Videoage International April 2018

16 April 2018 V I D E O A G E N ATPE officials don’t typically release attendance figures, but the number this year is said to be about 5,000, mostly due to the “qualitative” level of attendees, said NATPE president JP Bommel. Among the event’s highlights, according to Bommel, were Facebook announcing three original series, and the Station Group Summit — a meeting of local U.S. TV stations — which, he said “is now a good source of local content to distribute internationally.” Plus, there was the confirmation that NATPE plans to stay put. “Yes, we’re staying in Miami Beach,” said Bommel at the start of his wrap- up press conference on January 18, which was held at the end of the three-day TV market and conference, publicly quelling the rumor that the annual trade show was moving to New Orleans. Bommel also touched on NATPE Budapest — set to take place June 25 to 28 — explaining that the event, “is going to be not only for CEE countries, but also for E [Western Europe] and A [African] territories.” At the same market-closing press conference, NATPE chairman Andy Kaplan, who was then also Sony Pictures Television’s president of Worldwide Networks, commented on how impressed he was by “JP talking in French to Jane Fonda.” Fonda was among the five recipients of the Tartikoff Legacy Award, whichwere given out on the market’s second day at the Fontainebleau Hotel, the event’s headquarters. Kaplan also stressed that Miami Beach is an ideal venue; that the programs on sale were great; and that deals got done at this year’s NATPE. Speaking of done deals, Inter Medya’s Beatriz Cea Esteruelas reported that for her Turkish company, several sales initiated at MIP Cancun were finalized at NATPE. Similarly, Delmar Andrade of Brazil’s Record TV, “leveraged deals with LATAM countries, channels in Europe, and also in Eastern Europe and Africa,” and added: “Two of our major productions are being aired on U.S. FTV channels and have conquered the first and second ratings ranking several times, winning over American and other Latin productions. One of our series is being aired on Univision and is the first non- Spanish soap opera dubbed for the network.” As for comparison with last year’s NATPE, Andrade “did not sense any differences between the two editions. But,” he warned, “our expectations for NATPE 2019 is that the market expands and improves by bringing in territories that still do not participate, like, for example, countries in the Caribbean. A territory that is so close to Miami should be present at the event.” For Los Angeles-based Sonar Entertainment’s Alan Zapakin, “NATPE has become a great conference for focusing on Latin America. We go to all the major conferences throughout the year, [but] we feel we can get more accomplished here relative to LATAM than at a lot of other conferences.” Of course, he added, U.S. “domestic continues to be important,” as well. Mondo TV Iberoamerica’s Dimitri Papanikas, explained that his company, “mainly distributes to Latin America and U.S. Hispanic,” therefore NATPE is an ideal market. Manuel Paolo J. Laurena of the Philippines’ GMA Worldwide also met with “Latin American countries and U.S. companies and African countries,” he said. “We sold free-TV and pay-TV rights. We were also selling our formats, which included new media rights.” For Jennifer Askin from the Los Angeles office of Kew Media Group, “NATPE 2018 was just as busy as last year, and a very successful market for us. We found that there were more LATAM companies in attendance, as well as a host of new platforms and channels represented. There was an increasing focus in our discussions on incorporating, or even prioritizing, windows with digital platforms and how such exposure combines with a traditional TV broadcast. The importance of this will vary by title but certainly seems to now be an integral element of all potential sales. At NATPE 2018 we met with attendees from the U.S., Latin America, Europe and beyond, but the majority of clients were from the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean.” Arabelle Pouliot-Di Crescenzo of France-based KABO International, who decided to attend NATPE at the last minute, commented: “We are very glad we came and met with buyers from Europe, the U.S., Canada, and LATAM, in that order, to talk about formats.” Melanie Torres of Los Angeles-based GRB said, “NATPE 2018 was a productive and successful market for us. The number of meetings was approximately the same as last year, but there were more ‘drop-bys’ this year. In addition, I found most meetings were really high-quality versus ‘seeing-what’s-new’ [types]. The majority of our meetings were with LATAM buyers, U.S. Hispanic buyers, and Canadian buyers. We focused on selling all rights, both linear and digital, and finding the most effective premiere and/or windowing strategy for each territory.” Similarly, Karina Dolgiej of Israel-based Armoza Formats, said that “ NATPE is always a great market with a strong presence of Latin American countries. This year, with more Asian and European countries attending, we felt as if the market was more productive than it has been before. At NATPE, we had a full agenda Miami BeachMarket Habla Español, Parle Français, Parla Italiano, and Spricht Deutsch NATPE Review (Continued on Page 20) Representatives from the seven large Turkish companies in attendance at NATPE: Calinos’ Anghelo Taylor, Raya Group’s Ramazan Yirmibesoglu, and Global Agency’s Ivan Sanchez and Gözde Sergili, NATPE’s JP Bommel, Inter Medya’s Sibel Levendoglu and Beatriz Cea Esteruelas, Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto Telemundo’s Marcos Santana at the company’s traditional screening presentation The panel featuring NATPE prez Andy Kaplan and CBSSI’s Armando Nuñez