The Week at MIPCOM

World Screen reviews some of the highlights and trends from this year's MIPCOM, which took place last week in Cannes.

With attendance topping the 13,500 mark, MIPCOM was a thriving, upbeat affair—despite the strike cloud hanging over attendees’ heads for parts of the week. (Word broke on the weekend that the October 10 pan-European airport strike had been called off, but three days later reports emerged that two small French unions were going ahead with industrial action on the last day of the market—by all accounts, disruption was minimal.)

Attendees hailed from 100 markets, Laurine Garaude, director of Reed MIDEM’s television division, announced at the wrap-up press conference on Thursday, pointing to new pavilions from Nigeria, South Africa, China, India and Russia. Argentina, the Country of Honour this year, showed the largest increase in delegates, up to 283 from 150, with 98 exhibiting countries. “It is now the six or seventh ranked exhibiting country at the show,” Garaude said. Other significant increases came from China (23 percent), Israel (44 percent), Norway (26 percent), Sweden (16 percent) and Russia (8 percent). “We’re basically up everywhere.”

Beyond robust attendance, another highlight for MIPCOM this year was the keynote lineup, led by two feature film heavyweights: Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, and Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media. In his speech, Katzenberg, the MIPCOM 2013 Personality of the Year, noted: "I don't think there's ever been a time filled with so much new and unique opportunity for the world of television." You can watch Katzenberg’s speech here, or read our extensive interview with him in our MIPCOM issue here.

Kavanaugh used his keynote to discuss Relativity’s approach to scripted television—a subject he explored in my sit-down with him in Cannes—as well as its plans to deliver an entertainment experience for viewers in this new TV Everywhere landscape. “We're setting up a 'theory of everything,’ which is one screen, you've got it all. Your movies, your TV, your scripted, your unscripted, your sports programming, fashion programming, horror programming. We think no one else is ready to do this." Watch his keynote here.

TV Everywhere, cord-cutting, nonlinear rights, etc., are certainly key concerns for programmers around the world. In the Acquisition Superpanel: What Do Buyers Want? session on Wednesday afternoon, DR’s Piv Bernth, Azteca’s Pedro Lascurain, Starz’s Carmi Zlotnik and Foxtel’s Ross Crowley, in a discussion moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati, talked about how binge viewing is impacting their own strategies. Also on the agenda were co-productions, output deals and more. You can watch the video of this informative session here. At the end of the panel, these four innovative programming executives received the third-annual World Screen Content Trendsetter Awards in partnership with MIPCOM.

World Screen’s Anna Carugati also moderated Monday afternoon’s discussion with keynoter Roy Price, the director of Amazon Studios. Price told MIPCOM attendees about how his company is developing content for the “new TV.” You can watch his engaging conversation with Carugati here.

Digital certainly was one of the overriding themes of MIPCOM 2013—indeed, of the 4,600-plus buyers in attendance, some 1,000 hailed from digital services.

Expect digital to continue to exert its influence at content markets to come; in fact, Reed MIDEM announced last week that MIPTV 2014 will feature MIP Digital Fronts, dedicated to original online video and web series. "For 50 years, MIPTV has been the global destination to acquire new programs," said Garaude. "As the quality of online video entertainment has evolved, the critical mass of audiences and advertisers has now been reached, creating a sustainable marketplace for digital online production and distribution. By introducing the MIP Digital Fronts at MIPTV, we are simultaneously building a market for digital studios, while creating a platform for traditional television and film studios to leverage their digital programming and production assets during the market."

If you missed any of the MIPCOM keynotes, you can watch them in full here. For deal recaps, check out our formatsdrama and factual roundups, and look out for one on kids’ programming tomorrow.