MIPCOM: Following The Money

CANNES, October 7: Under
the banner of “MIP Accelerators,” a slate of MIPCOM networking events will
provide relationship-building and pitching opportunities for attendees. As Paul
Johnson, the director of television at Reed MIDEM, explains, the ultimate goal,
particularly in this type of economic environment, is to help MIPCOM
participants make more money in these challenging times.

“People want to see
‘green’ right now,” Johnson quips. “The want to see yen, euros, dollars and
rubles. That’s our goal—to create the opportunities and business
partnerships that will lead our clients to increased revenues.”

With that mindset, Johnson
and his team at Reed MIDEM bolstered the MIP Accelerator lineup for MIPCOM.
“We’ve invested a lot more money to make sure that people are going to meet the
right potential partners.”

The lineup kicks off
Monday morning with a networking breakfast for the licensing community,
followed in the afternoon by a mobile TV and film screenings matchmaking
session. Capping off Monday’s festivities is the opening cocktail, with the
theme of creativity. There will be a “content creation zone,” at the event,
Johnson notes, as well as the opportunity for select participants to have a
camera crew follow them around as they serve as directors for the night. There
will also be entertainment on hand in the form of acrobats and, courtesy of
SevenOne International, escape artist David Merlini. Assisted by his good
friend, mentalist Uri Geller, Merlini will attempt to break the world record
(20 minutes) for holding his breath underwater.

Also part of the MIP
Accelerators lineup are an Asian networking breakfast, focusing on Korea,
China, India and Japan; a lunch for those working in branded entertainment; a
multiscreen entertainment party; a digital rights negotiations breakfast; a
broadband video summit; and a games and TV networking cocktail.

“We’ve been inundated with
registration requests,” says Johnson, adding that the MIP Accelerators will
have to be expanded at MIPTV to include a larger number of participants. “In a
world where there are so many new faces and so many new areas to make money,
people don’t know exactly who and how—we’re just trying to guide them, so
they can engage in more business partnerships long term.”

As part of those efforts,
Johnson notes that MIPCOM is also highlighting emerging markets. “You have
heard of the BRIC countries, but at MIPCOM we’ll be introducing the meTRIC
countries, made up of the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, India (which just
launched 300 new TV channels) and China. Despite the global credit crisis
[these markets are] still pegged for double-digit entertainment growth during
the next three to five years.”

Russia, Johnson notes,
“has over $600 billion of foreign currency reserves and the Russian TV industry
is as large as the U.S. TV market—the same hourly budgets for programs
and the same costs for 30-second commercial breaks—with an additional
500-percent growth expected over the next ten years. It is by far one of the
largest growth areas this MIPCOM as a result and many Russian participants will
be actively seeking new partners.”

The contingent from the
Middle East is also on the rise, Johnson notes, citing the participation of the
GCC. This is the region representing the economic interests of the six Gulf
States: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Abu Dhabi Media will also be on hand at MIPCOM. The company “is partly
responsible for managing the Emirates’ vast $900 billion investment
fund—not all earmarked for entertainment, I hasten to add. It will be
interesting to see where their money looks like it is headed…. Increasing the
revenues to global producers, distributors and broadcasters who sell their
content to the Middle East and expanding the number of original productions and
investments in the region’s television, Internet and mobile TV industry will
have a very positive effect on both global and regional Middle Eastern growth.”

Other highlights on the
MIPCOM lineup next week include keynotes from Viacom’s Philippe Dauman,
Discovery’s David Zaslav, The Tornante Company’s Michael Eisner, YouTube’s Chad
Hurley, and, in a joint session, Internet pioneer Ze Frank and FremantleMedia’s
Gary Carter.

—By Mansha Daswani