MIPCOM 2024 returned to the MIPCOM of yesteryear (2019, to be exact, before the pandemic), but now its official name is “MIPCOM Cannes.” This move was perhaps meant to appease the city of Cannes, what with MIPTV relocating to London in February. Additionally, Canneseries, the municipality-organized TV festival in association with MIPTV, is losing its (much larger) sidekick. This situation is somewhat similar to what happened with the Monte Carlo Festival after the closing of the associated Monte Carlo TV market.
As for MIPCOM, it’s back to Hollywood in Cannes, with the excesses that only Hollywood traditionally offers: studios in attendance, a large number of parties; invites to (often overlapping) breakfast, lunch, and dinner meetings; top-level executives making presentations; premier screening showcases; and a post-pandemic record number of exhibitors and content buyers. There is also an unusually large number of dubbing studios and AI technology companies exhibiting at the market.
On Wednesday, October 23, during a press conference, Lucy Smith, director of MIPCOM Cannes, will give an update on attendance and the upcoming inaugural MIP London. Meanwhile, at kick-off, VideoAge gathered the following observations from MIPCOM participants:
Iginio Straffi, CEO of Italy-based animation company Rainbow, said that he did not see the buyers he was hoping to meet with at MIPCOM Jr., but he’s still bullish on MIPCOM, where he’s introducing Corto Maltese, a six-part live-action series now in development and expected to be in production come summer. Straffi, who recently acquired Viacom’s (now Paramount’s) shares of Rainbow, is in Cannes with Colorado Films, the Italian film company that also owns The Movement, a Hollywood-based talent agency. “We are in Cannes with a Colorado team,” explained Straffi, “and with a Rainbow team, ready to buy IP rights and to sell our content.” He also added that, “since 2022 Rainbow is 100 percent Italian.”
Loni Farhi is at MIPCOM to introduce CosmoBlue Media, a company he co-founded last October after selling SPI. “MIPCOM is extremely important to us,” stated Farhi, who’s also acquiring content for YouTube channels and other OTT platforms. “We’re are also announcing a collaboration with FZ Sports, a Miami-based media company for distribution of LatAm football (soccer) games to the Americas.” CosmoBlue recently acquired Da Vinci, a U.K. education and entertainment production and distribution company, and it is on the lookout for other acquisitions. Berk Uziyel, CosmoBlue’s co-founder and CEO, added that the company is at MIPCOM with three divisions, including Cosmo’s telenovela linear and SVoD channels.
At a Sunday luncheon for arts programs buyers, Reiner Moritz, president of Poorhouse International, declared that this MIPCOM would be successful. This was a view shared by all his guests, including Jesper Petersson of Sweden’s SVT, Kaye Warren of Australia’s SBS, Heike Connolly of Poorhouse, and Rita Lombardi of Italy’s RaiCom.
Sean Cohan, president of the Toronto-based Bell Media, is back at MIPCOM after a six-year absence, and he’s curious to find out what the market looks like since he last saw it in 2018. Cohan expects it to be a good market even though the industry “is under pressure,” and said that he’s here with six associates, all of whom are buying and selling.
In terms of official figures, as per last Saturday, 9,464 participants had registered for the market, of which 2,644 are buyers. The number of exhibitors is said to be 1,468.
Pictured above, from top l.: Rainbow’s Iginio Straffi; CosmoBlue’s Loni Farhi; Jesper Petersson of Sweden’s SVT, Kaye Warren of Australia’s SBS, Reiner Moritz and Heike Connolly of Poorhouse, and Rita Lombardi of Italy’s RaiCom; Bell Media’s Sean Cohan.
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