Granted, it’s never been easy for a European-based company to get to Las Vegas. A connecting flight or two is usual needed. But it is only recently that the Europeans began fleeing NATPE in droves. This year there are only 20 European distribution companies exhibiting (a mere 10 percent of total exhibitors). Ten of those are from Spain. Only seven have internationally recognizable names: FremantleMedia, Endemol, Fireworks, Mediaset, Mondo TV, RTVE and Zodiak. There are also a small number of European distributors without suites, like Italy’s RaiTrade and Switzerland’s RSI. The BBC is on hand without a suite as well, but they are listed as a U.S. company, not a U.K. one.
To find out the reasons for such meager participation and what it will take to make NATPE one of the top international TV markets again, VideoAge Daily went prowling.
While NATPE is hoping that moving the conference from Las Vegas to Miami next year will be helpful for European TV distributors, the general consensus is that more needs to be done.
“NATPE needs to think more like a European, which they are not doing,” said Gonzalo Cilley, president of Resonant TV. “They are just not welcoming enough. If they were like MIP and MIPCOM, there would be more efficient customer service. Vegas is really complicated and it just doesn’t have to be this way.”
Maria Bonaria Fois, general manager at Mondo TV, had hotel suite booking problems and had no idea who to complain to. “We came all the way from Madrid and they didn’t have the dates of our arrival correct, so we had to pay extra. This market really needs to be better organized; at least with MIP and MIPCOM, we know exactly where to go if there is a problem. Here there is a lot of confusion.”
Vegas is out of the way for Europeans, and thus Miami will be a more suitable place to do business, Fois added. “There’s only one direct flight from London, and most people have to change planes to get here. Add in immigration complications, and we’re awfully tired by the time we get here. So, to have a hotel booking issue is not good. They want us to join NATPE, but if we are not on the floor and all our business is conducted here in the suite, I don’t really see a need to.”
Greg Phillips, president of Fireworks International, is happy to do business at NATPE no matter where the conference is located.
“We’re very happy,” he said. “We had a busy morning and all things being equal, it will stay that way! As far as Miami is concerned, we will go wherever our customers are. There is no escape for them,” he quipped.
Having a successful conference no matter its location is key if you arrange all your meetings beforehand, said Raul Molina Urunuela, content sales executive at RTVE. “But as we are concentrating on the Latin market, Miami will be better for business.”
By Karen Ruttner
