DISCOP Istanbul 2016: scripted still rules, but new options emerge

Yesterday, it was highlighted some of the challenges the show is facing: the drop of participants (almost 50% down from last year) and the new structure of booths, with all the Turkish companies gathered in the same pavilion, capturing 25% of the market floor instead of the 80% they used to occupy.  

Also, at the last moment the pavilions from Korea, China, Japan and Malaysia decided not to attend, due to the menaced moment of the city, what obliged organizers Globus Fair and Basic Lead to re-structure the floor moving stands and meeting tables, explained Patrick Jucaud-Zuchowicki, CEO, Basic Lead.

Anyway, some participants consulted by Prensario have positive feelings and comments: they described the show as ‘healthy’ and the drop of assistance is ‘a positive thing’ in some way, as they have much more time for meetings. ‘You can have even more than one meeting with a provider if it’s necessary’, emphasized Ignacio Barrera, acquisitions manager, Grupo Albavision (USA), who is attending the show for second year in a row. For some sellers, these events work as a good anteroom for other major shows, as MIPTV.

Since the very beginning, organizers of Discop Istanbul have tried to turn this show into a global market taking advantage of the success of Turkish series both in MENA, CEE, CIS and even Latin America. The positive thing at this edition is that it continues to gather a wide variety of buyers from all these regions.
About conferences, “The Format Day” was co-organized with FRAPA, the entity that protects formats globally. At “Why Protecting your IP will build your Business”, Jan Salling, Co-Chairman of FRAPA said: ‘TV industry used to be simple, but now it’s growing fast and is hard to know who is who. Merges like Endemol–Shine, Banijay–Zodiak Media, TF1–Newen and the launch of new players like Netflix opened the game. Marketplaces have become fundamental in this digital world, because people need even more to be in personal contact’. Other interesting concepts: ‘Talking about second screen is antique’, ‘Entertainment company is equal to media company’, and ‘Good ideas travel from anywhere’.

In another panel, Jacques Balducci, director of Eurodata TV, said fiction is still ‘leading the world’ with 40% of uptake and followed by entertainment (39%) and factual (12%). ‘In Russia, 60% of production are fictions; in Ukraine, 64%; and in Romania, 49%’. Izzet Pinto, CEO, Global Agency (Turkey), added: ‘During the last two years, entertainment format acquisitions grew a lot in CEE, thanks to the incensement of budget. We made good sales of formats as Shopping Girls and Blind Taste.

What are the buyers looking for? Madina Nurazkhanova, content acquisition manager, TV7 (Kazakhstan): ‘Scripted series and TV movies for prime time’. Bassam Ismael, ERTU (Egypt): ‘Scripted and singing and music formats. Audience wants to participate in the action’. 

Juan Ignacio Vicente, acquisitions at Mega (Chile), analyzed: ‘Turkish companies have realized that if they want to keep growing in the global market, they need to change their strategy. They’ve understood that the “boom” of their dramas had an expiration date —which we don’t know yet— so they’ve decided to bet into entertainment formats and reduce the cost of their scripted series’.

News during the market? MBC Group acquired the Pan Arabian rights for the formats Voice Kids (Talpa), Top Chef, Project Runaway and Your Face Sounds Familiar (Endemol Shine); Al Jadeed (Lebanon) will produce a local version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? later this year. Al Majed (UAE) will start producing entertainment shows for kids; Dubai TV will launch in March the local version of Best Friend Forever and The Queen Ahlam; OSN will adapt Saturday Night Live (NBC Universal). 

Today, the market offers the conference “It’s a Small World” with focus on next programming trends, the African region, and the digitalization of content. 

Rodrigo Cantisano, from Istanbul