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Mipcom kicked off on Sunday evening with an event screening of Secuoya Studios and Mediawan Rights’ Zorro remake and continued with keynotes from execs from Paramount Global, Warner Bros Discovery, Tencent Video, Canal+, Mediapro and EbonyLife.
Screen rounds up some of the key talking points from Mipcom 2023 (Oct 16-19), which had over 11,000 delegates from 100 countries, according to organiser RX France.
Licencing comes back into fashion
It wasn’t so long ago that there was a big question mark over a giant TV sales market like Mipcom. With most of the big studios focusing on their global direct-to-consumer platforms, it seemed the glory days of third-party licencing were in the past. But, it seems, licencing is back in vogue.
Senior studio execs stressed at Mipcom that, rather than warehousing all their original films and TV shows on their own streaming services, they are keen on licencing some of it to buyers around the world. “Content licencing was, is and will continue to be a fundamental part of our economic model,” proclaimed Paramount Global president and CEO Bob Bakish, during a Mipcom keynote “It helps get our content in front of as many consumers as possible. It is a profitable multibillion dollar business for Paramount.”
His point was echoed by Warner Bros Discovery international head Gerhard Zeiler who said WBD is “not religious about having everything” for its own networks. ”Our goal is to maximise reach and maximise also monetisation. If we see that in certain markets and certain programmes, it makes sense to send it to third parties, we are doing that.”
Proving his point, one of the big talking points at Mipcom was the success of Suits reruns on Netflix, which the streamer licenced from NBC Universal. Despite the show, which co-stars Meghan Markle, also appearing on NBCU’s Peacock service, the eight-season series has consistently topped Netflix’s most-watched show rankings in recent weeks.
The great reset
This year’s Mipcom took place at a challenging time for the TV and film industry. Amid high inflation, shrinking ad revenues and the US strikes, content spend has been reined in by many studios, platforms and broadcasters.
“There has been an unprecedented decline in the TV advertising market,” ProSiebenSat.1 group CEO Bert Habets told journalists at a Mipcom roundtable event. “I’ve been around for quite a few years but I’ve not seen this happening before, with two years of 9% to 10% declines in the ad market.”
Little wonder the overall mood at Mipcom could hardly be described as buoyant. Notably fewer deals were announced at the market (although many will be concluded after) and there was a general sense of caution to proceedings. One European producer told Screen: “It’s dismal out there.”
A lot of the talk at dinners and parties was about job losses in the industry, or swapping tales about freelance colleagues out of work. Many thought the actors and writers strikes would lead to a growth in unscripted production, but that hasn’t materialised – if anything, traditional broadcasters seem to be cutting back on unscripted too.
The hunt for solutions
Given the challenging times, much of the focus was on solutions. More than one exec could be heard to say it is important to embrace new opportunities in tough times.
Among the solutions put forward by many execs were more co-productions to share the cost of making content. Others talked up the need to make content more cheaply, while maintaining the quality that audiences are accustomed to. This could mean a boom for ‘cost-effective’ locations and countries where the value of a dollar goes further.
Amid an industry-wide reset, ‘flexibility’ was also a big buzzword at Mipcom. Ruth Berry, ITV Studios managing director of global partnerships, noted there is now much more sharing of rights and windows by streamers. She cited Amazon in the UK commissioning Fifteen Love from World Productions and Dead Hot from Quay Street, which ITV Studios is selling internationally.
Strike impact
It may be on the other side of the Atlantic, but the strike by US actors union SAG-AFTRA made itself felt in Cannes. Mipcom has become increasingly starry over the years with top-level talent coming to town to promote their high-end series. But not this year.
The strike meant US acting talent was thin on the ground. Eva Longoria leant some star power to proceedings with a keynote to talk up her new Banijay-backed production studio Hyphenate Media Group. Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough was also in Cannes for the international premiere of Fremantle drama series Alice & Jack. Game Of Thrones producer Frank Doelger also came with key cast for the launch of Beta Film and ZDF Studios’ surveillance drama Concordia, on which he was a showrunner and executive producer. Both series, notably, were produced outside the US studio system.
Israel-Hamas war
For many at Mipcom, thoughts and attention were very much on the unfolding situation in Israel and Gaza. Israel has long been a prominent and successful exporter of both scripted and unscripted TV, so the many Israeli execs who usually attend were conspicuous by their absence.
Around 70 delegates from Israel had been due to be at Mipcom but the majority were unable to make it. Dori Media Group was among the small number of Israeli companies at Mipcom, while Keshet International was also exhibiting.
Security measures were also stepped up at the market in light of the war between Israel and Hamas and the murder of a teacher in northern France by a former student with a record of Islamic radicalisation. All delegates entering the Palais du Festivals at Mipcom had to pass through security gates and were subject to bag checks. Leaving Cannes, a number of delegates were caught up in a security alert on Wednesday (Oct 18) that saw Nice airport evacuated due to a bomb scare.
On the positive side, more than one delegate talked up the power of events such as Mipcom that bring together people from over 100 different countries – to meet, socialise and do business.
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– Armessa Movie News