Mipcom 2012, and beyond

Undoubtedly, the own production and the new media era are the two main vectors of business. The great majority of the important deals announced these days are about them. The co-production ventures are a key factor for high-end players to reduce costs and gain difficult markets. And the emergent territories bring a ‘new energy’ to the content industry, while many of the central ones still suffer the crisis.

On Thursday, Laurine Garaude, director of TV at organizer Reed Midem, gave the final numbers of Mipcom: there were 12,900 people and 4400 buyers, the top figures from 2008. She stressed again three main trends: more original content with more celebrity presence, than previous shows; more digital fever, with digital buyers growing from 310 at Mipcom 11 to 520 this show; and among the emergent territories, Latin America was the region with strongest growth this year, 36% up from last year. China grew 30%, South Korea 12%, Canada 11%.

A proof of the new importance of Latin America, is that Argentina has been designed ‘Country of Honor’ for Mipcom 2013, following the line of China, Russia and Canada. This year, the content market receives fresh air not only from the BRICS countries --Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa-- but also from the VISTA countries --Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Argentina--. Also, the Middle East is evolving fast, while Malaysia, Colombia, The Philippines, Chile, among many others, are now strong players in the industry.

Government participation establishing country pavilions is the way the emergent regions are growing most, both in Latin America and Asia. We will see more and more of these developments in the upcoming years. At this Mipcom, there were 41 country pavilions of countries from the entire world.

What’s is the new thing in new media? As we’ve been saying these days, the format titans Endemol, Fremantlemedia, Zodiak are launching new thematic TV channels in YouTube, about crime, urban life, etc. Hollywood Studios as Disney, are launching VOD services per genres --ABC on demand, now Disney movies on demand-- and also develop with pay TV operators, special broadcast live services --Disney Watch-- for smartphones and tablets, about their pay TV channels. TVE Spain, has created a new way of second screen, usually understood as to broadcast a product simultaneously on TV and online. Watching its super production Isabel, people can link to different services: the real history of the characters mentioned, previous chapters, etc.

Another important tip checked this Mipcom was that, more and more, the traditional ancillary businesses get the first drive of new contents: toymakers, video game developers, advertisement agencies, push new TV series based on their brands. Also this year, cinema linked the TV industry, and vice versa. The well-known theatrical producer The Weinstein Company was highlighted by Garaude at conference the last day of the market.

What the buyers were looking for at Mipcom? Fabrizio Salini, Switchover Media, Italy: ‘Factual oriented programming’. Dini Putri, RCTI Indonesia: ‘Entertainment formats, but not dating shows’. Goyo García, Band Brazil: ‘Quiz shows and Social experiment realities, as taking urban people to savage environments’. Alexandra Bezpalcova, Nova Czech Republic: ‘Male oriented programming for our new DTT channel, Fanda’. Elsa Strapkova, Markiza Slovakia: ‘Disaster and action movies for our new male free TV channel, Datjo’. 

Eric Jurgensen, America TV, and Cecilia Gomez, Frecuencia Latina, both leading broadcasters from Peru: ‘Big entertainment formats to produce in house’. Ryan Shiotani, BBC Asia: ‘Documentaries and lifestyle programming’. Angel Lopez, Mediaset Spain: ‘We want to generate synergy, complementary programming, between the free TV and the DTT channels’. At MIPJunior, the TV series most screened was Julius, Jr., from Saban Brands/Marvista.

Nicolás Smirnoff and Fabricio Ferrara

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