With MIPCOM less than a few weeks away, we thought we’d check in with Laurine Garaude, director of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division.
Garaude and the rest of the Reed MIDEM team are expecting a particularly robust market this year, with over 13,000 attendees. “All the trends are up, and the exhibition area sold out, including a new exhibition space outside the Palais des Festivals called Croisette Village,” Garaude said.
Garaude estimates registration from: “Over 4,500 buyers, of which we now already have over 800 digital buyers, including all the large platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Yahoo!, Google and more from around the world.” She added that there is significant growth from Asia, especially China, Japan, India and Thailand, as well as Africa, with new pavilions from Nigeria and South Africa in addition to new exhibitors from around the world including the US, France, the U.K., Russia and Argentina, which is MIPCOM’s Country of Honor.
The overall theme of this year’s event is “The New Golden Age of Television,” and, according to Garaude, “It’s a golden age for TV because there is so much creativity and so much quality and quantity of great content being produced around the world. This is the main theme for the program of events and the conferences” at this year’s MIPCOM.
The theme has many dimensions, she said, including “the increasing links between film and TV, which are showcased in the conferences titled, ‘TV: Film’s New El Dorado.’ These sessions show how TV offers important opportunities for film and will look at new business and financial models and best practices that can be shared.”
The “New Golden Age of TV” and the growing connection between TV and film will be showcased through the keynotes. A prominent example of this is this year’s Personality of the Year, Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation. “Jeffrey Katzenberg’s outstanding impact on the entertainment industry is internationally recognized and DreamWorks’ recent groundbreaking deals with companies including Netflix and Super RTL, and the studio’s continuing expansion into the television world, all demonstrate his clear vision of the future of entertainment. We’re very honored to welcome him to MIPCOM,” Garaude said.
MIPCOM is hosting Argentina as the 2013 Country of Honor in partnership with the Argentine Film Board (INCAA) “to give delegates the chance to discover the wealth of creativity and talent from the country and to promote content from Argentina on the world stage. There will be an extensive programme of sessions and networking opportunities including Fresh TV From Argentina, Co-production with Argentina and the MIPCOM Opening Party celebrating the content, diversity and passion of Argentina,” Garaude said.
Garaude believes that MIPCOM benefits all participants — and especially the indies — in a number of ways. “MIPCOM is the most efficient and cost effective way to meet new contacts from around the world,” she added.
There are many opportunities “in terms of learning and education and networking to meet the right people…We have an in-depth reach into the global TV industry, and high-level executives from all over the world come to Cannes, which is why we are creating even more opportunities for networking.”
She added also that organizers “recommend that [indies] set up meetings ahead of time and to fully benefit from the conference and events program because they are a great way to stay ahead on new trends and to meet people.”
