Videoage International May 2018

34 May 2018 V I D E O A G E M IP-TV organizers took the “blame” for the terrible weather, as well as for the various train and airline strikes in France, but clearly took credit for the success of this 54th edition of MIP, which closed on April 12, 2018, after four very wet market days. Also, clearly the MIP organizers saw the market’s “success” through their own point of view— different from that of the exhibitors, who instead remarked upon the many “Relax at MIP” spaces (in lieu of stands). MIP organizers didn’t, however, take the “blame” for the slewof street repair sites inCannes that, together with the near-constant torrential rainfall, contributed to much traffic congestion. That distinction went to the City of Cannes, which aggravated circulation by organizing the first CanneSeries TV Festival — which was open to the public — concurrently with MIP. Even the CanneSeries Festival did little to bring the expected charge that would jumpstart what is now called the “traditional” MIP-ish market. The African immigrants who sold umbrellas around Cannes, though, did good business during the market, as did the local shoe stores, in light of the number of shoes ruined by the wet streets due to the incessant raining. One could even joke that this MIP was more about shoe business than show business, as Izzet Pinto of Turkey’s Global Agency pointed out — while receiving one of the four Medals of Honor bestowed by MIP-TV upon exceptional international TV executives—when he described his transition fromshoe business to showbusiness just 11 years ago. However, at a press conference on the market’s last day, Laurine Garaude, Television Division director of MIP-TV organizer Reed MIDEM, boasted: “We delivered a successful development, production, and distribution market.” She emphasized the market’s many successes, pointing out that 600 delegates were at the In Development initiative. “We covered all stages of development,” she said, before adding that the market did not neglect innovation with its 4K technology seminars. She also brought up the large presence of Asian companies. It ended up being the Turkish companies and, to a certain extent, Chinese firms that came to the market’s rescue. However, while the Chinese might have gotten some much-needed visibility, the Turks got the sales. In the past few years, they’ve been quite successful with drama series, and new companies came to this year’s MIP with a slew of animation productions that, considering Turkish marketing strength, will undoubtedly succeed. Possibly commenting on a VideoAge Day 2 Daily at MIP-TV, which expressed reservations about the international appeal of Chinese content showcased at MIP-TV, Weidong Yang, president of China’s Youkou, Alibaba Media and Entertainment Group (and one of the four Medal of Honor recipients) said, “We need drama series and variety show formats, and also animation. The international experience and international production quality is still more advanced than our local production teams. We’ll catch up, but the global major production players can help us to improve our production quality through cooperation. So we are starting to explore the possibility of co-producing variety shows, drama series, and animation.” There isn’t much to report on the conference side that would be of interest to buyers and/or sellers. Unfortunately, none of the conferences took advantage of the presence of Jonathan Davis, president of Fox Creative Affairs, who took time from his busy schedule to be at MIP-TV to discuss his new slate with buyers at the Fox stand. Fortunately, though, the rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for Pinto, who received his medal at a luncheon held on Wednesday, April 11, the market’s third day. Unfortunately, the slow food service at the Carlton Hotel made many guests leave before the main course was served. It was so slow in fact that it made many participants wonder if the chickens were being flown in from as far away as Kentucky. Not that the Carlton Hotel would serve KFC products. If they did, it would have been the equivalent of Italians going to Vesuvio Restaurant in Cannes for an Italian meal. As for content sales, many buyers reported that it was business as usual, meaning that they went to MIP-TV to finalize previous deals, as well as to shop for new content, which, in turn, will be committed to or finalized after they get back from the L.A. Screenings in May (when they will know which slots the newly acquired U.S. series cannot fill). In this respect, during the traditional end- of-market luncheon with international TV acquisition managers organized by Poorhouse’s Reiner Moritz, a European buyer lamented the fact that young content sales executives he met at MIP didn’t know titles that ended up in their catalog during past M&A activities (this is a topic covered in this issue’s My 2¢). However, the heavy rain produced a side benefit to small distributors who reported very few no-shows due to the fact that buyers were confined to the Palais. In terms of facts and figures, MIP-TV reported 10,000 total participants (435 fewer than last year) from 102 countries, and 3,600 buyers (of which 1,000were for VoD), which is fewer than last year’s 3,800 buyers, and 1,480 exhibiting companies, which were eight more than in 2017. Development, Production, Distribution Key Elements of a Rather Damp Market MIPreview Street repairs caused congestion. Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto and wife Rozet at the Medal of Honor ceremony Laurine Garaude, Television Division Director of MIP-TV organizer Reed MIDEM, at the market’s closing press conference Jianing Shen, general manager of CCTV, China’s state broadcasting organization, and Zheng Yang, deputy director general of the State TV Drama Department