CLIPMANIA: ‘User-Generated Content’ on German Public Television

Germany’s international broadcaster DW-TV and the German station MDR will start offering “user-generated” content in July 2008. The new show CLIPMANIA will present exclusively material from people that don’t directly work in the film and television industries. The production for DW-TV and MDR from UFA Entertainment is the first public television show in this area.

CLIPMANIA shows the original material in the best possible quality, presents the videos, introduces the creative producers and tells the background story. These are often stories that could only be possible in the current age of Web 2.0 – like that of Peter Oakley, also known as “Geriatric 1927”. The 80-year-old widower from England became one of the most successful video bloggers of all time, by telling his life stories on Youtube. He has made new friends around the world, became a member of the retiree band “The Zimmers” and now makes appearances on TV shows.

In addition, CLIPMANIA highlights the latest trends, like the fact that more and more politicians are appealing to the Internet community via video. Why does German Chancellor Angela Merkel produce a video message every week? CLIPMANIA has the answer.

A few of the video producers appear in the studio for interviews or extravagant promotions. CLIPMANIA also shows material that was exclusively produced for the show. For the series “My World in 60 Seconds”, people from around the globe present what their daily life is like.

“The CLIPMANIA editorial team searches for and finds the best videos from a journalistic point of view: informative, stimulating and entertaining,” says Rolf Rische, head of Society and Entertainment at DW-TV. “CLIPMANIA is ultimately about good entertainment, tips, tricks and fun from the creativity of amateur filmmakers. Many of the videos are produced elaborately with sometimes very unconventional leading actors. The result is series of tongue-in-cheek videos.”

Achim Schöbel, head of the Business/Consumer Editorial Department at MDR: “With CLIPMANIA we hope to create a television show that reaches out to several generations. We think that interesting stories and videos from the Internet can be entertaining for people of all ages.”

Max Hofmann hosts the English version of CLIPMANIA on DW-TV. He has years of experience in both pure journalism as well as entertainment. For DW-TV viewers, the German-American is known for hosting the news program “Journal” as well as being an on-air reporter during the 2006 World Cup. He also has several years of radio experience after working for “Radio eins” and the rock station “Star FM”.

The German version of CLIPMANIA is hosted by Thomas Hackenberg, whose years of journalistic experience – for example at WDR radio and RTL television – provide a retrospective view. Hackenberg also proves his qualities as an entertainer again and again, by taking part in plays, “Quiz Taxi” and several other comedies on television.

For the Arabic world, DW-TV produces a version of CLIPMANIA with Arabic subtitles.

CLIPMANIA broadcasting times (length: 26 min.)

MDR (German public television)

Starting Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 22:50

DW-TV

Starting Friday, July 11, 2008

• English: Saturdays at 00:30 UTC and 16:30 UTC, Sundays at 8:30 UTC
• German: Fridays at 21:30 UTC, Saturdays at13:30 UTC (USA/LATIN AMERICA: 16:30 UTC) Sundays at 5:30 UTC
• Arabic (German with Arabic subtitles): Fridays at 21:30 UTC,
  Saturdays at 13:30 UTC, Sundays at 5:30 UTC

June 5, 2008