The End Of An Era
Goodbye MIPTV, Hello MIP London
Welcome back to Streaming Made Easy (SME). I’m Marion & this is your 5-min read to get a European take on the Global Streaming Video Business.
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Enjoy today’s read.
Today at a glance:
Goodbye MIPTV
Hello MIP London
My 3 key takeaways
That’s it folks, MIPTV bowed out this week on its 61st anniversary.
“Change is needed and that’s why we’ve taken action to bring the curtain down on MIPTV ” - Lucy Smith, Entertainment Division Director, RX FRANCE
I sense the industry is split about MIPTV ending (come share your take here).
On one side, you have those who stopped coming years ago (even before the pandemic) and expected this to happen.
In the middle, you have execs who were still going but with mixed feelings asking themselves if it was still worth it given that attendance levels were lower post-covid.
On the other side, you have folks like me who grew fond of the April edition.
Why?
As far as I’m concerned, small(er) is beautiful. I don’t need to attend 10 MIPCOM or IBC-like events on the conference track.
One might argue that I like small because I’m a solo act. It’s partly true. However, I do believe that both serve different purposes:
Big events: you cast a wide net, you get your brand and teams out there. It’s crazy busy and exciting.
Small(er) events: you learn, you deepen and nurture. It’s chill and inspiring.
As companies design their event strategy, with cost effectiveness in mind, they have to find a balance between big and small.
Take a second to review the meetings you’ve had, the insights you’ve gained, the sales and leads you’ve generated. This will inform your 2025 strategy.
Talking about 2025, what should we expect from MIP London?
Well first of all, it’s not MIPTV in London.
There will not be a conference nor an exhibition floor.
The new event is built as a showcase and a networking event to live alongside the London TV Screenings and the BBC Showcase.
For reference, the London TV Screenings have had a similar journey as it started to grab buyers on their way in / out to the BBC Showcase (BBC’s annual conference for buyers in Liverpool). Studios started doing their own events where they invited buyers to screen their latest productions.
Today, BBC relocated its event to London and the London Screenings took a more concerted approach. Founding distributors (All3Media, ITV Studios, Banijay and Fremantle) were joined by 25 distributors this year.
“Let me be clear, MIP LONDON is not about competing with, but complementing the existing screenings set up” - Lucy Smith
With the addition of MIP London, February will become the equivalent of the LA screenings in May: the place to be for international buyers. Expect this map to grow:
MIP London will take place at the SAVOY Hotel and the Institute of Engineering and Technology. Buyers’ lounges, private club rooms, and screening theatres to gather buyers and sellers.
This makes a lot of sense for sellers who don’t have their own event. For sellers who have their events, it could be a central hub to meet more buyers afterwards.
It makes less sense for the growing portion of MIP attendees who don’t buy and sell programmes but rather focus on channel distribution, technology. MIPCOM will become even more important to them.
I’m excited to see what MIP London will look like. Let’s check in again in a year’s time.
Now for those of you who weren’t in Cannes this week, let me leave you with my 3 key takeaways from MIPTV 2024:
→ New kid on the block:
Tubi will launch in the UK this summer. We knew it was coming but I don’t think I had seen a timeframe for it.
It’s been long in the making (they were meant to launch pre-pandemic) and here’s why it’s great news: free streaming is all about scale. The ecosystem needs more players to enter the European space and Tubi has its own recipe with:
a large library approach (200K titles in the US, 50K in Canada, estimated 5K at launch for the UK)
a hyper personalised viewing experience (they barely curate manually)
a savant ad load strategy (4-6 minutes per hour)
a know how to attract demos in ways SVOD and TV don’t or struggle to
No FAST at launch which is no surprise as Tubi is AVOD-first unlike Pluto TV.
To know more about Tubi, read my deep dive:
→ AI: We, as an industry, are wrapping our heads around AI and it’s a good thing. We are asked to do more, with less, faster and we should welcome technology if it accelerates and augments us.
The only caveat: we should watch out for the shiny object syndrome. It’s crucial to do our due diligence, test and make room for the right AI use cases (and companies) in our businesses.
Download the Ampere Analysis presentation 👉 here
→ Sports: Listening to Zoe Duffelen, Scott Melvin and Scott Young during our sports streaming panel on Tuesday, 3 things stroke me:
The sport vertical has a fan driven approach whether they create content, tell stories or build their platforms. They are here to super serve their fans. It seems like a no brainer but I think that our industry has lost sight of that and tend to have a top down approach to content production which explains in part why some programs and mediums do not meet their audiences like they use to.
Sport is a must have ingredient in a content strategy whether you have the big bucks or not. Last week, I looked at alternative ways to get into sports and honestly this applies to any genre (the approaches remain, only the companies differ).
If you are not Warner Bros Discovery, France Télévisions or NBC, the summer is going to be a long one. However, there are opportunities to build a conversation around the Olympics or even offer a counter programming for those not interested in the Olympics (not everyone is). Check out ideas I shared last summer.
That’s it for today but before you go:
Enjoy your weekend and see you next Friday for another edition of Streaming Made Easy!
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