20 If the size of a magazine issue published by trade media and distributed at a market can determine the success of that trade show, MIPCOM is going to be a good event as there are more advertising pages than usual on display in this magazine and others. But let’s leave the predictions to those executives who will ultimately reap the rewards... and the invoices. Izzet Pinto, CEO and founder of Turkey’s Global Agency, expects this year’s MIPCOM to “return to its old days. Even though there are many markets held throughout the year, MIPCOM has always been the biggest market and will definitely continue like this.” Similarly, France-based Emmanuèle Pétry Sirvin, producer and head of International at Dandelooo, said, “Sometimes it feels that the pandemic era never happened, and business is back to normal. The only reason why there might be fewer people attending would be for ecological reasons — for example, flying to Cannes from the other side of the world when one can hold VC calls doesn’t make sustainable sense.” Also from Turkey, Can Okan, founder and CEO of Inter Medya, believes “that the value of face-to-face communication has been recognized. Therefore, MIPCOM will return to the levels of intensity seen in the prepandemic years. Even the participation in the previous MIPCOM exceeded our expectations, to be honest, and we are looking forward to another surprise this year.” Pinto further added, “There was a return to the market world after the pandemic. Everyone has observed that face-to-face communication and networking are more efficient in our industry than online markets. Before the pandemic, we were attending 12-14 markets per year. We have reached 18 for 2023. Perhaps we will reach 20 in the coming years.” One subject VideoAge was keen to explore with the executives interviewed for this piece was the topics presented at this year’s MIPCOM conferences. We asked what topics they’d like to see covered. “Ha!” began Pétry Sirvin. “I have to admit that I never have or can make the time to attend the conferences during the market, which is a huge pity. The topic I am most interested in is the emergence and business model for FAST channels.” “Unfortunately”, began Okan, “due to the busy market days filled with meetings, I don’t have much chance to attend these conferences, but I definitely review the summaries of these conferences after the market. Our research and business development team participates in these conferences and provides me with all the details upon our return from the market. When we discussed this year’s program with this team, they also mentioned that the conference program for this year touches on current trends and topics of interest.” For Pinto, “MIPCOM has always organized good conferences. The private screenings are also good for the buyers. In particular, the Fresh TV conference continues to hold up remarkably well for format and drama buyers.” Okan also spoke to whether MIPCOM’s results will determine his involvement at other fall markets. “MIPCOM”, he said, “being the largest market, can be considered our season kick-off, [but] the results of MIPCOM or any other market do not affect our participation in other markets. We view each market as a separate experience with its own unique focus. Of course, the outcomes of MIPCOM may lead to additional trips or ongoing topics for other fall markets.” Finally, asked about the impact of the Hollywood strikes, Pinto pointed out that “there are 150 projects in our catalog, half of which are Turkish TV series and the other half are formats. We especially think that our formats will enter the U.S. market. Channels in the U.S. will include more formats in their time slots once they run out of stock. We anticipate that at least two of our formats will be aired.” For Nicola Merola, president of Pixcom, an independent production company based in Montreal, Canada, “The big question remains, will the platforms keep buying as much content as they have for years, or will they slow down?” As for MIPCOM returning to the success of its pre-pandemic years, Merola simply said, “We have high hopes for the market.” A spokesperson for London-based All3Media wouldn’t say if this MIPCOM is going to be better than last year for them, but did say, “We are looking forward to this year’s MIPCOM: now the only really truly global gathering of our peers.” As for new sales prospects, it is believed “that the general mix of our clientele will attend — linear with VoD, pure platforms, and all the variations of AVoD and FAST — plus a range of producers.” And as for new territories, “we believe that India is a key growth region for our scripted format catalog as well as other APAC regions”, she said. All the major U.S. studio will be exhibiting at MIPCOM 2023, and three of them — NBCUniversal, Disney, and Sony Pictures TV — are having their stands organized by their U.K. offices. Two U.S. studios will garner extra attention, what with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Gerhard Zeiler delivering the opening keynote address on Monday, and Paramount Global Content Distribution’s Bob Bakish getting the Personality of the Year Award on Tuesday. However, this time around there won’t be a dinner celebration, only a small cocktail that will be very limited in scope and guests. Another keynote speech will be delivered on Tuesday by Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of the Barcelona, Spain-based The MediaPro Studio, which is controlled by Chinese equity firm Orient Hontai Capital. China is also this year’s MIPCOM Country of Honor. On the U.S. studio side, Tony Vassiliadis, executive vice president of Fox Entertainment Global and COO of MarVista Entertainment, commented, “As we approach MIPCOM 2023, we have further solidified our position in the global marketplace with a growing portfolio of content and are expanding our team to better support clients. [At] this MIPCOM, we are proud to represent all of FOX’s unscripted content, including tape and format sales of programs. [We] also continue to feature a high volume of original movies across various genres — holiday, thriller, romance, comedy, young adult, family, horror and action. Additionally, we are now representing a slate of original and third-party movies, series, specials, documentaries, and other genres that stream on our sister AVoD platform, Tubi. [With] the well-attended opening night party we had last year, we are repeating the fun with an invitation-only reception at our stand Monday evening.” Vassiliadis is also satisfied with MIPCOM’s conference slate: “RX Global always does a great job hosting highly topical and meaningful panels that address the current state of the business and where it’s heading.” Missing among the more than 300 MIPCOM 2023 exhibitors will be most of the LATAM companies that have attended in years past. This year, the region will be represented by just a few companies from Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico. But, as reported on page 22 of this issue by VideoAge’s Omar Mendez, LATAM will come alive next month during MIPCOM’s sister market, MIP Cancun, in November. Confronting Distributors’ Challenges Before the MIPCOM Mart October 2023 Market Preview
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