(Continued From Cover) 16 preceded by the co-located Realscreen Summit, which gathers unscripted TV executives from February 2 to 4. The NATPE event will end at 12:45 p.m. on February 6. After an initial jockeying, the markets’ roles have now been clearly defined, with Content Americas reigning supreme as the Latin American TV trade show, while NATPE has reaffirmed its status as a more “global” TV trade event. Content essentially replicates what MIP Cancun represents to Latin America, and NATPE replicates MIPCOM for the rest of the television world. Coming at the beginning of the new year, and with budgets restored, Content is often used to complete deals initiated in Cancun in November, but not completed because of depleted end-of-the-year budgets. If more negotiations are necessary, NATPE can come to the rescue later on as it offers more opportunities for face-to-face meetings. This eventuality, however, doesn’t diminish the antagonism between the two market organizers — the London-based C21 publishing company (which organizes Content) and the Toronto-based Brunico (which organizes NATPE). In addition to publishing various trade publications, both organizations also run several TV trade shows. In order to better focus on NATPE Global in Miami, last month, Brunico announced that it would be discontinuing (or “pausing”) its NATPE Budapest TV market for Central and Eastern Europe. Stated David Jenkinson, editor-in-chief and managing director, C21Media: “Content Americas is now the number one market and conference for the LatAm, U.S. Hispanic, and Spanish and Portuguese entertainment business. With the Rose d’Or Latinos as part of the mix, it has brought fresh creativity to the sector, which has been embraced. We are looking forward to a buoyant market in 2026 and to continue to grow the event.” NATPE Global executive director Claire Macdonald had this to say: “NATPE Global remains North America’s largest and most important gathering for the global content community, and NATPE Honors celebrates the leaders and innovators shaping the future of the entertainment industry.” Hosted by Emmy Award-winning comedian and actress Dulcé Sloan (The Daily Show), the NATPE Honors Awards Gala will take place on February 5, 2026, at the InterContinental Miami Hotel and will honor executives like Kristin Dolan, chief executive officer, AMC Networks, and Sean Cohan, president of Bell Media. In terms of participation, Content Americas’ official figures indicate 650 buyers at the moment (but that number is expected to soon reach 700), and 117 exhibitors, with projected final figures to reach 140. As for the number of delegates, the expectation is close to 2,000 people. As for the program, Content Americas will feature 50 speakers scattered among 23 conferences that will take place during the same market floor periods, interspersed with a Rose d’Or evening ceremony on January 20, followed by the opening party, and on January 22, a Worldwide Audiovisual Women’s Association (WAWA) Women of the Year afternoon presentation, (which this year, will move to Content instead of last year’s NATPE), as well as a closing party in the evening. In this third edition, the Rose d’Or Latinos will also present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Argentinean screenwriter/director/ producer Juan José Campanella. Conference topics include sports and micro-dramas, with speakers ranging from Brendan Fitzgerald, CEO of Secuoya Studios, to Sandra Smester, EVP, Programming and Strategy, NBCUniversal/Telemundo. For its part, NATPE Global will benefit from Realscreen’s unscripted crowd, which, together with the representatives of the 80 exhibiting companies and 400 buyers at NATPE, will bring the number of participants to an expected 2,000 TV executives. Last year, 550 participants from the Summit remained for NATPE. Among the NATPE participants will be 67 speakers that will preside over 26 conferences, including such executives as Lawrence Szabo, EVP, BBC Studios; Mark Bishop, co-president, Blue Ant Media; Anna Saalfed, head of P&G Studios; and Javier Pons, CCO of NBCUniversal/Telemundo. The NATPE gala will take place on February 5, the day after the market floor opens for business. Realscreen Summit will feature 123 speakers for 23 conferences over two days, with February 4 overlapping with NATPE. Not being a real brick-and-mortar market, Realscreen Summit will revolve around talks (with some speakers shared with NATPE), an opening cocktail party, and an awards ceremony. Featured speakers include Michael Thorn, president of FOX TV network, Jane Turton, CEO of the London-based All3Media, and the Singapore-based Sonia Fleck, CEO of Bomanbridge. On the market side, configurations for Content and NATPE will follow the usual patterns, with Content happening in suites on 17 of the hotel’s 21 floors, at the market floor’s booths and tables, as well as in a few boardrooms, all of them located on the floor below the Hilton hotel registration area. It is hoped that, like last year, the wait at peak traffic times to get to the exhibitors who are holding court in suites will continue to be five minutes or less compared to the very long wait at the previous year’s event. NATPE’s market side will consist of its usual tables, stands, meeting rooms on the second floor, cabanas by the outside pool on the 5th floor, and hotel suites up to the 33rd floor of the InterContinental Hotel. VIDEOAGE January 2026 Miami Markets Preview
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