miptv neWs quick reVieW 速
April 2012
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Before MIPTV had started, delegates had experienced MIPDoc, MIPFormats and the inaugural MIPCube, where the industry got a glimpse of the future of TV. During MIPTV, deals were done and stars took to the red carpet. The MIPTV News team reports...
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neWs IN BRIEF MGM PRESIDENT, television group and digital, Roma Khanna collected the inaugural MIPCube Media Architect Of The Future award. Khanna gave a Visionary Talk in which she asserted that content is king because “television is an experience not a device”.
MIPTV 2012 lays the foundations for the television of the future DECISION-makers, creative visionaries, A-list stars, blue-chip brands and deal-makers flocked to Cannes last week, proving that MIPTV is the only media event where international trade, glamour, and thought leadership co-exist. Some 11,000 executives from more than 100 countries were at MIPTV, including 4,000 buyers. With key players in attendance, MIPTV played host to the companies that are redefining television.
Roma Khanna
MIPTV 2012 welcomed new studios from Malaysia, Philippines, Korea and China. During the market, the Malaysian delegation had a particularly high profile. In addition, the Malaysian Economic Council announced a new government initiative to make the country a global filming destination. New subsidies will be available to film, TV and animation production firms. The government will pay a 30% rebate to companies producing or post-producing in the country, from January 1, 2013. Foreign companies must demonstrate a minimum production spend in the country of $1.66m. Malaysian producers must spend $1m. For post-production the threshold is $500,000. CYRIL Charzat, senior director global Heineken brand was in Cannes to collect the MIPTV Brand Of The Year award. Charzat, who has overseen a strong slate of TV ads and digital content during the last 18 months, said he expects brands and agencies to work increasingly with producers and actors.
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AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan
Significant was the number of senior executives who flew in from Asia. CCTV vice-president Luo Ming and eight presidents of leading city TV stations represented the most formidable Chinese delegation to have ever graced the market — while Japanese, Korean and Malaysian partners reaffirmed their long-term commitment to MIPTV. The quality and range of Media Mastermind keynotes underscored the way in which MIPTV is now a must-attend event for all the key players in the value chain. Between them, Discovery’s JB Perrette, AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan, Amazon’s Anthony Bay, and Coca-Cola’s Jonathan Mildenhall demonstrated the increasingly seamless nature of the relationship between content, brands, digital and retail, all united in their pursuit of deeper audience engagement. Mildenhall’s keynote focused on a new dance-based project, which places Coke firmly at the heart of the content agenda. AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan summed up the paradox of modern media when he talked about the success TV is experiencing “while
Amazon’s Anthony Bay
simultaneously facing an enormous challenge from the internet and digital video”. But rather than fear the industry disruptors, he described how ratings on Mad Men series five were 40% up after series one to four became available on Netflix. His conclusion is that “working with new technology is the key to making pay TV continue to grow”.
Pre-market events outline TV’s new era INTERDEPENDENCY and interaction between stakeholders was evident in the range of dynamic events that sit beneath the MIPTV masterbrand. While MIPFormats — which attracted over 600 participants —addressed the internationalisation of content, the first-ever MIPCube, sponsored by Vivendi, explored the game-changing innovations impacting on television and opening the door for fleet-footed entrepreneurs. The inaugural MIPCube drew over 500 participants. Sandrine Dufour, executive vicepresident innovation and deputy CFO, Vivendi, said: “Television programming is going through exciting changes in the way it is being created, delivered to, watched and appropriated by viewers.
Brand consultant Cindy Gallop
MIPCube is a unique opportunity for our teams to confront views and projects with the real game changers, and the most respected trend-setters.” MIPCube keynoter, media entrepreneur Cindy Gallop, told dele-
gates to discard old ways of doing business: “Fund your future in a way that ensures your future can fund itself.” At MIPDoc — which attracted 700 participants — keynote speaker David Lyle, National Geographic Channels’ CEO, outlined a new mood of commercialism. “If we lose sight of entertainment in what we do, then we lose sight of the audience.” On day-one of MIPTV, the MIPCube venue gave way to the Producers’ Hub, where Pitch Doctor Paul Boross observed “an incredibly engaged audience. What particularly pleased me was the mix between new faces and veteran producers — which confirms that smart people always want to learn.”
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deals IN BRIEF ENTERTAINMENT One (eOne) closed multiple deals for The Firm during MIPTV with Tele-Munchen Group for Television rights in Germany, as well as with AB Sat for TV rights in French-speaking Europe and Africa; Finland's YLE for the free TV rights; Turkey's D Smart and Iceland's ITC for the pay-TV rights; and cable/satellite rights in French Canada with addikTV. ITV STUDIOS Global Entertainment closed more deals for Julian Fellowes’ Titanic which has now been sold to 95 territories. The latest deals will see it air in Singapore on Mediacorp’s okto, TV Azteca in Mexico, Veronica in The Netherlands, VRT in Belgium, BBC Entertainment in Africa and Manotol in Iran.
New cross-border deals reinforce MIPTV’s international credentials THE GROWING internationalisation of production across most scripted genres saw German production powerhouse Tandem Communications and US producer Ed Bernero announcing that they are to co-develop crime series Crossing Lines. The series is due to premier in the first quarter of 2013. The France Televisions Group also continued its strategy of establishing worldwide co-production deals at this MIPTV. “A key objective in Cannes was to further establish strong and original co-productions across genres like wildlife, discovery, science and technology, in order to build
on the relationships we already have with broadcasters such as the BBC, ZDF, NHK, National Geographic and AETN,” Caroline Behar, France Television’s head of acquisitions and international coproductions, said. “Projects covering the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, and the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana, are currently being finalised.” France Televisions also signed a major agreement with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV to produce documentaries for the newly launched channel CCTV-9. The deal also makes provision for pos-
BBC WORLDWIDE closed a major deal with LOVEFiLM Germany for 300 hours of content including high-profile dramas, natural history, comedy and travel-based documentaries such as Michael Palin’s Sahara. NEWEN Network, which unites Globomedia of Spain, TeVe Media group of the Netherlands and Germany’s Bavaria Film with French production group Newen, held its first ever meeting at MIPTV. As a result the pan-European independent umbrella group, now has several new projects in the pipeline. One of the main ideas behind the Newen Network is to have firstlook agreements on formats, scripted coproduction and bundled acquisitions that will enable them to compete internationally.
Ed Bernero with Tandem’s Rola Bauer
sible co-productions and the sharing of expertise and technical knowledge. An Indo-French co-production was announced last week for CGI series Lanfeust to be produced by Gaumont Alphanim and Indian producer/distributor DQE. The animation is to be handled by DQE with French broadcasters M6 and Canal J also on board. More pan-European action came in the form of Spain’s Neptuno Films teaming up with UK company Evergreen Entertainment to co-produce 52 episodes of the animation series Crazy Cavemen. Swedish producer The company P announced that it has teamed up with Canadian producer/distributor Shaftesbury to develop the transmedia drama series Treasures. “Fans of the show will be able to look for clues, and what happens at the live events will influence the following episode,” Christina Jennings, chairman and CEO, Shaftesbury, said. Another significant transmedia deal came with the announcement that Nickelodeon and Movie Park Germany, have renewed their strategic partnership around Nickland, the interactive adventure area at Movie Park Germany in Bottrop-Kirchhellen. Under the new, six-year licensing agreement (effective April 2012), Movie Park Germany will retain theme park rights to incorporate Nickelodeon’s characters into attractions and features at the park.
Lifestyle gets a boost in Cannes REFLECTING lifestyle programming’s growing popularity, Food Network UK announced that its first two original commissions, Andy Bates Street Feasts and Reza, Spice Prince Of India, will both run for second seasons following the successful launch of home-grown talent on to the sche-
dule. In the same genre, IMC Vision’s Rod Rodrigo sealed a deal for 100 hours of programming to Poland’s Kino Swat, while Hat Trick International sealed its first ever output deal acquiring 50 hours of programming from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Keo Films. Passion Distribution CEO Sally Miles,
underlined the importance of the renewal of Passion’s deal with Scripps Networks International: “Their content is doing so well, plus they have some very strong, well-established channel brands that are getting excellent ratings thanks to the global interest in lifestyle programming,” she said.
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deals
Increase in global viewing sparks wave of deal-making in Cannes ON THE back of the news that global television viewing rose by an average six minutes in 2011, according to the latest Eurodata TV Worldwide report, MIPTV 2012 saw a flurry of deal-making as channels refreshed their content offers. Other factors underlying the amount of deals done at the market include the dynamism of the growing VOD sector, the acquisition of digital terrestrial broadcast rights and the intensely competitive pay-TV arena. Shine sealed what it sees as a landmark deal last week, which will see its global reality format MasterChef produced in China by the Shanghai Media Group. The show will air on SMG’s Dragon TV. Further Chinese acquisition came with ITV Studios Global Entertainment’s multi-year output agreement with Joy.cn, one of China’s largest content websites. The deal will see programmes such as ITV Studios’ Titanic, and US network drama Prime Suspect made available via VOD. Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation signed a Latin American deal with Worldwide Rights for Beauties Around and Elite’s Game; Jingdu
THERE was a large Chinese delegation in Cannes this year, in part to mark the international launch of CCTV's documentary channel CCTV-9.
Luo Ming editor-in-chief and vicepresident of CCTV said: "We want to deepen friendship with old partners, and create opportunities for new friends"
Titanic did big business at MIPTV
Century Culture Development and Yunnan Development Group inked a deal with Myanmar’s Skynet to produce 40-episode drama series Myanmar Dancing Queen; and CCTV’s documentary channel CCTV 9 signed a co-production deal covering Generation Earth and Wonders Of Life.
CHINA IN ACTION
A further major agreement saw film and TV studio Miramax sealing its first ever multi-title movie distribution deal with British broadcaster UKTV. The accord allows for a selection of the studio’s 800-title library to be made available across UKTV’s pay and DTT channels.
Busy market for factual and reality
National Geographic’s David Lyle
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GERMAN distributor ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) completed a deal in Cannes to sell Death Row, the fourpart series from director Werner Herzog, to broadcasters in Italy, Poland, Holland and Belgium. ZDFE also acquired a 63-hour package of programming from National Geographic Channels (NGC) for international distribution. The deal, which follows on from a previous agreement between the two companies, includes seasons three and four of Alaska State Troopers and season four of Hard Times. Reflecting National Geographic CEO David Lyle’s observation during the MIPDoc Media Mastermind keynote, that the mo-
dern audience wants real stories and emotional engagement rather than cultural observation in contemporary documentaries, Al Jazeera’s multiple award-winning production Bahrain: Shouting In The Dark, was sold to seven territories including France, Sweden and Portugal during MIPTV. Another and very different kind of reality, in this case the hugely popular Jersey Shore, continued to sell both in its original form and as a format. VIMN announced a deal with French broadcaster TF1, which will see the show airing on DTT channel NT1. The deal also included an option on the format for a possible local version.
Zhou Li, president of Jiangsu Broadcasting Corp (JSBC) was in Cannes "to increase sales and acquisition of programming abroad"
CCTV-9 managing director Liu Wen: signed co-production deals with the BBC at MIPTV
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stars IN BRIEF THE APPEARANCE in Cannes of screen actor Jean Reno created a buzz around the city. Echoing Jane Campion and Iain Canning’s move into TV following successful bigscreen careers, crime series Le Grand — from Lagardere’s Atlantique Productions and SevenOne International — is Reno’s first TV starring role. Produced in France, by a French company, with a French actor taking the lead role, and a German distributor, Le Grand is an Englishlanguage drama series. Television sans frontiers.
Talent converges on Cannes as market takes on a festival feel THE STORY was at the heart of MIPTV this year, and the people whose job it is to tell the story took centre stage in Cannes. Writers, producers, directors, show runners and actors were in town to remind the industry that it can’t exist without the creative talent. The International Digital Emmy Awards ceremony — held during MIPTV’s Opening Party — was preceded by a star-studded red carpet line-up. Julian Fellowes, writer of Titanic, led his cast onto the red carpet following Titanic’s MIPTV Gala Screening. Titanic offers a different take on the well-told tale: the viewer observes the social interaction, but with the knowledge of the pending disaster. Also on the red carpet were Deena and Vinnie from VIMN’s Jersey Shore. The reality format that has traveled the world has made cool such ordinary activities as going to the gym, getting a suntan, and doing the laundry. But then it’s not just the show, it’s what you tweet while you’re watching that counts. Next on the red carpet were the stars of Femme Fatales, eOne’s homage to pulp fiction and film
Femme Fatales stars line up in Cannes
noir. The series reflects a significant trend that sees the ensemble cast as bigger than the sum of its parts: social interaction at the heart of storytelling. Other on-screen talent in Cannes included chefs Heston Blumenthal and Chuck Hughes; actress Melissa George, star of the Kudos Film & Television and Big Light Productions series Hunted; Venezuelan Miss World Ivian Sarcos; and Franka Potente and Tom Weston-Jones, stars of Shine international’s crime series Copper. On-screen talent with behind-the-
camera credentials in Cannes included supermodel and super-businesswoman Elle Macpherson, in Cannes to promote Electus format Fashion Star of which she is presenter and executive producer — a format that seamlessly knits together the talent show with ecommerce as viewers get the chance to purchase the clothes created by designers who compete to become the Fashion Star. And celebrity documentary maker Morgan Spurlock launched his new series with FremantleMedia Enterprises, New Britannia.
Jean Reno, in Cannes with Le Grand
Reno was accompanied by Rene Balcer, one of a growing number of show runners to have appeared in Cannes in recent years. Ed Bernero, show runner and executive producer for Criminal Minds, as well as Tandem Communications’ new series Crossing Lines; Frank Spotnitz, writer of the X-Files and show runner for The Hunted; and Randy Bradshaw, show runner of XII Tribes’ 12-part series Signs and its star Yse Brisson, all came to Cannes to support their latest projects. Creativity is now as important an element of MIPTV as the business that is done here.
Movie talent migrates to television
Iain Canning
MIPTV continued to prove that the divide between the big and the small screen no longer exists. Oscar winning producer of The King’s Speech Iain Canning announced on the MIPTV stage that his future is in television. Canning is one of the producers of Top Of The Lake, his and director Jane Campion’s first foray into television, and the subject of a conference that formed part of MIPTV’s CoProXchange series of sessions. A co-production with BBC Two in the UK, UKTV in Australia and New Zealand, and Sundance Channel in the US, Top Of The Lake brings together Oscar winners in Campion and Canning, and stars include Mad Men’s Elisabeth
Moss, and Holly Hunter, who starred in Campion’s 1993 Oscar-winner The Piano. A key element of the CoProXchange sessions was the closeddoor Drama CoProXchange Summit, which hosted some 50 commissioners, broadcasters, producers and deal brokers. The Summit’s aim is to speed up the process of drama co-production at the beginning stages, where many of the critical creative, development and funding decisions are made. After the Summit, Ben Donald, executive producer, international drama, BBC Worldwide, said: It’s great to see MIPTV alive to the huge opportunities that international co-production offers.
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conferences
Sessions focus on co-production, 3D, brands and video-on-demand
REWARDING CREATIVITY THE 2012 International Digital Emmy Awards ceremony took place during the MIPTV Opening Party.
Daniel Muli and Bridget Deacon, creators of Shujaaz FM (Children & Young People category)
Nestle’s Birgit Becker
MAJOR themes within the YahLive-sponsored MIP conference programme included branded entertainment, co-production, monetisation of VOD and the emergence of 3D. Within the branded entertainment track, sponsored once again by MIPTV partner Ogilvy, Nestle’s Birgit Becker described how branded content is a way for marketers to achieve consumer engagement. Ogilvy Entertainment’s Doug Scott described a financial shift in the direction of “co-created story-telling”. Audience demand for quality and
Erwin Schmidt
innovation was a theme of MIPTV’s 3DTV focus sponsored by Sony Corporation. It launched with scenes from Wim Wenders’ documentary Pina, produced by Erwin Schmidt — whose empowering message to delegates was that “3D is ready for television and television is ready for 3D”. During the New TV Players conference session, Karla Geci, head of strategic platform partnerships at Facebook UK, told delegates: “Since the last MIPTV, pretty much every major studio has launched some kind of app ex-
perience on Facebook.” She said that while a huge number of video players are experimenting with Facebook, it’s not yet clear what the best video model is. “For the most part it’s been video-on-demand streaming through purchasing with Facebook Credits,” Geci said. In sessions on video on demand, the same issue arose, with delegates describing the battle for endusers being played out between broadcasters, over-the-top services, connected TV manufacturers and second-screen pioneers including Apple.
Market rewards creatives of the future
Antica Productions’ Stuart Coxe
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A KEY element of MIPTV was the emphasis on content creation and development. Warner Bros. International Television Production sponsored the MIPFormats Pitch, which saw Antica Productions’ Stuart Coxe awarded development funding to develop his dating format Looking For Love. Within MIPCube, there were three competition strands: MIPCube Lab, Content 360 and TV Hack Day. MSN-sponsored Content 360 saw digital creatives pitch new ideas in transmedia content and next-generation audience engagement. With development funding totalling
up to €18,000. Winners included: The Connected Set (Content 360); SublimeVideo (MIPCube Lab); Telfrance (Transmedia Concepts); and Grab Magic! (TV Hack Day). As a future-focused event, also important was the recognition given to young producers at MIPTV’s Creative Party. The New Producers To Watch initiative turned the spotlight on up-and-coming producers Harry Tordjman of Myboxprod, Micho Marquis-Rose of Zieuter.tv, Pauli Kopu of KLOK and Olmo Figueredo GonzalezQuevedo of La Claqueta.
James Milward and Chris Harris winners for Endgame Interactive: Facebook Episode (Fiction category)
Steph Harris and Dan Jones, winners for Live From The Clinic (Non-Fiction category)
The winners were chosen from three categories — Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children & Young People. Four nominations for each category — 12 nominations in all — were presented at a medal ceremony in Cannes on April 1. The Emmys were presented at a star-studded gala ceremony that evening.
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Wrap Up session explains how the old will work with the new AT THE MIPTV Wrap Up session the panelists were asked to bring a slide that summed up the market. Format developer Omri Marcus of Red Arrow Entertainment chose an image of ITV-distributed show The Audience because, he said, the show sums up the growing social aspects of modern TV content: “It ... is based on the wisdom of the crowd where a group of people do their best to solve all the problems a person encounters in life.” He added: “I have two dating shows with me here in Cannes and both are based on social media because it is best thing that has happened to us all. But programme commissioners are still very slow to recognise the potential.” Richard Kastelein, managing director of the Agora Media Group, saw All3Media’s decision to sell its programming directly to viewers via Google TV as a positive development, “when you consider that there will be 150-200 million Smart TVs by 2014… I have no doubt at all that we’ll see more companies doing something similar.” Marc Goodchild, managing director and chief creative at IpDipSkyBlue.tv said that when it comes to selling
content directly to fans, Rovio already has its audience in place with 700 million apps, and can reach them via push notifications. MediaCty’s Simon Staffans said he was encouraged by the fact that “everyone was talking to each other at MIPCube... storytellers understood the technological limitations and the need to raise money, brands realised the need to put out compelling content and the tech community was talking to everyone”. For Kastelein, there are some examples of broadcasters attempting to be more social but the number of new TV shows with Facebook pages is still just 29%, while only 15% launch with Twitter accounts, suggesting that the traditional industry is still uncertain about how best to engage with the social media audience. Goodchild sees brands as being “ahead of the game” citing Fosters Lager’s curation of comedy content online — and pointing to new technology that allows brands to integrate themselves into the fabric of video content. The big missed opportunity, the panel agreed, is all the background data or ‘shoulder content’ behind
a production, which could be used to populate second screens. “All the knowledge that is generated during production is effectively binned right now because of lack of budgets to organise it,” said Goodman. “But it would be great to unlock the potential of that.” Meanwhile Google-owned YouTube is gearing up to join the TV media mainstream. Greater sensitivity to partner copyright issues, increased focus on ‘channels’ as opposed to ‘views’, and a $150m investment in original content could be preparation for a significant push — with over-the-top services delivered via connected TVs and supported by Google ad technology. Kastelein cited Zeebox, a platform that enables a closer correlation between advertising spend and consumer spend, as a company to watch, with Sky’s recent decision to take a 10% stake in Zeebox valuing the startup at $150m. • Wrap Up session video: http://bit.ly/Heqg2H • For interviews, conferences videos and more: go to http://blog.mipworld.com
Omri Marcus, Red Arrow Entertainment
Richard Kastelein, Agora Media/Appmarket.tv
Marc Goodchild, IpDipSkyBlue.tv
Simon Staffans, MediaCity
IN BRIEF ONE OF the hottest announcements of the market was that Rovio will be rolling out a weekly short-form animation series based on its Angry Birds App later this year (52 x 2.5-3 mins). In his keynote, Rovio’s animation head Nick Dorra said: “We’re going to roll it out on all devices.” ZODIAK Rights agreed three format deals for Latin America during MIPTV with hidden camera game show Oblivious, to be made by Globo TV. True Talent is to be produced by TVN Chile, and SBT Brazil has ordered a further 13 episodes of Sing If You Can. CHINA International TV Corporation (CITVC) and KBS Media (KBSM) in Korea signed a ground-breaking agreement at MIPTV which will see the two companies license drama series from each other. Under the terms of the deal, CITVC (the distribution arm of public broadcaster CCTV) is buying mainland Chinese rights for Believe In Love (62 x 70 mins) from KBSM while KBSM is buying Great Empire (52 x 50 mins) from CITVC. IN ADDITION to her packed Sunday Fresh TV slot, The Wit’s Virginia Mouseler presented a new session discussing how behaviour in social media is starting to be reflected in TV format trends: “The really big trend was with shows like The Audience and Honey You’re Getting Fat, where professional coaching is replaced by peer-to-peer coaching… friends and neighbours helping people tackle an issue. Other trends are more shows that have community interaction at their heart and shows about people covering other people’s songs.”
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