Lucy Smith on Embracing the Creator Economy at MIPCOM

The transformation of the media business brought about by the creator economy is resulting in the “biggest shift in a generation for MIPCOM,” RX’s Lucy Smith tells World Screen as the annual gathering prepares to welcome 10,000-plus executives from across the ecosystem in Cannes.

“The creator economy is shaping the future of the industry,” Smith says. “Our goal is to bring together the creator economy with mainstream media to help find new ways of working together. As the industry’s biggest global gathering, we can help bridge that gap. Everything we’re doing has that business focus, and it runs through everything at the market.”

The first step in embracing the creator economy came with landing YouTube’s major presence at MIPCOM. Marking its 20^th birthday this year, YouTube will be on hand in Cannes via a dedicated space in the Palais and daily workshops centered on audience growth and monetization, among the topics covered. “Their ongoing goal is nurturing new partnerships across the TV industry,” Smith says, “and they are set up with multiple touchpoints, again to help find those new opportunities.”

A wealth of popular content creators will also be attending, among them Dhar Mann, Callux, Kevin Tran and RVBBERDUCK, with more to be confirmed.

MIPCOM is also hosting the first international edition of the BrandStorytelling Summit—successfully established at Sundance over the last ten years—with opportunities in brand-funded content. Brands such as Ancestry, Indeed, Toys R Us; agencies like Denstu, Digitas and McCann; and the key players within groups and studios in this sector (Banijay, BBC StoryWorks and Fremantle) are all speaking, with the BCMA (Branded Content Marketing Association) also on board. “Brand-funded content business has always been done at MIPCOM, but similarly to the way we did for co-production a few years back, it was time to have its own home at the market,” says Smith.

And it has reformatted the Producers Hub as the Creative Hub. “It’s still beachfront and still focuses on co-production, but will incorporate creators, digital studios and brands into the program, with more space to allow people to network.”

MIPCOM has also expanded the MIP Innovation Lab, which will play host to several summits around “where tech meets content,” including one on Connected TV and an AI summit on Monday; plus there will be a range of sessions on the main stage with key digital players, among them Twitch, Webedia and Snapchat.

Both the “traditional” and next-generation elements of the media economy will be present across the main stage keynote schedule, which includes Evan Shapiro in conversation with YouTube’s Pedro Pina and BBC Studios’ Jasmine Dawson, as well as Banijay’s Marco Bassetti, Mediawan’s Elisabeth D’Arvieu and a celebration of the 15^th anniversary of The Walking Dead.

MIPCOM has also lined up a slate of world premiere screenings with big name talent on hand including Boston Blue (Donnie Wahlberg and Sonequa Martin-Green), Ku’damm 77, and an exclusive preview screening of The Miniature Wife (Matthew Macfadyen, O-T Fagbenle and Sian Clifford), and is bringing back a MIPTV favorite in the invitation-only International Drama Co-Production Summit to convene “like-minded, senior decision makers for exclusive analysis and strategy presentations and an issues-led panel discussion,” with the likes of Fremantle’s Christian Vesper, Banijay’s Steve Matthews, Caroline Benjo from Haut et Court and FOX Entertainment Global’s Prentiss Fraser all speaking.

Amid the transformation in the business, MIPCOM remains the biggest annual gathering for the global content community. Smith says, “We’re bringing in new audiences and more opportunities for people to meet, collaborate and learn to work with different partners. Feedback we get continuously from clients is that people are really waiting for this moment, which can bring a bump to their business and the industry.”

The innovations for RX in Cannes this fall also included reformatting MIPJunior, bringing the weekend event into the Palais. “We put a lot of thought into how we can help participants come together so they can find new ways of doing business. To help join the dots between the creator, attention and experience economies. Plus, we wanted to bring it, physically and emotionally, closer to MIPCOM. So, we’ve moved the program to the Palais and have been really practical with lots of seating for people to have meetings. And then we’ve set up the Gare Maritime next door for matchmaking. It’s a format that makes [MIPJunior] more accessible, more targeted and less expensive, which we could pass back on to companies. And there’s the program, which is all about transformation, reaching kids wherever they interact with content, with forward-looking perspectives that allow people to figure some of this out. We call it providing the ‘compass and the toolbox.’”

Looking ahead, plans for the second edition of MIP London are well underway, learning from the experience last year, which drew some 2,800 people. “We set out to bring in more people from more countries to London that week, and with that, more opportunities. Which we did. Second year, we need to improve on that and work a bit more on seeing how to evolve it to respond better to people’s needs. We’ve modified the dates to February 22 to 24 (Sunday to Tuesday). At the same time, we’re working on evolving our future-facing conference program—which was well received and in many ways the precursor to some of what you’ll see at MIPCOM. And we’re reconfiguring the venue. Every floor will have meeting spaces with companies and networking areas. The Savoy will be used for the big roundtable rooms and maybe a few premium suites.”

Smith adds, “But before that, we have Cannes and every stop is being pulled out to make it a productive, future-focused and memorable MIPCOM for everybody.”