“We’re very happy with the MIP London event,” said an executive with the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), which, together with the Savoy Hotel, were the venues for this first-ever five-day MIP London that ended today, Thursday, February 27. He then continued: “We have already reserved the dates for next year, if MIP comes back,” to which Lucy Smith, MIP London’s director, responded: “MIP London will definitely be back next year, and we welcome the confidence showed to us by the IET.”
Judging from the opening cocktail party on Sunday, it looked like the whole international TV sector was at the inaugural MIP London, so large was the crowd. The venues were elegant, attendees agreed, especially the Savoy Hotel. VideoAge‘s first report counted 72 exhibitors, however the total tally was actually 84 sellers when we included companies that had tables in the Siemens boardroom on the first IET market floor. Those included Bomanbridge and Just For Entertainment (formerly Amuz). There were also several representatives from distribution companies who chose not to exhibit, but who instead opted to walk around MIP London’s venues and get the lay of the land, including execs from Turkey’s InterMedya, who came to investigate the market for possible future participation.
As for the final MIP London numbers, the market officially recorded 1,000 buyers out of a total 2,700 delegates (including 100 journalists). In addition to European buyers, there were American and Canadian buyers interested in content for the Latin American market. Some buyers commented that it was difficult to attend both MIP and the concurrent London Screenings — especially in instances where their companies could not send more than one acquisition executive. Smith pointed out that MIP started a day before the London Screenings so as to help out buyers facing just such a predicament.
In terms of floor activities, attendees paid lots of attention to the You Tube and Broadcast seminar at the IET theater. This Monday conference was so overcrowded that safety concerns necessitated the evacuation of people who couldn’t be seated. The same issue arose during Monday’s NBCUniversal Television Alternative Studio party at the Savoy, where the Beaufort Bar was overflowing.
MIP organizers were ready for a crowd at Tuesday’s David Beckham conference, where the ex-football (soccer) star was interviewed by Netflix COO Bela Bajaria, but many would-be attendees still wound up outside the doors to the event once the theater was filled up. One observation is that both of those “standing room only” events lacked some substance. The YouTube event failed to explore whether it is a partner or competitor of broadcasters. And not even a single clip of Beckham’s new Netflix documentary was shown at his conference.
Dori Media’s screening of the first episode of the eight-part Israeli horror-comedy series Soul Sucker was also well attended.
Meanwhile, on the London Screenings side, Paramount Global held its party on Tuesday, and it looked like all 400 buyers that attended both its morning and afternoon screenings were at the reception. And FOX Entertainment Global hosted a cocktail reception on Wednesday, the day before their screenings.
Pictured above, from top l. to r.: Bomanbridge’s Carl Hall and Sonia Fleck; at the YouTube conference; Universal Television Alternative Studio’s Toby Gorman, Monica Rodman, and Ed Havard at the NBC Universal Television Alternative Studio party; InterMedya’s Ahmet Ziyalar; Nadav Palti, Bat Hen Sabag, Daphina Levin, and Aharon Keshal at Dori Media’s screenings; RSI’s Elena Trugli, VideoAge’s Dom Serafini, and Paramount Global’s Sonia Bruni at Paramount Global’s London Screenings party.
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