MIPTV 2016: assets for the future

The top market issue? Dramas are on its best moment ever. MIPDramas was a huge pre-event last Sunday, for sure the most successful one at this MIPTV with 400 buyers attending from 55 countries. Due to the OTT platforms, people gobble up fiction faster and deeper. More and more products are needed.

The newest thing? Virtual reality content. Los Angeles, Montreal, Paris and many other production hubs are evolving fast in business. Docs, games, factual, fiction… Samsung is the main producer and promoter, with equipment going down strongly in prices. In China, 3-5% of population is watching content with VR goggles. 

The new business to arise? Short content, as we’ve been stressing this year. The biggest announcement at MIPTV was French Vivendi’s Studio+, a service of original premium short series to be launched in Europe and the Americas next September. HBO showcases its mobile Now and Go services, and plans to handle original short content soon. Vivendi (owner of Canal+) says that 60% of smartphone users watch short-form videos.

Other? Live sport gaming tournaments platforms, as eSports or Amazon’s Twitch, were at MIPTV a hot issue for advertisers and brands, with already 55 million registered viewers. Endemol Shine is already producing eSport content for videos, apps and live events. Research suggests that by 2017 frequent viewers of eSport could total 145 million, and associated revenues are expected over $1 billion by 2019.

Countries to keep in mind? This MIPTV made ‘focus on’ Germany, which has boomed in the market due to its production, co-production and distribution drivers. Red Arrow, Beta, ZDF led event headlines. On the other hand, Japan has been named ‘Country of Honor’ Mipcom 2016. The rising-sun country is a quite closed market, so big collaboration opportunities can take place. In content, it is providing ‘out of the box’ entertainment formats.

Basics not to forget? Broadcasters, pay TV and OTT players need original owned contents, so co-production, co-collaboration ventures, multi-screen alliances are the main thing in the new digital era.

MIPTV figures? The organization mentioned at the closing press conference that the show attracted 11,000 attenders from 100+ countries, with 3,900 buyers, among them 900 digital. But most of the industry members at the Palais believed that attendance has been decreasing during the last years, to about 9,000-9,500 people. However, most of exhibitors have stressed having their full agendas and finding fresh business energy.

Some news we Haven't mentioned during the week? The most successful product screened at MIPDramas was Belgium’s ‘Public Enemy’, winning the Drama Advisory Board’s ‘Coup de Coeur’ award.

According to the organization, both MIPDoc and MIPFormats had record attendance figures, with 1,890 participants (+5%). Buyers screened shows 22,398 times. The top-watched doc was Fox’s The Story of God With Morgan Freeman, while the MIPFormats Pitch was won by the Israeli physical gameshow XYZ. All3media sponsored the pitch.

Toy giant Mattel was named ‘Brand of the year’, and launched Mattel Creations, the international division that gathers owned properties together with Hit Entertainment content. Richard Dickson, president, said: ‘With the current media environment, kids can discover twists and make decisions on their own. They are naturally active players in a world of intensive media’.

Nicolás Smirnoff, Fabricio Ferrara and Rodrigo Cantisano