20 event did something similar by posting photos of all of the registered participants online. As per opening day, Tuesday, January 24, 2023, some 1,500 participants were officially in attendance (later increased to 1,600), in addition to the usual crew that attends these types of hotel-based markets without badges in hand. The number of exhibitors was exactly 102. According to the original release issued by C21, the number of participants included 500 buyers. All in all, in terms of attendance, this inaugural Content Americas in downtown Miami was not that far off from the last in-person NATPE Miami event (held in Miami Beach in 2020), which also recorded an estimated 1,500 participants. According to an official account, all of the Hilton hotel’s 528 rooms were sold out. During its three days of activities, the market offered 22 conferences, including one featuring Pierluigi Gazzolo, CEO of ViX, TelevisaUnivision’s Spanish-language streaming service; Fernando Szew, CEO of Fox Entertainment Global; Karen Barroeta, executive VP, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises; and Ben Silverman, co-CEO of Propagate Content. These talks mostly focused on each company’s new content line-ups and support for traditional TV. “I believe linear TV will be around for years to come, and content will continue to adapt as the rest of the landscape shifts”, reported Telemundo’s Barroeta, while Propagate’s Silverman criticized the streamers, and Fox’s Szew predicted that AVoD will bring an injection of capital into the global TV market. There were also two major screening/evening cocktail parties hosted by Spain’s Secuoya Studios and Miami-based Telemundo Global Studios, and four other parties, including the welcoming and closing parties. There was also a lunchtime session sponsored by the China Pavilion, and a breakfast reception hosted by the governor of the Jalisco State of Mexico, while a “luncheon for all attendees” was set for those participants who wanted a sneak peek at Warner Music’s Melody series. A press conference to present Ecuavisa Studios’ 2023 production slate was also held. After some initial hesitation from competing trade publishers, Content Americas organizers ultimately managed to get endorsements from all of the major trade publications. “It’s commendable that C21 was able to organize a market in a few short months”, said content buyer Cida Goncalves, who was at the Miami market as an invited buyer of content for her distribution pipe. “I think the market is successful and will continue.” Others who spoke with VideoAge’s reporters felt similarly. Content Americas’ success has been attributed to three main factors. First is the fact that industry people like being in Miami. Second is that the January market is an ideal place to follow up with executives met at MIP Cancun. And last is the fact that the market’s organizers offered a discount to those who pre-paid (and were never reimbursed) for the NATPE 2022 show that was ultimately canceled. That Miami is a favorite venue for a LatAm market is readily apparent by the fact that only a few exhibitors at Content Americas had anything new that wasn’t already offered to buyers at November’s MIP Cancun, and yet the same buyers and sellers happily came together again to see each other at this new event. In Cancun, the exhibitors merely showed their new catalogs. In Miami, many have said that they actually got contracts signed. The reason given was that MIP Cancun organizers put time constraints on meetings (25 minutes max), but at Content Americas meetings took as long as necessary, and thus were more conclusive. Another advantage of Content Americas was the possibility of interactions between the distributors for co-productions and adaptations of successful series, as in the case of Turkish series like Blue Cage, a co-production between Telemundo Global Studios and Inter Medya. As for the presence of the U.S. studios, reps from all of the majors were in attendance, with Disney, FOX, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. making appearances. In addition, there were key LatAm studios like Globo, MediaPro, Secuoya, Telemundo, and TelevisaUnivision. Plus, all the main Turkish production and distribution companies, including ATV, Calinos, Global Agency, Inter Medya, Kanal D, MADD, MISTCO, OGM, TRT, and Raya. Not surprisingly (considering the appeal of the climate), there was also a good Canadian presence, with companies like Just For Laughs, which attended as a last-minute decision, as indicated by chief content revenue officer Marina Di Pancrazio. Others, like TLN and Film One Media had been planning to attend for a while. At the event, Toronto-based CosMedia took the opportunity to announce the launch of its LatAm distribution arm, focused on localizing Canadian movies and series IP and delivering them to the Latin American market. April 2023 Content Americas Report Calinos Entertainment’s Firat Gulgen, Duda Rodrigues, Cristina Duffy, and Asli Serim NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises’ Karen Barroeta TRT’s Mustafa Ilbeyli, Gökce Aydogdu, and Mustafa Aydogan Globo’s Pablo Ghiglione, Jessica Aguiar, Marcela Parise, Angela Colla, and Isadora Filpi (Continued fropm Page 18)
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