We’re Getting a Half-Hour Version of Sesame Street

Famed children’s show Sesame Street has finally succumbed to our shortening attention spans. PBS will begin broadcasting and streaming a half-hour version of the show this fall, the company said Wednesday.

For almost 45 years, Sesame Street has run only hour-long episodes, even as other children’s shows got shorter. But a jump in use of the PBS Kids Video app last year and slumping broadcasting ratings convinced the network to design a mobile-friendly version of the show.

“30 minutes is about as long as you can get [for mobile],” Lesli Rotenberg, PBS’s general manager of children’s programming, told the New York Times about the new format. “The hourlong show didn’t lend itself as well to that.”

The new half-hour shows will join PBS’ afternoon lineup starting Sept. 1. PBS will also stream more than just clips from the show for the first time in Sesame Street history: some episodes will be streamable via the PBS website, its mobile app and its Roku channel.

Hour-long Sesame Street episodes will continue to run in the mornings.