V I D E O A G E November 2022 18 MIPCOM CANNES Report (Continued from Cover) Lucy Smith at the press conference held on MIPCOM CANNES’ third day will go on without a “Personality of the Year” celebration — contrary to what happened in pre-pandemic times. This year some participants left as early as Wednesday, October 19. Still, the presence of a large number of MIPCOM old-timers made the event feel like a family reunion. The above are the facts and figures. But they don’t tell the full story of a market that has finally fully rebounded following the pandemic — after a “dry-run” in October 2021 that left the door open for the more normal-feeling event experienced this year. Formats and reality shows reigned supreme, dominating print and poster promotion at the Palais and its environs. In addition, a highly anticipated seminar held on the first day of the market, and the FRAPA format summit held on the second day, focused on new ideas in the format genre — even though few new ideas were actually presented — and were packed with people. There were also other content issues, like the one expressed by Banijay’s Marco Bassetti during his keynote presentation, when he called for greater equity in the sharing of IP and rights between talent, producers, and streamers. “It is not fair [for streamers] to ask the talent or producers to give up everything when they have a successful show”, he said. Naturally, the news that the NATPE organization had filed for Chapter 11 created some confusion and consternation, especially among those distributors who fully paid for exhibition space at NATPE Miami 2022 (which was ultimately canceled), and were expecting to be credited for NATPE 2023… which has also been canceled. According to U.S. bankruptcy law, through the Chapter 11 provisions, companies can ask the courts to schedule a reorganization of a debtor’s business affairs, debts, and assets and get breathing room to develop a plan in order to return to doing business. Nonetheless, the overall mood of the market was uplifting (helped by the fact that the weather was beautiful and sunny), with a huge presence from the major U.S. studios. As Smith said during the press conference, “The studios brought Hollywood to Cannes.” MIPCOM 2022 was hyped up as the “Mother of all TV Markets”, and even though it didn’t come close to the splendor that was MIPCOM 2019, it was much better than MIPCOM 2021, so much so that VideoAge was able to publish one VideoAge Daily. And indeed, the daily market publication became a symbol of a rebounding MIPCOM. In pre-pandemic times, VideoAge traditionally received enough support to publish three Daily editions, while at MIPCOM 2021 was only able to publish its Monthly. (This year, it published its Monthly and one Daily edition.) It is well known in any industry that the success of a trade show can be judged by the number of trade publications distributed at the event. The better the expectations are from the exhibitors, the more executives will be willing to invest in promotional activities. And MIPCOM 2022 rebounded big-time with big, fat publications, as well as numerous cocktail parties. The basement level of the Palais (aka the “bunker”) also reopened, and only a scant few of its exhibition spaces were left without stands. And the beachfront portion leading to the Palais was filled with several new additions (like FOX Entertainment Global). As expected, Turkish companies dominated the market due to the sheer number of their companies in attendance. The U.S. studios also resurfaced, with all in attendance, even though a distinction is now being made between “studios” and “majors” since the word “studios” is becoming a favorite addition to many production and distribution companies. Paramount was there with a gigantic structure along the beach. Warner Bros. Discovery was nearby with another enormous stand. Disney gave up its former ground location in favor of a large room on the third floor. And NBCUni retained its traditional space on the fourth floor with a spacious terrace. Among the indies, the most striking stand belonged to Banijay, that basically built a two-story ecofriendly building right in front of the main Palais entrance. Veteran German distributor Reiner Moritz of Poorhouse International gave his assessment: “MIPCOM 2022 clearly had more visitors than the preceding one. But from our point of view the Latin Americans, and some Asians — in particular Japanese and Chinese — were missing. [Still] everybody was happy to meet again and have person-to-person conversations.” This last sentiment was echoed by Francis Humble,AcquisitionsexecutiveatTVCatalunya, “The market was back to normal”, he said. Nicole Schulman, head of Acquisitions at Axess, Sweden, noted that there was “great content — and not only from Europe.” Finally, TarmoKivikallio, headofAcquisition and Commissioning for Finland’s YLE, summed it up: “MIPCOM was a very good market, with many interesting meetings and projects. It felt like a new start after the pandemic.” If one could miss something from the MIPCOMs of years past, it would be the printed market guide. These days, it’s only available online, and searching for executives’ names requires a large amount of time. New this time around was the need for participants to have a market badge (or a room key) in order to enter major hotels, like The Majestic, to discourage people from being able to conduct meetings in prominent places without paying registration fees. As for the city of Cannes, the entire town seemed to be under construction, with a good number of big hotels being remodeled. The town’s iconic carousel near the Palais had also been dismantled. Electric Entertainment’s Steve Saltman, Entertainment Studios’ Tom Devlin, Access Entertainment’s Ken DuBow Turkey’s pavilion stand was located in the ‘bunker’ area of the Palais
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