1. WELCOME BACK, MIPCOM!
The renaissance of Mipcom. This was what Virginia Mouseler proclaimed at the “Fresh Tv Formats” presentation, one the most anticipated sessions of the market. And that really is the perfect word to describe it. After the “petite” edition of MipTV in April (by the way, will it still continue to exist in the future?) this was finally a real “deluxe” global market, quite comparable to pre-Covid times, full of executives, exhibitors’ booths and contents.
According to the organizers, there were 10,896 delegates (3,100 of which were buyers) from 108 countries and there were 321 stands, from small structure to hundreds of square meters, scattered all around the Palais and beachside.
But, apart from the numbers, the most relevant thing was the energy and the enthusiasm of MipTV participants. Sapiens are social animals and need to meet their peers physically in order to establish relationships and contacts, and feel to be part of a community. At least once a year.
2. SOMETHING ABOUT FORMATS AND TRENDS
It is quite difficult to point out single formats or trends that are particularly significant. On the one hand there are so many, and it takes time to process all of them, but on the other hand -generally speaking- they don’t seem to stand out significantly. We will name just a few, chosen among those not mentioned in the previous issues.
First of all, the long wave of dating shows continues, with titles such as the Japanese Love by A.I (couples selected by Artificial Intelligence -A.I.- go through dating completely assisted by A.I. and see if they can find true love), the Finnish Save the Date (4 single women have just 3 months to find their perfect match and plan their wedding) and the Nordic First Timers (shy people who never have met before try to find true love).
There is also a sort of “mini trend” of formats focused on weight loss (another evergreen issue). Among them, the Korean Zero Sum Game (10 players are gathered around in a camp for seven days and have to maintain the sum of their weight exactly the same as the initial weight they’ve measured on the first day) and the German Worth for Weight (a whole overweight family try to lose pounds for their health and for money: they win Euros for each kilo they lose).
But maybe the most touching is the Belgian Out Of Office: 5 individuals with burnout are brought together for a life-changing experience. They step out of the daily rat race to recharge and start a new project together with a group of unexpected colleagues: people with special qualities who enthusiastically work in a day job on a care farm. After 6 months, the all-important question arises: do they return to their stressful jobs or give their lives a new direction?
3. FRAPA’S CORNER
And finally a brief report about the traditional FRAPA Format Summit, written by Alexandra Heidrich, media expert and founder of Heidrich Consulting.
On Tuesday morning, all entertainment enthusiasts met again at the FRAPA Summit - to mingle and to hear about the latest Format trends and to get some insights from industry experts. Over coffee, tea, croissants and fruit kebabs, experts discussed "The Global State of Formats: Copros, Co-Development & the Future". Moderated by Phil Gurin, Co-Chairman of Frapa.
Hannes Hiller, SVP Content Development, ProSiebenSat1 Seven One Entertainment Group stated that they are very open to co-development and mentioned Steal the Show (Red Arrow distributing) as a very successful co-development example. Joanne Wallace, Senior Commissioning Editor, BBCTV added that you need trust and have the same goal the whole way through the process to end up with a successful co-production for both sides. Julian Degroote, EVP and Head of Content Development & International of TF1, wants to speed up the unscripted trend, since the market share is far above other genres.
But everyone agreed on one thing: everybody is looking for new format ideas, wherever they may come from. No filter - but no 30 pages pitches, please. And do your homework - get to know your client first.
Finally the audience got some quick insights into what the speakers are looking for. Big scale talent shows, reality dating, shiny floor Saturday night entertainment, crazy ideas for platforms… you name it!
Finally, David Ciaramella’s presentation was not to be missed. K7 put together “What‘s Hot at MIPCOM 2022”.
Big brands coming back - eg. Big Brother, Gladiators, Password, The Mole;
Adventure Reality - Canada’s Ultimate Challenge, The Summit, Loaded in Paradise;
Gamifying Modern Times - Good Game, Hold the Front Page, Zero Sum Game, Make me Prime Minister;
Dating (this time all about dating with committee) - Matched by Mom, Dating with my Mates, Love and Frenemies, The Mini Matchmakers (my personal favourite!).
See you next MIP and network with the FRAPA board and all other format lovers!