Media vs. Format: Have We Truly Innovated Storytelling?

Media vs. Format: Have We Truly Innovated Storytelling?

When the internet entered our lives about 20 years ago, I was excited—not just about new media, but about the possibility of a revolution in storytelling formats.

Think about how cinema evolved: after the feature film emerged, storytelling settled into a roughly two-hour format—not 10 hours, not three minutes (unlike TikTok today). Video games, on the other hand, changed everything by making the audience active participants in the narrative. Unlike books, which guide readers in one direction, games let players shape the story themselves.

So, what about the internet? I expected a similar transformation. But looking back, I realize the true revolution was in media, not format. We connect in ways unimaginable before, but text is still text, and video is still video—just digitized.

This makes me wonder: Have we reached the end of the storytelling format evolution? Are we simply waiting for the next technological leap, like VR, to redefine how we tell stories?

Or—do we still have room to innovate within our current tools?

What do you think? Are we overlooking a new format waiting to be discovered?