BITWORLD TOPS Format Superpitch 2009

One of the highlights of the Asia Television Forum 2009 was the thrilling conclusion of The Format Superpitch – a competition that rewarded the ‘Greatest Formats’ idea. Six contending producers from around the region gave their best to a judging panel. The winning entry was BITWORLD ‘Two Rooms’ by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).

The special live episode of BITWORLD consists of four to five eight-minute drama episodes (these were incorporated into a weekly children’s show) followed by a special live episode that features an interactive game. The drama scenario, the game design, and the flexible programme composition were calculated to make children feel part of the programme.

The aim of the project, as a public broadcaster’s TV programme, was to nurture children’s creativity, to stimulate children intellectually, and give them a sense of togetherness by having them work toward a shared goal.

According to Koji Kiuchi, senior producer of Program Production Department at NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.), the challenge of working on this project lay in the difference in the mentality behind TV production and that of software production for the internet.

“With TV, the product must be completely finished and polished for the first airing. With the internet, by contrast, the tendency is to release a product and then improve it as necessary,” said Kiuchi. “But with this project, the game software had to work perfectly on the first outing.”

“A server failure or a software bug that might, say, have caused a player’s computer to freeze is completely unacceptable. Creating a happy marriage between TV production and software production is a difficult balancing act.”

However, the producers went into the project with confidence after successfully testing the waters. In Japan, 100,000 children played the game during a single episode.

“We wanted children all over Japan to be able to experience the fusion of TV and the Internet by enabling them to watch the programme on TV and play the game on the programme website at the same time. We believe this kind of two-screen interaction will become more common thanks to BITWORLD,” said Kiuchi.