MIPJUNIOR 2025, the kids-oriented pre-event at MIPCOM, runs the weekend with a renewed outfit: it is held now at The Palais and is powered by segments that in the past were outsiders but now are core to generate fresh business, as mainly YOUTUBE -which sponsored the ‘welcome party’ yesterday- toys and gaming, that provides both brands and tech solutions to improve content ventures. And we have the Artificial Intelligence (AI) of course, which generates a strong debate about how far it can penetrate content issues. This is a moment to pay attention and evolve.

Lucy Smith, head of Mipcom (France): ‘To move MIPJUNIOR to Palais was a great decision, the market is energized, with everything closer and easier. And the top thing to say is that we’ve brought the big tech, toy and gaming companies to empower kids content business. The market is difficult, but we provide just partners and tools to improve it. We’ve had YOUTUBE KIDS as the main allied, plus conferences from Epic Games to use their video technology for content series, from Toy’r’us about toys & content synergies, and Mediawan provided the MIPJUNIOR Avant Premiere based on a famous YOUTUBE property, ‘Ki & Hi in the Panda Kingdom’. This is the big message’.

Alexis Rice, Global Youth Partnership Lead at YOUTUBE (UK): ‘We are celebrating 10 years of YOUTUBE KIDS app and the 20 years of main YOUTUBE app. We’re growing so much at the content market because of ‘users first’, we provide a community modulated by the users, and it is a perfect environment too for producers. The good product grows and shows the way to the others, the improvement is mainly automated with different trends evolving together’.

Rob Di Figlia, Epic Games (USA): ‘We provide ‘Real time kids animation’, because with our Unreal engine, most of the production processes are diametrically faster and easier. We are a ‘game changer’, coming from games’. Julien Borde, Mediawan K&F (France): ‘In ‘Ki & Hi’ we join three worlds: animation, anime and YOUTUBE. The idea is grow each pushed by the other. Canal+ and RTBF are coproducers’.

When AI yes or no? Marie Cloude Beauchamp, Pink Parrot/Carpe Diem (Canada): ‘In times where we see that a complete content could be made just with AI, industry members must remark a stop. Not only to protect the jobs of thousands of people, but also for product quality. Two main issues: first, with just AI the viewer connection is not the same, you don’t lose the difference between fiction and reality. And second, AI pushes standards that make all products similar, as cosmetic surgery with people. It cuts creativity, just human beings can be every time different. AI is necessary to optimize tech processes, but not the whole content’.

What do kids buyers look for? Marei Bruckmann, ZDF Studios (Germany): ‘Fresh animation, 6-9 target, and partners for co-productions’. Sara Cabras, RAI Ragazzi (Italy): ‘We see many tech, short content, with new business models, that broadcasters can’t assume. Though, we intend to evolve as much as possible’. Gudrum Jonasdottir, NRK, Norway: ‘Boys content, 7+, both animation and live action’. Andrea Basilio, RTP Portugal: ‘For our ZigZag platform, both animation for children and live action for teens’. Liqiang Zhao, Huawei (China): ‘More partners for our content OTT and for our UHD 8K technology, which is already a standard in our country’. Hande Turan, TRT (Turkey): ‘Preschool to 12 content for free TV, multi-target products for out TABII digital platform’.

Nicolás Smirnoff, Alberto Buitron y Francisco Ferreyra

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