New Europe Marker (NEM) has celebrated its 10th anniversary, again in the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The four-day market organized by the Croatian Mediavision, continues to maintain its precise focus on the countries of the CEE region that seek to explore the business of FTAs, Pay-TV channels, cable and satellite operators, IPTV, production, distribution and technology applications, and other business verticals within the TV industry.
The 2023 edition brought together more than 1,000 participants, making it the largest to date. It featured 11 high-profile speakers, including SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan; Sony Pictures Television Executive Vice President of Distribution and Networks EMEA Mark Young; United Group CEO Victoriya Boklag; Jamie Cooke of Warner Bros. Discovery; Vanda Rapti from the Viaplay Group; CME CEO Dušan Švalek; Maria Valenzuela from Movistar Plus+. Executives from Lionsgate, Mediawan Rights, BBC Studios, All3media International, among others, also attended.
The opening session paid tribute to 10 years of the NEM brand, where Sanja Božić-Ljubičić, founder and CEO of the market, moderated a panel with executives who have attended each market over the past decade, from the companies Eutelsat, Pro Plus, TV2 Media Group, and Telemach Croatia/Slovenia.
‘I am very happy with the way things went. As I always say, a project like this needs three to five years in order for it to be recognized. And here we are with the tenth edition behind us, and with the response as big as ever. I don’t know what we will do next year, it will be difficult to overcome this. Speakers, people who represent themselves, there are the biggest companies, the biggest streamers that exist in the world today’, said Božić-Ljubičić.
As is classic, the event included a series of panels focused on the local and European markets, such as “What makes content buyers tick and how do they find that perfect fit?” with the participation of Czech Television, Prva TV, TVP (Poland), Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) and ducktv. Or the session “Europe and Broadcasters: Challenger and Opportunities”, with Polsat Media, NOS, and RTL Croatia.
There were also keynotes dedicated to relevant players, such as Victoriya Boklag, CEO of United Group, where she spoke of the company’s leading position in the region: ‘When we talk about the future of media in general, I think it’s one of the most transformative industries. We have a lot of global players, and the competition is good – they are coming to our markets directly and fighting for eyeballs. Our big advantage is local media and local content from the region’.
Or Vanda Rapti, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer for North America and Viaplay Select, who talked about future ventures: ‘I am truly excited about helping partners around the world grow their own service, and about seeing the success and upsides Viaplay Select brings to the business. We are indeed looking forward to launching in new territories with more partners. Also, I’m super excited about the amazing content pipeline that is coming both for Viaplay under our direction to consumer markets and for our Viaplay Select partners around the world’.
In addition, a section of the market was dedicated to the TV Tech segment, a space focused exclusively on technology companies that enhance the growth and development of the television industry with their innovative solutions. Anette Schaefer of Big Pictures hosted the panel and presentation with Comcast Technology Solutions, Broadpeak, Gcore, and Sandbox Group.
In addition, various content providers, such as distributors and studios, like Sony Pictures Television, Lionsgate, BBC Studios, and The Walt Disney Company held screenings and exhibits at the event, where they showcased their new programming.
