A Note from the Editor

Mansha Daswani

For an industry heavily reliant on faceto-face meetings, 2020 was a study in adaptation. As one event after the next nixed in-person gatherings and went virtual, content producers, distributors and buyers had to find new ways to do business. And so did we. World Screen added a range of new platforms in 2020, including the WorldScreenings and In-Demand newsletters to help buyers identify great content to fill grids disrupted by Covid-19. We moved into the events business, hosting the TV Latina Streaming Festival and the inaugural TV Kids Festival in February, with a summer edition to take place in June. We launched a premieres platform to give distributors a secure destination for screening new shows to buyers. We redesigned our digital editions to make them more interactive and easier to read on laptops and mobile devices. All while continuing to produce our signature print editions as we prepare for a return to live events.

The content business did not just have to adapt to find new ways to sell and promote content; it also had to rapidly implement new ways of making it—rewriting scripts, adjusting sets and putting in place new protocols to be Covid-19 compliant. And it had to feed the voracious appetite of viewers who were spending way more time at home. Consumption was up everywhere and across every genre, and streaming was king.

So what are the prospects for 2021? By all accounts, the streaming surge is set to continue with more customers taking on more services—the question remains, at what point will people max out: seven, eight, nine services per household? On the advertising front, dire predictions were upgraded as 2020 came to a close. Jonathan Barnard, Zenith’s head of forecasting, noted, “The prospect of multiple effective vaccines gives us confidence that adspend growth will continue in 2021 and beyond, returning the market to 2019 levels in 2022.”

World Screen is optimistic about the year ahead, especially after seeing the impressive range of new content available—have a look for yourself in this edition of the World Screen Guide.