The Week at MIPCOM

Everything about MIPCOM this year felt bigger. As you likely know by now, we put out our biggest ever edition. There were certainly more attendees—13,700 delegates, according to Reed MIDEM, making it the biggest MIPCOM in the market’s 30-year history. The parties were bigger—and there were so very many of them. There were more deal announcements—and if you missed any of them, you can see all of our MIPCOM news here. There were hordes of photographers—and quite a few fans—camped out at the press room for the parade of photo calls for the talent on site. And there was a slew of top-level executives delivering keynotes. There was so much activity that few complained about the torrential downpours on Monday!

The lineup of heavy hitters on the MIPCOM agenda included Televisa’s Emilio Azcárraga, who was interviewed by World Screen’s group editorial director, Anna Carugati, as part of the strand of sessions focused on the 2014 Country of Honor, Mexico. According to the head of the world’s largest producer of Spanish-language content, digital and formats are key to the company’s future. Digital was also a focus of Disney’s Anne Sweeney’s conversation with Carugati on the stage of the Grand Auditorium. As she prepares to step down from her post, Sweeney reflected on her career, “aha!” moments and the enduring power of linear television. Also bullish on linear, thanks to their stable of returning hits, were CBS’s David Stapf and Armando Nuñez in their keynote interview with Carugati on Tuesday afternoon. Digital, however, is reshaping their business, and that of so many other broadcasters. Catch-up rights were a key part of the conversation among ITV's Sasha Breslau, TV Globo's Paulo Mendes, Nine's Les Sampson and SundanceTV's Christian Vesper during the Acquisition Superpanel on Wednesday. At the end of the session, also moderated by Carugati, these leading programmers received the fourth-annual World Screen Content Trendsetter Awards, presented in association with Reed MIDEM.

In addition to content news, there were more M&A announcements during the week. We arrived in Cannes on Friday to news that 21st Century Fox and Apollo had made their deal to combine Shine, Endemol and CORE Media Group. John de Mol’s Talpa Media picked up a 49.9-percent interest in Schwartzkopff TV. SoftBank Internet and Media took control of the streaming platform DramaFever. But M&A wasn’t the only major talking point at MIPCOM—the news out of the U.S. about Nielsen’s admission of a technical glitch in its ratings measurement had many discussing the future of ratings measurement in this multiplatform, on-demand world. Plus, new developments in online content delivery abounded last week. HBO unveiled plans for its stand-alone streaming service. CBS announced a new SVOD and live streaming service. And Ted Sarandos’ MIPCOM keynote was, not surprisingly, a packed session as he discussed Netflix’s continued global expansion.

As MIPCOM came to a close, plans were already underway for 2015; Wednesday morning saw the announcement that Turkey, whose drama exports are making waves across the globe, will be the Country of Honor at the market next year.

Missed any of our MIPCOM recaps this week? Check out our reviews of what happened in drama, formats and factual, and look out for an update on what happened in kids’ TV during MIP Junior and MIPCOM in TV Kids Weekly tomorrow.