9 VIDEOAGE December 2023 MIP Cancun Report Biz at the Latin American TV Market is Not Just for Dollars Let’s first report the facts associated with last month’s MIP Cancun, held at its traditional Moon Palace resort venue. More than 800 participants from 43 countries were in attendance, among them were 172 distributors, 193 co-producers, 210 content buyers, and 43 commissioners. A tropical rainstorm that lingered for two days welcomed delegates to MIP Cancun for its 10th anniversary, celebrated November 14-17, 2023. The weather improved on the third day, but to be safe, the organizers kept the path from the hotel lobby to the convention center lined with large umbrellas. In addition to the storm, the LatAm market was a hectic one, and it rode the FAST wave that is now all the rage on the international TV market scene. Indeed, the well-attended “FAST Global Americas’ Summit” took up the whole afternoon of the event’s opening day at the Moon Palace Convention Center (part of the large Moon Palace Resort), which is located just outside Cancun, Mexico. According to Maria Perez-Belliere of RX France, MIP Cancun’s organizer, now in her second year as head of the market, MIP Cancun reps were excited to welcome participants, many of whom have given the market a “high satisfaction rating.” The report from exhibitors was generally positive, even though it was pointed out that little content buying took place due to the poor state of the economy in most Latin American countries. Nonetheless, the market is thought to be the best gathering place for the Latin American TV industry — an appointment that content buyers don’t want to miss (considering that most of them are invited all expenses paid), and content sellers, producers, and the trade press cannot afford to miss. The mood at the convention center was positive, with lots of chatter and laughs, lots of running for late appointments, and lots of meeting new prospective partners out of the blue. After the market come the follow-ups, many of which took place just after the market ended and will continue up until mid-December, before the buyers shut down for the Christmas holidays (which in Latin America end the first week of January). Indeed, the window for closing prospective deals is generally short, but if they’re protracted for any reason, the negotiations will most likely continue in Miami at one (or both) of the TV markets there: NATPE Global and/or Content Americas. As for the cost of attending with an exhibition table, the rate, Perez said, “increased a bit, in line with inflation.” Participants reported various levels of costs: Those with tables paid the highest rate (and got to choose which buyers they wanted to meet with from a lengthy list), while “Visitors +” were charged a reduced rate. Both of these included hotel accommodations, as well as food and beverages. Plain “Visitor” got only an access badge and access to the list of buyers just a few days before the market’s start date and without pre-set meetings. This year, the event housed 130 market tables from 121 companies (some took extra tables), plus seven stands. These were located in the hall of the convention’s second floor, facing the large marketplace space where the meeting tables were located. The 71 co-production tables were located on the first, or ground floor. For the “overflow”, two meeting point areas (A and B) were created with no assigned numbers, meaning that folks were free to use any available coffee tables and chairs, which at times were scarce. Two memorable screenings — both from Turkish companies — took over two subsequent afternoons: one from Inter Medya for Leylifer, the other from ATV for Safir. There were 29 pre-arranged meetings for content sales, and 23 for co-productions during the three-day market, which also had an opening party on Wednesday, November 15. There was also a closing party with a fireworks display on Thursday, even though the market continued up until Friday. In terms of conferences, 10 were scheduled. There was also a Woman of the Year award from the Worldwide Audiovisual Women’s Association (or WAWA). The eventful ceremony was held in a packed theater in the convention center. And even though it was very successful, the award organizers lamented the fact that the ceremony took place in Spanish as it gave off the wrong impression, that the association is limited to Latin American executives, when indeed it encompasses female film/TV executives from all over the world. Next time, the association will stage similar events in English. This year, the award for the WAWA Woman of the Year became “Women” of the Year since, for the first time, it was awarded to three executives who received equal votes from the members: Fidela Navarro, CEO of Dopamine; Carmen Larios, senior vice president, Content and Marketing at A&E Networks Latin America; and Selina Nederhand, senior vice president & Co-Networks head of Content Strategy at Sony Pictures Entertainment. MIP Cancun 2024 is scheduled for November 19-22, a week later than this year, possibly due to a late MIPCOM, which will end on October 24, 2024. Inter Medya’s Beatriz Cea Okan at the Leylifer screening Kanal D’s Sibel Levendoglu Hugo Aloy of Brazil’s Seven TV with ATV’s Müge Akar and Merve Dogan Record TV’s Grace Andrade, Delmar Andrade and Thiago Castro
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI4OTA5