While the weather was uncharacteristically wet, last week was dominated by MIPTV, with its industry discussions, speeches and all the deals announcements from major production companies including BBC Studios, Cineflix and Red Arrow Studios Internationals. Lumina headed over to the south of France for the conference.
Interestingly, Facebook took centre stage for the second keynote speech of the event, with Matthew Henick, Head of Content Strategy and Planning at the social network discussing its plans for the future. Henick discussed how mobile and television are not in the same realm, with mobile is more social, suggesting that “the audience tells half the story.” (Realscreen). As for Facebook’s content strategy for its Watch platform, Henick was singing praises for the unscripted programming for its interactive nature.
As the tech giants expand its original content strategy throughout 2018, deal announcements have been flooding the trade press. First off, Banijay were the subject of several major announcements, with Banijay Asia launched in collaboration with Deepak Dhar, former MD at Endemol Shine India. Furthermore, Banijay Germany was created through the merger of Brainpool and Banijay’s current operations in the country. Acquisitions of production companies continued with eOne taking a majority stake in Whizz Kid Entertainment (Variety).
In terms of programme acquisition, the newly formed BBC Studios managed to sell its highly-popular McMafia to Russian channel Friday. During the UK premiere, the show received several denouncements from Russian authorities, including the UK embassy. In the SVOD space, AMC Networks made moves to acquire content for their platforms. They acquired Jailers for the Sundance Now service and Supermax to its Shudder platform.
Also making the news from MIPTVwas Red Bull’s intention to produce content covering the first private mission to voyage and land on the moon. Red Bull Media House will produce a 3-episode documentary following the quest to visit the Apollo 17 mooning landing zone. Red Bull is well-versed in creating conversation around major topics – whether through its sporting engagements, or other emerging media formats – therefore the documentaries will likely be well-received.
After many insightful discussions and meetings, MIPTV came to a close with the usual wave of announcements rocking the industry – only MIP can manage this. Up next in the event calendar will be the TV Connect conference over the course of 2 days (9th and 10th May). Lumina will be at the event and we hope to see you there.