NATPE Budapest ends today with good overall figures: 850 people registered, including 430 buyers, more than expected. Buyers are predominantly from the CEE region, reflecting an 18% increase since last year. There are 145 exhibitors, representing almost 70 different countries. The event has grown 12% over last year in participants, and according to feedback gathered by PRENSARIO, most of the attendees have had a good market. The networking at the event continues to be very valuable.

Victoria Elmacioglu, head of buyer relations, at NATPE Global from Brunico, said: 'We have had a fantastic response from the industry, especially from buyers; and we even had first-time visitors. We continued to receive very good support from delegations from different countries, especially France and Spain. We also noticed a real increase in Turkish presence, and we have new players as the Ukrainian delegation. I think what impressed the most was the amount of business that people did, not only in the region. We have good plans for next year, we will be announcing the dates soon'.

Panels & trends? Yesterday, during "Everybody wants to be a Millionaire - 25 years of the format" panel, Laura St. Clair, SVP, international formats, Sony PE, told: ‘I really believe that the format has motivated the whole format industry. It was the first time there was a show that could adapt to any territory because of its simplicity and overriding identity, and stay wealthy so much time'. At "Driving efficiency through partnerships", Rodrigo Nascimento, from Brazilian Globo, said: ‘We have an international strategy called "Just One Global", investing $5 billion in technology and content. We are producing more than 20 series a year. However, each series has new and different audiences'.

Screenings? George Levendis, CEO Antenna Group, presented the series The Witch (98x45') and Soul Daughters (60x60'), in a context in which Greece is experiencing a renaissance process: 'The Greek government implemented a 40% subsidy for film and TV. This motivated Hollywood studios and European filmmakers to look to our content. Our production services have never been more in demand than now. Our market is probably the most competitive in Europe, in terms of 6 to 7 free-to-air channels competing on a daily basis. Greek fiction is achieving incredible things'.

GoQuest Media presented "Kuma" / "The other wife", the first Turkish series co-produced with VIP 2000 TV (USA/Latin America): 'Many of you may wonder what Kuma is, and for that we must go back to ancient Turkey: many years ago, when the wife was infertile or was very adult, the man could bring a second wife into the family, for pleasure or to have children. This situation is illegal in Turkey today, although it is known that there are currently around 200,000 kumas in the country', commented Ofelia Tovmasyan, sales manager at GoQuest. 'GoQuest and VIP 2000 also have several projects in development, which is why here in CEE we are looking for more co-productions and partners in Europe'.

Testimonials & trends? Miko Keto, Best Broadcast Hire (Denmark): 'I didn't see many formats. It seems that people are going more to series and documentaries. But I think the European market is more open to co-productions, more cost efficient'. Anna Scheitzach, Big Media (Germany): ‘A big topic this week has been adaptation through AI, and how big companies are investing too much money without considering the risk. This means a big challenge'.

Rosalind Rotundo, SVP, VIP 2000 TV (USA): ‘European buyers are most interested in short series of 8 to 10 episodes, and in the classic romance genre’. Marta Csizmadia, Rabbit Films (Finland): ‘Unscripted formats were the most requested segment’. Alexandros Van Blanken, Sixteen South (UK): ‘I’d love Natpe to add more children's producers'. Camille Mury-Decouflet, Thema (France): 'Until 2 years ago, no one in CEE wanted to explore new content opportunities. Now there is a big insertion of new origins, especially Korean dramas'.

Francisco Ferreyra

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