It was on many people’s mind: Will DISCOP Miami (now replacing NATPE Miami) be on a collision course with MIP Cancun? The answer is no, said Patrick Zuchowicki, founder and director of the DISCOP organization. Due to the strength of MIP Cancun, he and his colleagues have decided to re-direct DISCOP Miami into a U.S.-based event focusing on the global market (rather than just the LatAm region) with a strong domestic (U.S.) participation from Anglo- and Spanish-language TV stations, cable networks, and platforms.
DISCOP Miami was also on the minds of the executives at RX France, the organizer of MIP Cancun, and three of them (pictured above) met with a VideoAge representative in Mexico. The essence of the talk basically reiterated that Miami is a great destination for a January (31 to February 2) TV market, and the reps noted that while DISCOP has a track record for organizing successful markets, it is illogical to hold another LatAm-centric market just 77 days after MIP Cancun, especially with the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays in between.
As far as MIP Cancun itself is concerned, the TV market is only eight years old, but it keeps growing by the day. It registered 600 participants on October 18, and 800 just 10 days later. At the end of the three-day market that started on Monday, November 14, 2022, the number of participants passed the 800 mark. Organizers even ran out of sponsored bracelets (which were also used as electronic keys for the hotel rooms). There were just 450 participants in 2021. MIP Cancun 2022 also registered 70 members of the Worldwide Audiovisual Women’s Association.
It is clear that MIP Cancun has become the premier market for LatAm television, which is forcing DISCOP Miami to turn its attention to the global market, with LatAm being just one of its components.
Marta Ezpeleta, director of Distribution, International Offices, and Co-productions at The Mediapro Studio in Spain, had 10 people from her company in Cancun. “MIP Cancun is crucial for our sales and finding opportunities for new projects,” she said. The Mediapro Studio also sponsored the opening party.
If there was some grumbling at MIP Cancun it was related to its calendar dates, as it was close to the end of the AFM in Santa Monica (which concluded on November 6, 2022), and just 25 days after MIPCOM. Some content distributors simply did not have the time to jump from market to market, and a few of them had to forgo Cancun.
Similarly, because of how close it was to MIP Cancun, companies like Mediapro had to skip this year AFM’s, which is a market they normally attended in the past.
Pictured above: From L. to. r., Lucy Smith, RX markets’ director; Maria Perez-Belliere, director of MIP Cancun; and Mathilde Van Wynendaele, Marketing & Content manager for RX events.
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