VS Autumn 2020, Wrap up: pictures of a great experience

The figures speak alone: the event has reached again the range of 4000 participants as in VS May, but has grown from 15 to 25% in buyers, screenings, countries and cities, defining an average of 20% up from spring. 

The screenings data is the top one, to illustrate the activity behind: 9271 video reproductions, almost 30% up from 7180 in May, including 7566 at the booths + 1705 at VS Next, the great new value of VS Autumn, with 30 panels and testimonies that were released day by day, generating re-entries and newcomers. More positive tips: there were almost 2 sessions per user (everybody came back at least once) and 8 pages & 9 minutes per session, so users stayed good time and did many actions per visit. 

Two graphics confirm all of these: the ‘Buyer behavior’, which shows that 75% of the buyers visited at least 50% of the booths, while 40% of them, attended 50% of the days. And the VS sections share, which shows that average user spent 41% of its time in the zone of the booths, and the rest in the other options, with VS Next as a big attraction. From the first week to the second, VS figures was the one that grew more, with daily data of the event, the Top 10 rankings and different stats.

The regions share graphic is another good point: Europe and Asia have been more important this time, added to the Americas that kept strong. Though the total participants were similar, Autumn had better users, so all the regions were enhanced. The VS Next panels, covering all regions, helped to bring people. The Spain panel was the main case, generating that day also, a strong increase of visits to Spanish booths.

The top screenings booths? As in May, ViacomCBS/VIS gained the category, but this time Turkish and Western European distributors had stronger presence and shared the leading posts with the global brands and the Latins, which again showed their 2.0 face: shorter series and more genres. Comparing to spring, there were twice more companies sharing the Top 15/20. 

The top contents? The category was still more fragmented than suppliers, with about 50 titles changing the pole positions. ‘Hard’ from HBO (a Brazilian dramedy) was usually at the top, but below there were Turkish, Latin dramas, various factual and kids products. Most of the clicks were for fiction, but entertainment formats, factual and kids increased to 40% of total, as during the Pandemic could continue productions better than scripted. Inside fiction, there were more films and new origins for dramas as Russia, Central Europe and CIS territories. VS is an event for all kinds of buyers, about all types of content.

A final conclusion? Virtual Screenings was a great success in May, and VS Autumn has surpassed it in September. Undoubtedly there is a space for online events, that solved many obstacles of the physical events. The VS pillars are: global traffic, a very friendly system, digital tools to enhance business and full reports of the interactions. Easy to say, difficult to concrete. The future is open…

Nicolás Smirnoff and Fabricio Ferrara

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