Mipcom 2015: premium dramas, digital, short future

The big issue of the event has been premium dramas: now top European broadcasters and format titans are focused on fiction, and an unprecedented number of major dramas (from major companies) have been introduced to the market.

The 13,700 people came from 108 countries, including 4,800 buyers, of which 1,600 were from digital platforms. MIPJunior welcomed 590 buyers, from 1,400 participants, also 10% up from last year.

The closing press conference was titled ‘Premium drama drives business, as alliances flourish’. As many of the dramas were introduced with their stars, Mipcom seemed a bit more to Cannes Film Festival, with red carpet screenings. Reed Midem is preparing MIPDrama Screenings for next year at MIPTV, expecting about 250 international buyers. So… drama is the new big thing especially in Europe, usually headed by entertainment formats. Fiction traditional specialists as US Studios, Latin American telenovelas, Asian dramas, Turkish series, have opportunities and more competence, at the same time.

Of course, another top matter has been digital boom & evolution, and it was said that partnerships are the key to multiplatform OTT future. YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Facebook, Amazon Studios, Twitter and newer OTT players like UK-based Hopster or Icflix Media in the Middle East, were present in conferences. According to Digital TV Research, OTT live and VOD services will generate around USD 26 billion this year and USD 56 billion by 2020.

Andrew Moss, CCO, Oliver & Ohlbaum: ‘Audiences of the future will consume content by distribution methods we haven’t even contemplated yet’. Sophie Turner Laing, CEO, Endemol Shine Group: ‘Partnerships with different media creators will be the path forward in the multiplatform world. Icon, our new joint venture with YouTube superstar Michelle Phan is an example of this kind of partnerships’. UK ITV’s CEO, Adam Crozier, made a stirring defense of traditional TV: ‘Channel brands are not dead… TV is the most powerful medium in the world – Internet would love to have what we have’.

Many deals held during Mipcom confirmed business diversity: Endemol Shine announced a multi-year partnership with DreamWorks Animation’s online youth network AwesomenessTV. The idea is to launch AwesomenessTV channels in new markets as France, UK, Germany, Spain and Brazil. 

French telco Orange revealed it is upping its presence in Africa via Orange Digital Ventures, which is funding Afrostream, an SVOD platform showing African, African/American and African/Caribbean TV series and films. The Orange backing will help Afrostream develop its streaming service in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and South America.

All3media reported good success on crime series, while FremantleMedia made a difference with cooking shows, from the Nordic countries to South Asia. Fox International Channels acquired the original version of Keshet International’s False Flag, marking the first time Fox has taken a foreign-language drama for its networks. Fox is developing an English-language series and will now make the Hebrew version available to its international channels. False Flag is told as Keshet’s next Homeland.

Hasbro Studios president Stephen Davis used MIPJunior to confirm to the industry (and fans) that in all likelihood Transformers films 5 to 8 will be added to the popular theatrical franchise. Japan’s leading pay TV channel acquired exclusive Japanese broadcast rights to Sony’s US hit TV series The Player and Zoo from CBS Studios. Producer Mark Gordon is entering the international co-production sector for the first time, by developing procedural drama Darkness Falls with German ProSiebenSat.1 TV. eOne is distributing internationally. 

Turkey Country of Honour? Exports of Turkish TV series are expected to be worth USD 350 million this year, an astonishing result given that international sales were valued at less than USD 100,000 in 2004. Some 400 senior Turkish TV executives and major stars attended MIPCOM. Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) president İbrahim Çağlar commented: ‘Turkey has now exported TV programs and soap operas to more than 80 countries - from the Middle East to Eastern Europe. Our target is to achieve TV series exports worth USD 1 billion by 2023’.

Due to the success of Turkish content, NBC will debut its legal drama ‘Game of Silence’ in 2016, the first US adaptation of a Turkish original series. Among the host of Turkish talent in Cannes were superstar Tuba Büyüküstün and Halit Ergenc, lead role in the massively popular ‘1001 nights’.

The flash flood? It has just caused a minimum of disruption at the Palais of Festivals, though WiFi, credit cards and other services were affected most of the week. Country of Honour 2016? It is not decided yet, when usually by this time at least the main candidates are known.  

What is the newest thing at the content market? For Prensario, short video business. A whole industry of specific producers, distributors, focused OTT platforms, social network developments, is coming. Disney with Maker on Demand is one of the pioneers. Comparing to long content, consumer proactivity potential is far empowered. Let’s see…

Nicolás Smirnoff, Fabricio Ferrara, Rodrigo Cantisano