The 13th edition of the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and the second edition of Screen Singapore have just wrapped up. The two were held concurrently from December 4-7 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and we were there to report.
This year there were an estimated 4,000 participants from 60 countries: 526 sellers from 40 countries and 539 buyers from 35 countries.
There were 52 conference speakers, but since the conferences were held on the third floor, they contributed to a sparse feeling on the market floor (though it should be noted that floor traffic was busier on Day 2 than on Day 1).
There was a large presence from Mongolian TV, a private TV network which buys 50 percent of their 17-hour-a-day FTA programming.
There was also a good studio presence, with CBS on the market floor with a stand and NBC Universal and Disney holing court in suites on the third floor (By the conference area). There was no Italian presence this year (neither buyers nor sellers).
On the other hand, there was a good Canadian presence, with CCI and Breakthrough included.
Latin America reduced its participation, now with 4 companies exhibiting: TV Azteca, Televisa, Caracol, Globo (Venevision participated without a stand).
A big announcement occurred at the Day 1 opening ceremony, when organizers announced a collaboration between Reed MIDEM (MIP-TV & MIPCOM organizers) and Reed Exhibitions (ATF organizers).
Kicking off during ATF 2013, the ATF-Reed MIDEM event is called MIP Academy, and is a full-day event offering pan-Asian producers a number of masterclass sessions and workshops, conducted by industry experts, on how to create productions with international potential and how to successfully export them. (A similar plan was announced last year, but postponed to 2013).
But back to this year’s event: One of the highlights of the conference portion of the event was a seminar organized by TV France International on “8 New Ways of Viewing Television,” where one of the panelists, Laurent Chivallier of SingTel raised the question about “How to monetize content for people with no disposable income?”
Another interesting seminar (also held on the market floor, like the one organized by TV France International) was staged by the Media Development Authority of Singapore, and focused on TV production opportunities and challenges in China and Singapore. The only downside: the event was only in Chinese and difficult to follow, even with a translator.
