Zdf Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen: ZDFMEDIATHEK

Credits & Description:

Category: Interactive Tools (for PCs, MACs, etc)

Advertiser: ZWEITES DEUTSCHES FERNSEHEN

Product/Service: ZDF PUBLIC TELEVISION STATION

Agency: SYZYGY

Date of First Appearance: Nov 7 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: SYZYGY, Bad Homburg, GERMANY

Entry URL: http://digitalschweinshaxe.net/awards/2010/projects/zdf/english

Creative Director: Dominik Lammer

Art Director: Michael Geissler

Project Manager: Marco Langer

Head of User Experience Architecture: Dr. Claudia Armbrüster

User Experience Architect: Katharina Horst

Head of Rich Internet Application: Christian Auth

Programmer/Technical Lead: Chris Fischer

Programmer: Tim Hofmann

Programmer: Fabien Schivre



English Synopsis

ZDF, one of the largest TV stations in Europe, offers its viewers thousands of movies and other broadcast shows for free download at any time via its online video portal. In 2009, visitors watched an average of 15 million programs each month. ZDF decided to update this online video portal, known as the ZDFmediathek.

We wanted to present the best of two worlds as well as a new benchmark: The ultimate in TV viewing combined with all the advantages of a web application. 10 months later, we had a project that set new standards for TV video portals.
In the new ZDFmediathek, the user is the director of programming. There are various categories - programs A-Z, missed programs, browse by topic or by category – which organize the huge amount of content and make it easy to navigate and use. Once a user finds a program to watch, he simply presses play. The user doesn’t have to go through the extra step of choosing a video player, since we implemented the project in Flash and Flex.

All programming is seamlessly integrated and delivered in high quality H.264 format that can be viewed in full-screen mode for TV via the Internet which is a great experience.
The user can even give into his need to keep his options open: when a program is playing, the user can browse through the navigation to see what else is “on”.

The new online programming is gaining momentum: monthly viewing rates continue to rise since the launch. And user feedback speaks for itself: “The best programming of all TV channels” (hapalow17 on Youtube), “So easy to navigate!”(pumuckelnase on Youtube).