The factual world is dealing with the same challenges everyone else is confronting, but the sector is in a better state than most. That was the overarching theme to emerge from the last ever MIPTV; and that MIPDoc, long a staple on the annual events calendar for factual distributors, will most certainly be missed (even though RX France has said that it is looking to create space for the non-scripted business at the inaugural MIP London next year).<\/p>\n
The segment is indeed facing its own share of disruptive shifts, as MIPDoc\u2019s opening session on Saturday, April 6, revealed, including the need to\u00a0explore branded entertainment and other funding models and audiences\u2019 desire for immersive experiences<\/a>. The panel, State of the Unscripted Nation, featured the presentation of in-depth commissioning intel from Ampere Analysis, presented by principal analyst Fred Black. \u201cWe all saw significant growth [in commissions] in 2022 and 2021,\u201d Black noted. \u201cThen we had this really big drop-off in 2023. For unscripted genres, the picture is more positive. Entertainment, documentary and reality were among the genres that grew the most in 2022 and fell the least in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n The balance between scripted and unscripted has also shifted, Black noted. \u201cDocumentary commissions have outweighed scripted commissions in eight of the last nine quarters. Over this period, reality commissions have been roughly equal to scripted commissions. So, while unscripted is in decline, it\u2019s actually becoming more important for commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n Western Europe has fared better than North America and Asia in terms of the decline in factual commissions, Black continued, referencing the strength of the region\u2019s pubcasters. \u201cIn Western Europe, the public broadcasters offer a level of stability to the documentary industry\u201450 percent of documentary commissions in Europe featured a public broadcaster. That figure is only 10 percent in North America. In AsiaPac, the decline has been driven by commercial free-to-air broadcasters, as well as challenges for some of the public broadcasters.\u201d<\/p>\n At commercial networks and platforms in Western Europe, \u201ctrue-crime content is starting to dominate,\u201d Black said. \u201cIt makes up a full quarter of commissions for the last two years for both pay TV and SVOD. For SVOD, 50 percent of the commissions were true crime or sports documentaries.\u201d<\/p>\n Pubcasters are aware of streamers\u2019 preference for true crime, Black continued. \u201cThe most notable thing changing at the public broadcasters is they are also moving in a true-crime direction. That\u2019s seen them cut back slightly on some of the more traditional areas you\u2019d expect them to focus on. That strategy shows us that the public broadcasters are having to react to their funding being cut or changed. As they start to need to find new areas of funding, they\u2019re focusing on titles that they can see having success on streaming platforms in the future. That means they\u2019re focusing particularly on true-crime content. The pattern is similar if we take our commercial channels. This has come at the cost of some of the smaller segments in the pie.\u201d<\/p>\n SVODs, meanwhile, have cut back on both factual commissions and acquisitions, Black continued. Discovery+, Netflix and Disney+ \u201call reduced the number of documentary hours they are acquiring. If we focus on discovery+ and Disney+, they are removing more hours of acquired documentaries than they are buying. Across Netflix, discovery+ and Paramount+, it\u2019s really only true crime where the library is growing significantly. All of them added around 100 hours or more of documentary content last year. They are interested in buying true-crime documentaries, but they\u2019re not too interested in very much else. This threatens the diversity and balance of linear players. If they are starting to focus just on getting a distribution deal on an SVOD service, they really are going to have to just make true-crime content.\u201d<\/p>\n The factual distribution business itself is undergoing significant changes, Bo Stehmeier, CEO of Off the Fence, said in the panel discussion that followed Black\u2019s presentation. \u201cWe used to, as producers and distributors, feed a very regulated and rhythmic business run by half-hours and full hours\u2014and the funding models attached to it, and, of course, all the service businesses. If we drill everything back down to the basics of good storytelling and then push out again, why does the story have to be in a half hour or a full hour? Why did it have to be on TV? Why don\u2019t we start off on TikTok and jump into TV and jump to music and have a theatrical approach? Public broadcasters still have money, but they also need to extend their reach. And there are also budget cuts. So I see public broadcasters still coming in as seed investors, putting in 40 to 50 percent of the money. But then they will also ask the producer, How do we reach our audiences [in other ways]? As they are shifting to on-demand platforms, we will see a shift in [durations]. And as production companies and service companies, we need to relook at our budgeting. Why does it have to cost $350,000 if most of the eyeballs are shifting to YouTube? Why can\u2019t we produce stuff for $20,000? So, the cost around content and the shape of our content is up for grabs. And I think that\u2019s where we need to be more collaborative and restructure the business and the different price points.\u201d<\/p>\n The good news is there is still a significant appetite from consumers for premium storytelling. We heard that from acclaimed filmmaker\u00a0Dawn Porter, the founder of Trilogy Films, as she shared her creative processes in a MIPDoc keynote<\/a>\u00a0before discussing the challenges and opportunities in the market with Anna Carugati,\u00a0World Screen<\/em>\u2019s editor-at-large. \u201cWe\u2019re all quite aware of the difficulties of commissioning and the challenges in our market, but I do want to stress that there is still quite a good path for quality filmmaking,\u201d Porter noted. \u201cThe films that we make and the products that we produce are really popular. There\u2019s a reason why nonfiction is resonating with audiences. Our films do a longer look, a deeper dive. They\u2019re creative, interesting and innovative. I\u2019m also finding that commissioners are giving us a little bit more development money in order to bring these stories to life.\u201d<\/p>\n Our editor-at-large also moderated the panel with Universal Television Alternative Studio\u2019s Toby Gorman, BBC Studios Natural History Unit\u2019s Mike Gunton and series editor Holly Spearing taking\u00a0MIPTV delegates behind the scenes of the big-budget event series\u00a0<\/a>The Americas<\/em><\/a>. The ten-part blue-chip production, narrated by Tom Hanks with a score from Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, is set to air on NBC in prime time in 2025. \u201cThere was so much risk, we wanted so many firsts, we knew it would take so much time,\u201d Gorman said. \u201cThis is, as far as I understand, the most expensive unscripted project in NBCUniversal\u2019s history. It\u2019s a big swing for us. We\u2019re confident it\u2019s been worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n Blue-chip wildlife continues to resonate with audiences, as does premium history, with MIPTV seeing\u00a0All3Media International announce a deal with PBS for Lion Television\u2019s upcoming series\u00a0<\/a>Pompeii: The New Dig<\/em><\/a>, while Germany\u2019s Beetz Brothers Film Production and South Africa\u2019s Storyscope partnered to co-produce\u00a0Free at Last<\/em><\/a>, a three-part docuseries covering the history of apartheid<\/a>. In more recent history, meanwhile, LOOKSfilm\u2019s\u00a0The Last Days of Kabul\u2014Life and Death of a Republic<\/em>\u00a0was named as\u00a0the winner of this year\u2019s MIPDoc Pitch<\/a>. Biographies, too, remain a sought-after category, with MIPTV playing host to news of a\u00a0new doc on Greta Garbo from Embankment Films<\/a>, set for broadcast on Sky Arts, and\u00a0The King of All Cons<\/em><\/a>, from Dash Pictures, Matthew Lorenzo Productions and Sky<\/a>, about fraudster Russell King.<\/p>\n