journey To The End Of Coal” produced by the private French studio honkeytonk films and first released on the website of the leading French daily, Le Monde.

There is still a lot of junk floating around in online channels. There is a need to develop content that tries to reach a higher standard and is aimed at digital natives who will use online video portals as their primary source of entertainment. They are seeking high-quality online content that combines news, entertainment and audience participation. By developing and promoting novel video and documentary formats, broadcasters can take the lead in adding quality to digital channels.

If you are interested in working with DW on co-productions or integrating our content into your lineup, just contact our sales team. We will also be in Cannes at MIP from April 7-10.