In times when Latin American markets compete to each other and many are in doubt, RX FRANCE’s MIP CANCUN 2023, 10th edition, got consolidated last week in C-Level attendees, meetings traffic with its algorithm system, conferences and events relevance and, above all, in the empathy that the Latin community show for this convention, unique in intimacy and relaxed networking. It is proper what Maria Perez Belliere, MIP Cancun director, said many times during the week: that the event is ‘A hug between friends’.

The market, according to RX, had 800 delegates from 43 countries, including 200 Latin American and US Hispanic buyers. There were +8100 one to one official meetings facilitated by the IT system, and three events in one: the pre-opening FAST & GLOBAL AMERICAS SUMMIT, made for the first time with ‘out of the box’ testimonials and many new digital companies; the traditional buys & sales market, where RX segmented more the attendees to join appealed people more often; and the coproduction market, with more commissioners than in the past, but good work still to do for the future.

There were two big parties: the ‘Wawa (Worldwide Audiovisual Women’s Association) Woman of the Year Award Celebration’, hosted for the first time at MIP Cancun and choosing Carmen Larios (A+E) Selina Nederhand (Sony) and Fidela Navarro (Dopamine); and the 7TH PRODU AWARDS, where Pierluigi Gazzolo from TelevisaUnivision, was recognized as ‘The Executive of the Year’ in Latin America. Also, 4 high profile screenings, with two Latin American telenovelas and two Turkish dramas: ‘Playa Soledad’ (Sony) ‘Land of Desire’ (Globo) ‘Leylifer’ (Inter Medya) and ‘Safir’ (ATV).

Pérez Belliere: ‘We started in 2013 with 40 buyers and 40 sellers, today we have 800 people, 10 times more. This year, we’ve had 30% of full new buyers, mainly AVOD/FAST platforms but also free, pay TV, esports, branded content players, investment funds. We’ve had 40% of increase in signage spots, there were 2 saloons for conferences instead of one, and we’ve already had more incomes than before the pandemic. Very few content events have got this goal nowadays’.

Of course, one thing is the event, an another is the business itself. How have Latam/US Hispanic buyers performed in Cancun? A head distributor said: ‘I see many buyers, but not much money’. A head producer, added: ‘For productions, everybody is with reduced budgets. So, the way is co-productions, to down risks and costs’. From the FAST summit, the main concept was ‘Global alliances, taking more and more issues’, including for instance to manage together advertising between broadcasters and platforms, or new business formulas as FAST, branded content and enterprise: to develop OTT in oil stations, Pizza Hut, etc.

Disrupted testimonials? Pablo Iacobello, Amazon: ‘Now I am global monetization manager. We are pushing to share rights (co-productions, licensing) Theatrical, all kinds of advertising (product placement, etc.) and retail synergies: AMAZON MUSIC, TWITCH, etc’. Eddie Arias, Paramount/Pluto TV: ‘In AVOD, we are moving from transactional to transforming alliances. Not only content, but also marketing, ad sales, etc’. Aline Jabbour, Samsung TV Plus: ‘What is coming for us? More Samsung devices with our app, not only smart TVs’.

Daniel Padilla, OnePlay: ‘We agreed with an oil stations company to set them up an AVOD platform and their customers that reach a goal, receive for free recent theatrical hits’. Tatiana Emden, Screen Capital (investment fund): ‘We take care just of the financing side, we don’t participate in content issues. We’ve already invested in 5-6 projects, from 15 expected in Latin America. We choose them due to commercial potential’.

Nicolás Smirnoff and Francisco Ferreyra

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