22 By Lucy Cohen Blatter By now, it’s established that TV content buyers go to MIP-TV in Cannes to acquire programs. Similarly, content owners and distributors exhibit at the annual trade show to license (sell) their content. What is not quite as clear is who goes to MIPTV— to be held April 7-10 — to participate in one of the market’s nine parallel events, excluding MIPDoc, which is a pre-MIP trade show focusing on documentaries (April 5-6). It’s known that exhibitors cannot really leave their stands, since they are the meeting points withbuyers. Thebuyers, on theirpart, are running from meeting to meeting, including breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Then there are the cocktails, which attract both buyers and sellers (hoping to bump into hard-to-meet buyers), in addition to the freeloading press members. However, considering that all events associated with MIP-TV tend to be packed with people, one could assume that the market operates on two different levels: The market itself for buying and selling, and the conference-related events that, this year will include the newly introduced MIP Digital Fronts (April 9), and Junior at MIP (April 8-9). This is in addition to the usual MILIA (April 7-10), MIPCube (April 6-9), MIPFormats (April 5-6), MIP-TV’s Brands & Content Conference (April 9), plus three different types of screenings (World Premiere, Drama and Fresh Fiction). Now, this two-level approach may explain why the market portion of MIP looks as if it is shrinking, while the rest is growing, bringing to Cannes record numbers of participants. The new challenge for market organizers is then how to leverage this increasing number of attendees so that they benefit the trade show portion as well, considering that the organizers cannot offset market forces such as unfavorable production schedules and the L.A. Screenings a fewweeks later. Even though it may be over two months away, many TV executives across the globe are already preparing for this 51st edition of MIP-TV. And despite the fact that MIP-TV isn’t as well attended as MIPCOM, participants are feeling hopeful. And the fact that fewer studios attend MIP-TV than MIPCOM creates both plusses and minuses for the smaller companies. On one hand it’s good for small distributors that don’t have to compete with studios for buyers’ attention, on the other hand, fewer buyers don’t help anyone. “It’s no surprise that during the past few years MIP-TV has seemed somewhat sluggish in terms of [market] attendance,” said Cesar Diaz, vice president of Sales at the newly rebranded Cisneros Media Distribution. “During these times when companies are assessing their expenditures, many of our clients are choosing to go to MIPCOM, rather than MIP-TV.” Diaz is hoping that the digital arena will come in to fill that void. “We are confident that business will flourish as the expanding digital platforms make their presence and fill the void in search of the content they need… hopefully ours,” he said. According to ReedMIDEM, as of late last month, over 85 percent of floor space was already sold out and more than 4,000 buyers and 1,400 producers from over 100 countries are expected to attend. “MIP-TV is always an important market for us as it enables us to introduce our programming highlights at the start of the year,” said Patrick Elmendorff, managing director of Studio 100 Media. Elmendorff said that his company will attend the 2014 edition with the same size delegation as usual, “including our international sales team, executives and colleagues fromStudio 100’s subsidiary companies based in Australia, Belgium and France.” Elmendorff said his company isn’t affected by the fact that fewer U.S. studios attend MIP-TV, but said, “it’s clear and noticeable that MIP-TV is not as well attended as MIPCOM.” Diazalsosaidthatthelackofstudioparticipation doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to his company. “Today there is so much content produced by top-quality players in the industry that many of them rival the stories put out by some of the studios,” he said. On the other hand, Estefanía Arteaga, International Sales executive at Caracol, said the lack of studio attendance seems to “give us a bit of an edge when it comes to international commercialization. We believe this brings us more attention and we are able to make our presence even stronger.” Diaz added that in some ways, the clients whom he and his sales staff meet with at MIP-TV have evolved. “TraditionallyMIP-TV has always served as the rendezvous market to meet and greet our clientele from the European and Asian regions. However, lately it has also become an important gathering to strengthen our relationships with independent producers from the United States looking for projects that have the potential to be developed by any one of the major broadcast or cable networks in the U.S.” Saralo MacGregor, executive vice president of Sales, Content Television and Digital, added: “MIP-TV is one of the most internationally diverse markets in our calendar in that it affords us the opportunity to meet with broadcasters and platforms from all over the world. So while there will always be new trends to track and new clients to meet in specific territories, with our catalog of globally appealing content, it’s important to maintain an internationally focused perspective rather than targeting individual territories.” Caracol will bring many executives to Cannes. “MIP-TV is a diverse market for us, participants fromall over theworld attend, allowing us to bring our entire sales force,” said Arteaga. New for 2014, Reed MIDEM has announced the launch of the aforementioned MIP Digital Fronts, with YouTube as its founding partner. Also new to MIP-TV is Junior, an event that, in the past, has been affiliated with MIPCOM only. The event will be followed by a VIP networking cocktail and premiere screenings. In keeping with the theme, MIP Digital Fronts will also showcase online original videos for kids. Before the market kicks off, MIPDoc and MIPFormats will take place. Reed MIDEM and Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP),haverenewedtheirpartnershipandfor the third year the U.S. major will be the exclusive sponsor of the MIPFormats International Pitch 2014 competition. The call for entries is now open to companies, which can vie for a chance to win up to 25,000 euro in development funding from WBITVP. Applicants can apply until February 3. Another special event taking place once again this year is MIPCube — a new-tech exhibitors area, meeting point and conference center in the Palais. Here, producers, digital strategists, tech companies and new talent meet and discuss the best ways to reach out to audiences. For the fourth year, MIP-TV is hosting the MIPCubeLabstartupcompetition, anopportunity for B2B startups to pitch their services, promote their company and secure new customers. Finally, MIP-TV’s Brands & Content Conference and Summit Lunch will provide a forum to explore the use of content and global branded hits to captivate audiences on TV and across the Internet. The Brand of the Year Award will be presented during the Summit. Mart Keeps Numbers Up With Multitude of Events Participants are hopeful that sales will benefit January 2014 Road to MIP-TV
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