The news was in the air (David Ciaramella had already mentioned it in Friday's Espresso of 8 March). MIPTV has been a long, beautiful history: after a brief Italian "experiment" (the first audiovisual content market - MIFED - was born in Milan in 1960), Bernard Chevry "invented" the “Marché International des Programmes de Télévision” (Miptv) in 1963, first in Lyon and, two years later, in Cannes in 1965.
Now MIPTV is disappearing forever to become MIPLONDON, which will take place in the same week as the London TV Screenings, from 24 to 27 February 2025, as a kind of 'collateral' event: here is the full announcement from organiser RX France.
Everyone will miss the gentle spring strolls on the Croisette, but let's face it, this was an inevitable decision. Content markets have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years (I counted 49 between 2023 and 2024: if you want I can send you the full list...), and the situation was becoming grotesque. It’s inevitable that weaker events will disappear, and unfortunately MIPTV was one of them, also because, let's face it, Cannes is nice, but far from everything and not easy to get to.
Television is irreversibly changing as a result of three factors: the emergence of new technologies (first and foremost AI), digitalisation and market fragmentation. The death of MIPTV (albeit with a partial "resurrection") is a further sign of this.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS WHILE FALLING OUT OF THE PLANE
ZDF Studios will present their latest programme Skydive Quiz, developed with Portuguese TV producer Mário Daniel, in the upcoming MipTv.
The rules of the format (here’s the trailer), subtitled “the fastest quiz in the world” (but there was also MTV’s Blink- the world’s fastest gameshow: which of the two would win?) are simple, as are the questions, but the contestants (who are only first-time skydivers) have to answer them while falling from an altitude of 15,000 feet. And suddenly even the simplest questions (like a simple addition) aren't so simple.
When the contestants (six per episode ) take that leap, they will have just three seconds to answer questions before the parachutes deploy. Each episode closes with a TV star entering the game. Contestants can bet part of their winnings on how many questions the VIP will answer correctly.
A show with a good twist and a strong visual impact. The question is whether the 'rituality' of the quiz -slow by definition- is suited to this mechanism. And if after the initial surprise, it doesn't run the risk of becoming a bit repetitive…
ADDA VS CONTESTANTS
Mental Masters (below the trailer), the Spanish version of the international FOX quiz show Mental Samurai, produced by Warner Bros, premiered last Monday 25th March on Telecinco.
The show is hosted by the Spanish actor and TV presenter Carlos Sobera, but the real protagonist is ADDA, developed by two leading companies from Spain and Germany, whose standard version is used in the world of industry and cutting-edge medicine.
Basically, the contestants have to find the most correct answers to a series of questions while being carried by ADDA, a spectacular robotic arm with its own voice, in a capsule that flies through the air at high speed, rotates rapidly and even turns upside down in dizzying movements around the set, all the while receiving different visual and sound stimuli.
In each episode, a group of six celebrities sit in ADDA's capsule. When the clock starts ticking, ADDA begins to move rapidly with 360º movements as the capsule rotates in mid-air, taking the contestants alternately to four towers located at the four corners of the set, where they are asked questions that test their memory, orientation and knowledge, among other skills.
The contestant who manages to answer the most questions correctly in the allotted time will move on to the final of the competition, where he or she will try to win a prize of up to €20,000, which will be donated to charity.
Once again, the scenery is spectacular, but at the risk of being a little repetitive and overshadowing the questions and the dynamics of the game, which are always the most important things.
NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
The brand funded programme M&S: Dress The Nation, has been commissioned for ITV1 and its ITVX streaming service and will be hosted by AJ Odudu and Vernon Kay. The series’ successful candidate will secure a life-changing job as a junior designer at M&S
The Saturday night quiz show The Weakest Link has been renewed for a fourth season, to return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year always with Romesh Ranganathan as host
Nonpanic, part of Banijay Italia Holding, will produce a second season of Maître Chocolatier – Talenti in Sfida for Sky Italia’s free-to-air channel TV8
FOX has ordered two additional seasons of Gordon Ramsay’s hit cooking competition Hell’s Kitchen, taking the show into its 23rd and 24th seasons
The dating show Celebs Go Dating is returning for a new season on E4 in the U.K. later this year, marking the 13th cycle for the series
Netflix announced the reality show Nova Cena, which will be led by Brazilian rap stars. The programme will reveal new talents from the urban music scene in Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.