 How did web series creators react to the problem of a short attention span? What web series are trying to do with that problem is to shorten the time that you can be ignored. And I think this idea is understandable, but it's not very proud. The fear of the viewer's short attention span was also based on the reception studies. The video platform YouTube was founded in 2005, quickly becoming well known for the possibilities to upload, watch and share small personal video bits, everybody knows. Based on studies about the consumer's behavior on video platforms like YouTube, that video was strongly believed to be only watched when short enough to deal with the audience's short attention span on the net. Mostly about just two minutes per video. As original fictional web series didn't or did only very rarely exist by that time, these new studies were based on reception study results from videos like cats doing cute or funny stuff or guys crashing into a wall while skateboarding. Also, keep in mind that in 2008 uploaded YouTube videos, for example, were still limited to a total length of 15 minutes. So uploading anything longer than 15 minutes of video at a time was just not possible and that also still counts for 2011. Restricting the episode length, the way I just described, strongly influences the way stories can be narrated. The same way as a short story, for example, has to differ from a whole saga, even if the basic theme and main characters might be similar. We asked Rebecca Ein, head of digital at Euphosyria Drama in Babelsberg, Germany, what these differences are in web dramaturgy. Whether, for example, there is still a hook, a hold and a payoff involved in each episode or if these matters are shifting. So thinking about if a good story on online or on TV, especially online comparison to TV, needs a hook and a hold and a payoff, it's probably basically the same thing. But it has to be in a different dosage, meaning that if you have a really short story and if you have a platform that is sort of such as YouTube or Vimeo, that lures people into sort of being really frickled about moving away really fast rather than if you go on Netflix where you go in with the attitude to watch a feature film or a series and you have a lot more time to sort of explore this, you have to, given that, thinking about sort of on a different platform such as YouTube, you have to be much more careful about the hook, much more emotional about the hook and put it really quickly into a hold as well. You have to be much more emotional, you have to be much more heart-breaking, funny, absurd, preferably over the top and of course you have to have a payoff and you have to have like a finish that keeps people interested in seeing, especially seeing something else of you but I wouldn't say that that is as important as those first two things. But of course if you're going to like the story, you still need a good payoff, otherwise you're not going to like it. So it's basically the same thing but you have to give it like different portions. Rebecca Ahlen speaks about a stronger need for a quick and gripping hook and hold, the shorter the format is. This is especially true considering the surrounding and the conditions of how the narrative work is received. However, not only for short works but also for longer 45-minute episodes, for example. In contrast to that, let's look at a feature movie created for the cinema. A storyteller here could start the film much slower with longer establishing shots, for example pictures of landscapes to create an atmosphere first rather than throwing the viewer directly into the plot and the action, getting them instantly hooked. Why is that? Because the cinema-goer obviously has already paid to stay and watch the whole movie anyways. He's not going anywhere so easily. As Rebecca describes, this is not the case with shows on TV or the Internet where attention spans are short and zapping or switching sides is easy and common. Think about this video right here that you are watching right now because I do not know whether Facebook or a blog or any other site is opened here around me or whether you are watching TV or preparing dinner maybe in the kitchen next to this room. Right now, right here, we are working with this possible short attention span as well. This, for example, is one of the reasons why we offer chapters and smaller unit parts and tasks. Hopefully they are much easier to study than one major, one eight-hour lecture in a university lecture hall. Attention! This is a message from the video producer. You heard what Kristina just said. You are an Internet person right now so your attention span is by definition very limited. This causes the video to stop at precisely 6 minutes 41 seconds in two frames. Please close your Facebook tabs.