MIPTV Unveils Finalists for Content 360 Competition

PARIS, March 14:
Twenty-seven projects for interactive and multiplatform content have been
chosen as finalists for the third international Content 360 festival
competition, part of the 45th MIPTV featuring MILIA, which takes place in
Cannes from April 7 to 11.

The 27 short-listed
producers and designers were selected from a pool of 285 candidates across the
competition’s eight categories by digital commissioners from Content 360’s
partners: the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting & Communications Commission
(BCC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and advertising agency
OgilvyInteractive Worldwide. The finalists of the Content 360 competition will
be in Cannes to pitch their projects before an audience and a jury made up of
executives from the audiovisual, digital and advertising sectors. The winners
in each category will be announced on April 10 during the “Zapping Show,”
hosted by Ray Cokes.

This year’s competition
drew nearly 400 project entries in total. There was an upswing in pitches for
the branded-content category, Using the Power of the Brand for the Power of
Good, created by OgilvyInteractive. The category drew more than 100 submissions
this year, compared to 42 the previous year. The competition has also widened
its international appeal, with 42 countries participating in 2008 compared to
36 in 2007. Slovenia, South Africa, Finland and Norway are all making their
first appearance among this year’s 11 finalist countries.

Meanwhile, the U.K.’s
ALL3MEDIA International was selected as a finalist in the BBC’s category, New
IPTV Concepts, while FremantleMedia’s talkbackTHAMES was short-listed in the
category New Forms of Web-based Audio & Video Aggregation.

"The continued
success of the Content 360 competition demonstrates the need for traditional
media to meet today's digital creators,” said Ted Baracos, the director of
digital media at Reed MIDEM. “We are excited to bring to MIPTV the latest
content ideas for audience participation, social networking, personalization
and interactivity, across all digital platforms.”

—By Irene Lew