--- description: PBS will begin broadcasting and streaming a half-hour version of the show this fall, the company said Wednesday. title: Sesame Street Gets Half-Hour Version on PBS for TV and Streaming image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa303c9f24ad2857/6986982106f2c1537b32f85b/494222207.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # We're Getting a Half-Hour Version of _Sesame Street_  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jun 18, 2014 3:29 PM CUT  Many of the Sesame Street characters at the 12th annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on May 28, 2014 in New York City. Many of the Sesame Street characters at the 12th annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on May 28, 2014 in New York City.Robin Marchant—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jun 18, 2014 3:29 PM CUT Famed children’s show _Sesame Street_ has finally succumbed to our shortening attention spans. PBS will begin broadcasting and streaming a [half-hour version](http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2014/sesame-street-half-hour/ "undefined") 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](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/business/media/pbs-to-add-shorter-version-of-sesame-street-in-bid-for-more-viewers.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined") 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2894617/sesame-street-half-hour/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2894617/sesame-street-half-hour/"},"headline":"We're Getting a Half-Hour Version of Sesame Street","datePublished":"2014-06-18T15:29:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:29:04.508Z","description":"They will air in the afternoons and stream online","url":"https://time.com/2894617/sesame-street-half-hour/","keywords":["Children","Television","pbs","Sesame Street"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa303c9f24ad2857/6986982106f2c1537b32f85b/494222207.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa303c9f24ad2857/6986982106f2c1537b32f85b/494222207.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"12th Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala","caption":"12th Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala","creditText":"Robin Marchant—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2894617/sesame-street-half-hour/","name":"We're Getting a Half-Hour Version of Sesame Street"}}]}] ```