Defined by Lucy Smith, Entertainment director at RX France, as a “robust” edition, the 40th venue of MIPCOM is officially out with MIPJUNIOR as a prelude, at the iconic Palais des Festivals and Hotel Majestic in Cannes, France. For this year, RX expects to join the whole week more than 330 exhibitors and over 2,500 buyers from more than 100 countries, aiming to surpass last year's mark of 11,000 delegates.

Organized as a pre-Mipcom specialized program, MIPJUNIOR is reporting this year over 350 buyers and nearly 1,200 delegates, from more than 60 countries. Once again, the market began yesterday, Friday, with a 4pm session mapping out the changes in the children's content business over the past 20 years, moderated by Olivia Deane of Ampere Analysis. This was followed by a session discussing the challenge of adapting consumer products into series and vice versa, featuring the participation of Animaj (France), The Gang (Sweden), and Hasbro (UK).

Today, trend conferences continue, starting with Glance and its regular session on children's audiences at 9 am, followed by the “Navigating AI Today” panel, which presents real insights into the successful use of AI in the children’s segment. Screenings and showcases from Mediawan K&F and Sinking Ship Entertainment are also scheduled.

The AI is one of the key topics that will be extensively reviewed during the market, along with others that keep the business thriving, such as the co-commissioning models. The latter has emerged as a way to drive the development of new kids shows, a segment that had seen slight declines over the past two years, but is now revitalized with new narratives like cross-cultural live-action series, ‘girl power’ shows, and a strong presence in the digital ecosystem, as demonstrated by properties like "Cocomelon", "El Reino Infantil", and "Pocoyo".

Among the standout sessions at MIPJUNIOR these days are the "Speed Matchmaking" rounds between commissioners and producers, with participation from public broadcasters BNNVARA (Netherlands), Globo (Brazil), BBC C&E (UK), RTL (Germany). There are also the keynote by Andy Yeatman, CEO of Miraculous Corp, and the highly anticipated session with Josh Silverman, CFO of Mattel.

Lucy Smith highlights the event broader objectives: ‘We are focusing on more than just content discovery; our aim is to help businesses to adapt their strategies, to find new solutions, partners and revenue streams, with a strong emphasis on intellectual property. This year lineup includes major players such as the BBC, Globo, Hasbro, Ubisoft Film & Television, Mediawan, Mattel, France Télévisions, Rai Kids, Youku-Alibaba, Warner Bros. Discovery, WildBrain, and M6, among others’.

Alberto Buitrón, Francisco Ferreyra

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