VIDEOAGE November 2023 MIP Cancun 20 a can of worms that is best dealt with in depth with a separate article (on this same front cover). Here’s a sample comment from Alexander Marin, a former exec at Sony Pictures and a current principal at the Miami-based company Media Advisors: “MIP Cancun is affordable and easy to attend. Content [Americas in Miami] is the one that has done the best work. NATPE is going to be U.S.-focused.” And from a publicist at Ecuador-based Ecuavisa, VideoAge was told: “Ana Cecilia Alvarado, CEO of Ecuavisa Studios, will not be at MIP Cancun this year. She will participate at both NATPE and Content Americas in January, where she will be an official jury member of the Rose D’Or.” But then a group buyer for Latin content from Miami who wants to remain anonymous commented: “The success of MIP Cancun is their organization: the way they organize the meetings. People like Cancun (weather, beaches, hotels, etc.), and most important and attractive, the organizer pays for air tickets, hotels, food, etc. for all buyers. I will not be attending this year but I heard that most of the Latins will be going.” VideoAge asked Vivian Reinoso of Miami-based J2911 Media how she positions MIP Cancun, considering that it comes at the end of the budget year, and is currently happening is in the midst of a number of economic crises in the LatAm region. “It will be interesting to see if deals actually get closed as a direct result of attending the market”, she answered. “For a distributor, a successful market means that you close many deals either on the spot or right after it. If it is successful in terms of attendance because buyers (some of whom otherwise would not be able to attend the market) have expenses paid by the organizers, it can be tricky since the license fees that they can offer tend to be not what a company expects in order to have a good ROI for attending the market.” Meanwhile, for its 10th anniversary, to be celebrated November 14-17, 2023, MIP Cancun is going with the flow, in the sense that it will be riding the FAST wave, which is now all the rage on the international TV market scene. Indeed, the “FAST Global Americas’ Summit” will be taking up the whole afternoon of the opening day at the event’s traditional Moon Palace Convention Center (part of the large Moon Palace Resort), located just outside Cancun, Mexico Developed in the U.S. a few years ago, Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (or FAST) channels have already conquered Europe, as indicated by the business activities at MIPCOM 2023, and now they will land in Latin America, as was pointed out by Maria Perez-Belliere of RX France, MIP Cancun’s organizer. “Azteca TV is planning to start 30 FAST channels”, she announced. According to Perez-Belliere, now in her second year as head of the market, MIP Cancun will be welcoming 900 participants, many of whom have given the market a “high satisfaction rating.” High hopes are also reserved for its co-production market, which will be improved in terms of number of commissioners (46 this year, compared to 36 last year) and in terms of “improved selection.” As for the cost of attending with an exhibition table, the rate, Perez said, will “increase a bit, in line with inflation.” Last year, the event housed 149 market tables, plus a dozen stands located in the hall of the convention center’s second floor, facing the large marketplace space where the meeting tables were located. The co-production tables were located on the first, or ground floor. This year, there will be 29 prearranged meetings for content sales, and 23 for co-productions during the three-day market, which will also have an opening party on Wednesday, November 15, and a closing party the next day, even though the market will continue up until Friday. In terms of conferences, 10 are scheduled, together with a screening hosted by Turkish distributor InterMedya. There will also be a celebration from the Worldwide Audiovisual Women’s Association (or WAWA), a group for female TV executives. Going back to the furious pace at which FAST channels are multiplying around the world, a question arises as to whether these thematic streaming channels will cannibalize the networks’ traditional channels. However, the fact remains that broadcasting is losing audiences to streaming platforms, and FAST is a way for broadcasters to enter into the streaming realm in order to regain viewers in multiple ways, who they can then offer up to advertisers as a cumulative audience. (Continued from Cover) them in a server following a “play list” provided by the content owner, with a process called a “play out.” According to the Middlesex, U.K.-based Digital TV Research, global Free Advertising Supported Television revenue is now an $8 billion industry. Currently, the U.S. accounts for 56 percent of the total FAST business. Global FAST revenues are expected to increase by $9.4 billion between 2023 and 2029. This compares to $39 billion in global revenue for AVoD channels (the U.S. accounting for 40 percent) in 2023. The growing number of FAST channels cannot yet compete with the 900-pound gorillas represented by the AVoD channels offered by the U.S. studios, with streaming platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix, all of whom have recently “discovered” that consumers who cut cable TV subscriptions to save money couldn’t afford to pay for full-rate streaming subscriptions, and instead moved services to their ad-supported lower-cost streaming versions. Those U.S. households that still stick with cable spend about $103 a month on average for cable TV (which often includes broadband service), according to the New York Citybased S&P Global Market Intelligence. This compares to an average $54 monthly subscription fee for streaming media (plus the cost of broadband/Internet service). However, due to several challenges with streaming platforms (competition, high cost of operation, piracy, high churn, loss of subscribers, and last but not least, search fatigue), the studios have introduced advertising in order to have a two-tier model: subs and ads. Since advertising is still based on a mass audience at once (not cumulative over long periods), streamers are also moving towards live television (with awards shows and sports). In effect, SVoD platforms and TV networks are losing out to AVoD and FAST channels. This new “viral” ecosystem that is now engulfing the international TV industry is also flooding the market with low-cost, lowquality content that is financed on a revshare basis, with the talents absorbing most of the initial financial burden. Nonetheless, this new ecosystem is shaping up the TV sector with seminars galore about AVoD and FAST channels, and new trade publications are popping up, like Viral Media, edited by veteran journalist K Dass in Singapore. Some of this new Social Media content that manages to move to OTT with broadcast-quality results is subsequently licensed worldwide by established international distributors. The New York City-based FilmRise, for example, licensed Preston & Brianna, a popular YouTube reality show. Similarly, distributors with extensive film libraries, such as the Los Angeles-based Multicom, license content, in the words of Jesse Baritz, Multicom’s vp of Content Acquisition & Development, “to all different kinds of media, including for their own FAST channels.” (By Dom Serafini) (Continued from page 18) MIP Cancun’s Maria Perez-Belliere of RX France Pictured on the front cover from l. to r.: Roxana Rotundo of Miami-based VIP 2000, Liliam Hernandez of Miami-based Universal Cinergia, and Cecilia Gomez de la Torre of Lima, Peru’s Tondero Distribución.
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