New York – Short-form video clips can still drive viewership on OTT platforms, according to a panel session Wednesday (Oct. 18) at the Multichannel News/B&C NextTV Summit. part of NYC Television Week. And though there is no magic number as to how long an audience will pay attention to the videos, 15 minutes seems to be the limit.

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Comcast Watchable VP of programming Craig Parks said that while he has always chafed at the term – "short-form" implies “less than” to him – he added that it is increasingly valuable. But the length of the clips, he said, depends on what the content is being used for.

“If you’re cooking a pizza, it doesn’t need to be any longer than it is,” Parks said at the panel session entitled “The Transformation of Storytelling in the OTT/ On-Demand Era. “There is no magic number, no magic length.”

But he said that after producing 18 short-form series, he believes anything past 15 minutes might be pushing the envelope.

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While short-form shows may get short shrift compared with traditional 30-minute and 60-mnute series, panel members said the two can work together. At A+E Networks, Paul Cabana, executive vice president and head of History & Biography digital, said the network is bringing back the Biography channel brand, but only through one-to-two minute clips. At that length, he said, they can relaunch the Biography brand on any one of A+E Networks’s channels.

Gunpowder and Sky founder and CEO Van Toffler, a veteran of linear TV (he spent more than a generation at Viacom) said short-form video can lead to longer form projects, but that is a rarity. Short-form also has value in determining if a longer form show will resonate with the audience.

Toffler said his company is currently shooting a 7-minute pilot for a proposed 30-minute show. Once that pilot is finished, Gunpowder and Sky can put it online to determine how a young audience will react to it.

“I love the idea of down and dirty, fast and cheap pilots you put up on your own sites and learn from your experiments,” Toffler said.

The panelists saw mobile video as being the biggest disruptor to their businesses, but that too can be a perfect vehicle for short-form content.

“Let’s do more for mobile," said Revry CEO and co-founder Damian Pelliccione. “I don’t have any competitors in this space because we get to set the bar.”

Van Toffler, an executive with ties to Viacom cable networks for more than a generation, is resigning his position as president of MTV Networks Music & Logo Group.

Toffler, who over the past 28 years has had a hand in guiding various Viacom services, is stepping down from his post leading the division that includes MTV VH1, CMT, and Logo in April to start a new venture as an independent producer at platform-agnostic Below The Radar.

His impending departure, which Toffler made known to staff via an internal memon on Tuesday, comes as Viacom is struggling with ratings downturns and advertising defections at key networks, as the programmer strives to recreate itself within the digital space. Viacom saw its bottom line recede 9% in the fourth quarter of 2014 to $500 million.

In his own staff memo, Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman, said news about the transition will come shortly. “With Van here to help and the deep bench of talented people across our brands, I am confident we won’t miss a beat,” he wrote.

Toffler is expected to stay into April. He continue to serve as an executive producer of MTV’s annual Video Music Awards and the annual CMT Awards.

His Viacom career began at MTV, where he climbed through the ranks to president of the netowrk and its sibling, MTV2.  Toffler, who worked with Viacom leaders Tom Freston and Judy McGrath over the course, was named president of Viacom Music & Logo Group  in 2004.

The following is his memo to staffers:

Crafting this sort of email was never in my lexicon or even a passing thought. After all, who has a front row seat and voice for decades at the crossroads of music, pop, media and sometimes even global political culture and elects to leap off. Yup, this irrational chucklehead.

When Philippe approached me last year to continue leading the brands I adore until I aged into Bad Grandpa-like triple digits, I entered into a period of consternation and dare I say short bursts of deep thinking (don’t worry, very short and not that deep). And after at least a few whole minutes and many more meals than Philippe wanted to have with me, I realized at my core I needed to get back to my love of jumping off cliffs without knowing how/where I might land and making expectation defying content that boldly breaks through new boundaries. So I’ll be launching a new platform agnostic content creation and acquisition liger…. (yes, that stealth hybrid animal from Napoleon Dynamite), under the working title of Below The Radar, with details to come in the months ahead. To be clear, this is a very personal decision about pursuing the loud and insatiable part of my failed musician/poet soul that needs to purely make great stuff…..after a long wonderful run with all of you. But you aren’t getting rid of me yet!

Details on what this all means for my beloved Music Group and Viacom fam will follow shortly from Philippe. I will transition the teams through April and then stay connected to oversee and EP a couple of our most visible tentpole events-the CMT Awards and the Video Music Awards.

It’s rare air for execs to leave these gigs when and how they want and to pass it on to those who have lifted them and each other on their shoulders. Just saying: CMT currently has on its air its biggest show in history, VH1 currently has the #1 reality show in cable tv, and MTV was once again acknowledged as the world’s most valuable youth media brand, evolving with its audience into the biggest social brand in media with over 200 million followers. Oh… and mtv2 and Logo are in the midst of their highest rated years ever. Needed to float that in.

So indulge me for another mushy minute or two. I know and love most of you, except for those few who live in fear of my ire (I always wanted to use ire in a sentence), as it should be….not! Besides building the brands, content and businesses that are the envy of the industry, you all continue to operate each day with unbridled passion. And most importantly, with compassion and genuine affection for each other and the audiences you serve. Don’t tell me that exists anywhere else.

Who are we kidding, most days this joint paid us for making magic we would beg to do for free. Hell, I danced onstage in Rio behind Axl and Slash and I wasn’t hammered…and I have no rhythm. Crazy but pretty friggin memorable.

I won’t recount the highs and lows of my time here; there are far too many for one email or even one lifetime. And pretty much all the lows have been quite well-documented (#wardrobemalfunction). The truth is I never had a single moment that wasn’t made better by those around me. All of you elevated the good to exceptional and shrugged off the misses with jokes and lightning recovery. I hear the murmuring of Pootie Tang under your breath now- but just remember, some of the best creative is often ahead of its time.

As John Lennon said, I’ve had two true partners/loves in my life-Paul and Yoko-and hell those worked out pretty well. The same goes for me-I’ve had my wife and the resulting offspring who call me Pops, and I’ve had the Music Group. And that’s as fine as it gets for an immature quite often inappropriate man.

So help me out here – continue to dazzle the world, turn right when the world is turning wrong but doesn’t know it yet, champion and campaign for those underdogs who can’t always get heard without the voices of loud global brands, be charitable and respect and honor your access to young people’s bedrooms throughout the world, bring your passion in your backpack to your workstations every day, f-up….do it boldly as I have shown by example and embrace and celebrate your mistakes and climb back up and do it again, and above all show your compassion for each other every day. I’ll be watching!

I’ve loved every day with you all. Thanks for lifting me up, letting me lead you and allowing me quite often to get lost and always come back home.

Xoxo,
Van