With MIPTV Gone, Will International Execs Embrace MIP London?

MIPTV is dead, long live MIP London.

At a packed press conference Tuesday, Lucy Smith of MIP organizer RX France marked the end of Cannes’ decades-old international television market MIPTV and the official launch of its hoped-for successor in the British capital next year.

As RX announced last month, the current MIPTV, which runs through Wednesday, will be the last. Next year, RX will debut MIP London, a smaller event running Feb. 24-27 alongside the popular London Screenings and BBC Screenings markets.

Launched in 1965, as the international television business was just gearing up, MIPTV was, for decades, a must-attend for global television execs. But the spring market has proven unable to adjust to shifts in the business. Its model, based on exhibitors renting stands where they present their new shows to international buyers, seems outdated in a world where streaming companies drop new series almost daily and where international broadcasters increasingly get on board projects at the script stage as co-financiers or co-producers.

Fewer than 5,000 people attended this year’s MIPTV, a fraction of those who came in the market’s heyday.

Putting a brave face on the end of an era, Smith acknowledged that “the business has changed,” saying it was “important to pull the curtain down on MIPTV and to launch MIP London.” Deftly avoiding mentioning any missteps on RX France’s part in running its market, Smith noted that “as the London TV Screenings has shown, the distribution calendar has changed and February works better for the distribution business.”

RX France’s bet is that the buyers who flock to London for the Screenings — this year’s event saw a 50 percent jump in attendance, with some 750 executives making the trip — will want a central hub to hold meetings and network while there.

A more questionable proposition is that the sellers in London — distributors like Banijay, Fremantle and ITV Studios, which host screenings of their upcoming slates — will pay for access to such a hub. Buyers traveling to MIP London, like those attending MIPTV, will receive a complimentary badge (as well as free catering, Wi-Fi and access to MIP’s online screenings and database).

Smith suggested sales companies without a base or team in London would benefit from MIP’s expertise and that the unscripted and kids television communities, which attend MIPTV but not the London Screenings, may be enticed to attend.

“There are 750 buyers in London today. We know there are more buyers that will come,” said Smith. “There are opportunities there. More buyers is good for everyone. London is a group of companies that work together. But once you get to 30 or 40 exhibitors, it gets more complicated. We will work on visibility for everyone.”

MIP London will be held at the Savoy Hotel in the West End with two screening venues on offer next door at the Institute of Engineering Technology. Luxury hotel suites, scalable meeting spaces, lounges and international pavilions are part of the plan, as well as event spaces. Smith said RX is working on hotel deals to bring down the cost for both buyers and sellers looking to attend next year.

But she was careful to say MIP London is not trying to compete with the London Screenings. “We are offering a complementary venue,” said Smith. “These are not competitive events. We will make sure it’s not in direct competition to the London TV Screenings. It’s not what we want to do.”