After Content Americas was held in Miami last January, C21 confirmed that its next event would be called Content Budapest, a market with a specific format: to promote the co-production business in the countries of the CEE region. The event takes place from June 27 to 29, and more than 130 leading companies participate, and almost 400 buyers and acquisition executives attend, both from the region and from around the world.
Among the exhibiting companies are: Sony Pictures Television, ITV Studios, BBC Studios, Lionsgate, Grupo Globo, RaiCom, Caracol TV, CJENM, TRT Sales, ZEE, Leonine Studios, ZDF Studios, among others. While company executives from high-caliber companies it’s participating as buyers, or as speakers in the sessions, including: Paparika, Paramount, WBD, AMC Networks International, mena.tv, Merzigo, Antenna Entertainment, blutv, Prima; among many others.
The market is taking place at The Kempinski Hotel and is on a mission to foster new programming relationships in Central and Eastern Europe and connect fresh creativity with international partners. It also includes some differentials compared to traditional markets.
One of them, and as a prelude to the market, C21 organized the Content Budapest Pitch, which uses C21’s global platform to discover the next generation of local shows and connect them with a global audience of 200,000 content industry executives. The pitch competition carries a US$20,000 marketing prize across C21 platforms and brings the winners to Content London to continue the development of the winning show. The winner will be announced on June 28 at the iconic Boat Party on the river Danube.
Another highlight is that the organizers of the market also confirmed to Ukrainian delegation, Ukrainian Content. Global Cooperation (UC.GC) as part of market. This union of the leading Ukrainian broadcasters, media groups, and creative powerhouses aims to build a bridge between Ukraine and the international audiovisual industry through these difficult times.
A+E Networks‘ Izabella Wiley, United Media‘s Tatjana Pavlović, LRT‘s Gytis Oganauskas and Pro Plus‘ Branko Čakarmiš are some of the executives who will be speakers during the market.
As for the conferences, the themes are diverse and cover current industry trends, some are: on June 26, Ampere Analysis, 3Vision and Parrot Analytics, will dissect the latest data coming out of Central Eastern Europe and the wider region, highlighting defining shows trends and genres and look ahead to the key drivers in the industry. Also that day in the afternoon, the «LatAm Showcase” will take place, starring Claudia Sahab, Europe sales director at TelevisaUnivision, Paloma García, international sales director, Caracol TV, and Gabriel Doria, content distribution and partnership at Globo.
Meanwhile, on June 28, the first keynote will be led by the general manager of Warner Bros. Discovery CEE, Baltics, Middle East, Mediterranean and Turkey, Jamie Cooke; This is followed by a panel on emerging OTT, with executives from AMC Network International and BluTV, and then a panel with commercial broadcasters in the region, including Pro TV, Pro Plus, and RTL Hungary.
Finally, on Thursday 29, one of the top conferences will revolve around the FAST market in CEE, and which players are analyzing their actions there. The session will have Rakuten TV and Wedotv. And as the last session, producers from the region and studios will discuss the options for co-production and which strategies are the most suitable.
‘Content Budapest is about acting local and thinking global. C21 is connected with the best local partners and is leveraging its market-leading platforms to ensure a great experience for everyone doing business with and across CEE, ensuring this is the must-attend event in June. We have the full team on board that previously delivered Budapest markets, and together with our partners at MRM, and the C21 programming team, are set to deliver an unrivaled experience. The market is excited about the fact C21 is committed to developing a progressive pan-regional event, not just a sales market, and bringing all of our experience in delivering next-generation creativity and connectivity to Content Budapest’, said David Jenkinson, Editor- in-chief & Managing Director at C21.
