At the close of the market on 17 October 2008, MIPCOM 2008 totalled 13 588 participants, an increase of 1.6% over the 13 371 industry professionals who attended in 2007. A total of 4519 companies from 103 countries registered, of which 1779 were exhibitors. The number of international buyers grew by 7.2%, from 4242 in 2007 to 4573 this year.
The number of attendees from emerging markets showed strong progression: Russian attendance was up 39.6% (377 participants); the Ukraine up 30.5% (111); the Middle East up 34.7% (419); China up 19.5% (141); and Africa up 18.5% (135). Several other territories also had a significantly stronger presence, notably in Europe with Spain up 19.6% to 651 participants and Germany up 10% to 825.
“With the growth of the METRIC countries, MIPCOM is now more than ever the market for professionals who want to negotiate business with new territories and develop content for all platforms,” asserts Paul Johnson, director of television at Reed MIDEM. “That's why this year we put several tools in place to help with that, such as our MIP Accelerators matchmaking events. We will be enlarging them at MIPTV 2009.”
Innovation and creativity in the Spanish audiovisual industry were in the spotlight at MIPCOM 2008 through ‘Focus on Spain,' a series of events and conferences attended by actors Monica Cruz and Miguel Angel Munoz, as well as Ángel Martin Acebes, executive VP ICEX, Pedro Pérez, president of FAPAE and Luis Fernández, president of RTVE.
Over four days, there were 32 MIPCOM conference sessions, with more than 100 speakers and seven keynotes from top-level executives and experts, including Chad Hurley, founder and CEO of YouTube; Gary Wang, founder and CEO of Tudou.Com; Michael Eisner, former CEO of Walt Disney and founder of The Tornante Company; Philippe Dauman, president and CEO of Viacom; Ze Frank, Internet pioneer, actor, presenter and lecturer; Gary Carter, president creative networks and chief creative officer FMX of FremantleMedia; and David Zaslav, CEO, Discovery Communications.
The Mobile & Internet TV Screenings, where more than 100 films were available for viewing, demonstrated the importance of short multiplatform formats in current developments in audiovisual production.
Many artistic talents came to promote their projects to industry professionals, including Jude Law and Jeremy Gilley (The Day After Peace), Adrian Grenier (Alter Eco), Jane Seymour (Dear Prudence), Neve Campbell, Sebastian Koch and Stephen Campbell Moore (Sea Wolf).
As a prelude to MIPCOM, MIPCOM Junior saw a rise of +19% of companies attending, a total of 613 from 55 countries. Over two days, 1143 programmes (up 23%) were presented, more than three-quarters of which were new material. The keynote from Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon, was a highpoint in this 16th edition of MIPCOM Junior. Huntik: Secrets and Seekers (Rainbow SPA, Italy), in the ‘Most advanced property' category and Funny Face (Renegade Animation, US), in the ‘Most promising property' category, won the Licensing Challenge 2008.
Find out what happened at MIPCOM 2008 on the Bizcommunity editorial blog with Mercury Media's Morne Ebersohn, the MIPCOM media centre, the MIPCOM daily news magazines and the MIPCOM blog for more info.
