The geography of international TV trade shows is changing once again, with more markets coming out every year, including a planned Istanbul TV Market in 2025 and a TIFF film and TV market in 2026.
In the beginning, when the concept of a film and TV market first appeared in 1963, the only venues were Los Angeles (May Screenings, later renamed the L.A. Screenings), Milan, Italy (MIFED), and Cannes (MIP-TV). Subsequently, the concept expanded to Las Vegas (NATPE), Manila, Philippines (the Manila Film Festival, popularized by Imelda Marcos, wife of the country’s onetime dictator), Monte Carlo (Monte Carlo TV Market), Brighton, England (the BBC Showcase), London (the London Multi Media Market), and Banff, Canada (Banff TV Festival).
By the late 1990s the TV market frenzy subsided, with only a few yearly appointments remaining, including NATPE in Miami, Florida; MIP-TV and MIPCOM in Cannes, France; the L.A. Screenings in Los Angeles; and the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, California.
The new century brought another wave of new TV markets into new countries with Budapest and Johannesburg (DISCOP), Singapore (Asia TV Forum), Rome, Italy (Rome Fiction Fest), Buenos Aires, Argentina (Jornadas Internacionales), and São Paulo, Brazil (Brazil TV Forum).
Now, the international TV sector is going through another regional shift, but with a twist. While in the past, TV markets were careful to avoid overlapping dates and venues, there has been a recent explosion of markets set in the same areas and same months. For example, London will soon host Content London (December 2-5, 2024), London Screenings (February 24-28, 2025), and MIP London (February 24-27, 2025).
Similarly, Miami, Florida is going to be a busy place, with Content Americas (January 21-23, 2025), followed by NATPE Global and Realscreen (February 5-7, 2025). Then, there is the competition in June for CEE hegemony among New Europe Market or NEM in Dubrovnik, Croatia (June 9-12, 2025), Content East in Warsaw, Poland (June 2-5, 2025), and NATPE Budapest in Hungary (date TBA).
Then there are markets that look to take advantage of the proximity to other larger markets, like the MIA (Italian Audiovisual Market) in Rome, Italy (held October 14-18, 2024), just before MIPCOM, in Cannes, France.
March is still an open month with only Series Mania (March 21-28, 2025) in Lille.
With MIP moving to London, the month of April became available, but not to worry, two markets might be filling it up. One is in Istanbul, Turkey, the other in Toronto, Canada. The former is under the auspices of a coalition of Turkish TV companies. The other comes courtesy of TIFF, the film festival that took place September 5-15 in Toronto, Canada that is reportedly planning for a TV market in 2026. Also to consider is the Banff TV Festival, once a Canadian market powerhouse that Bell Media’s new CEO Sean Cohan is looking to revitalize, possibly at a new date (see front cover story).
Currently, the renamed Banff World Media Festival is held in June (June 9-12 in 2024), a busy month in the international market calendar with TV trade shows in Warsaw, Dubrovnik, Toledo (Conecta Fiction), Cannes (Cannes Lions), and Budapest.
The geographical shift is also evident with MIP Africa, which was held in Cape Town, South Africa, September 2-4, 2024, with the Dubai International Content Market (November 12-13, 2024), and with MIP Cancun, to be held in Cancun, Mexico November 19-22, 2024. MIP Cancun changed the travel geography of many LatAm buyers, who switched from MIPCOM Cannes to Cancun a few weeks later. In addition, the successful Cancun-Miami axis negatively affected participation to South American TV markets, including Jornadas, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 7-8, 2024.
Audio Version (a DV Works service)
Leave A Comment