Lucy Smith, Director MIPTV and MIPCOM CANNES offered a press conference on the penultimate day of MIPTV 2024 to offer details about the recently announced RX MIPLONDON 2025 market, and in turn, to offer the traditional wrap-up of this edition of the market, where he revealed that the event brought together 3537 delegates from 84 countries, including over 1100 buyers; with 135 exhibitors, including major studios and distributors, hosting stands on the show floor and pavilions covering 11 countries.
The format that MIPLONDON will have, the next new market that RX will launch in February of next year with which they seek to ‘respond to the needs of the market’. MIPLONDON will have a different form, it will be held in the same week as the London TV screenings, and at the same time as the classics, BBC Studios presentation showcases.
The executive explained that this decision is motivated because since three years ago, the London TV Screenings have been more formally established, with cooperation on the calendar, with each company running their events independently. ‘This year, there were 29 distributors and over 750 buyers in London, coming from all over the world,’ explained Smith.
When referring to whether the event will replace or compete with others, Smith said that this “will not aim to compete, but will be complementary, because it will shape the industry’s business during the first quarter of each year,” she added.
Another point that she touched on is that the market will retain exclusive invitations to buyers (broadcasters and streaming platforms), so they will be able to attend the event completely free of charge.
Regarding the format, she mentioned that they will bid farewell to the exhibition stands, welcoming three pillars: screenings, scalable meeting lounges, and enhanced networking.
‘MIPLondon is a content marketplace, but it’s not about a big showroom. We are looking for event spaces, where we can offer distributors meeting spaces. Buyers will be offered a central hub, where they can connect, and of course, have meetings with distributors,’ she said.
Regarding the factual and animated content (historical in MIPTV), the executive was emphatic in saying that the event will respond and present opportunities for all content segments, so it will not have specific focuses. ‘We are very careful to develop an offer for everyone’.
The Market will be held at the Savoy Hotel (one of the historic landmarks of the British capital), and the IET London Savoy Place, a very high-tech four-story event space. ‘We want to provide maximum meeting space for every attendee’.
MIPTV wrap-up
Among the data that Smith gave regarding MIPTV this year, he said that of the total delegates attending the market, the largest proportion hailed from France followed by (in order) the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Italy, Türkiye, China, Canada and Belgium.
Likewise, he highlighted that the pre-MIPTV weekend, focused on MIPDOC and MIPFORMATS, with a packed 2024 conference program running Saturday to Sunday aimed to bring together executives from the factual and documentary segment and aimed to offer key conferences and sessions to reinforce the highly in-demand production trend.
Finally, Smith took the opportunity to announce that the 40th edition of MIPCOM CANNES, ‘the mother of all entertainment markets’, as he called it, will take place 21-24 October 2024. Plus, dates for the 41st edition of MIPCOM CANNES were also confirmed for 13 -16 October 2025.
‘The plan was for MIPTV to have a stellar send-off and the last few days have been just that,’ said the executive. ‘We’re grateful to the international TV industry across generations, geographies and genres for their support of MIPTV over the last six decades. All our energies on the Croisette will now be solely focused on MIPCOM CANNES, and on delivering and growing the flagship international entertainment content market for the industry, starting with the 40th-anniversary edition later this year.
