CANNES: It was a quiet day as Mipcom 2005 after the wild Wednesday. If it was the buzz around mobile TV that swept through the Riviera, torrential rains and the resultant water seepage into the Riviera side of the mart forced a number of exhibitors to shift out.
MTV Networks International, Granada Programme Sales and Hallmark Entertainment were among the big exhibitors hit by the storm aftermath.
If mobile was the new wave flavour at MipTV 2005 earlier this year, it was the dominant theme at Mipcom and more than lived up to the hype that had been built up at Mip.
There were good numbers on the attendance front as well. By the end of Wednesday (Day 3) attendance was at 11,616, well ahead of the 10,924 participants final tally at Mipcom 2004.
A numbers check at the end of Day 3 gives the following stats:
Total companies attending 3,917, up 11 per cent from the 3,522 last year.
Total programme TV buyers 3,482 up 7 per cent from 2004.
Total countries represented 92, down from the 95 2004.
Total participants arrived 11,616 up 7 per cent from 10,815 last year.
When queried about the fact that quite a few sessions, particularly on Wednesday were overbooked with people being turned away, Johnson said the investments made in order to increase the facilities and number of conferences were obviously paying dividends. Johnson said how to effectively manage the turnout effectively would be one of the challenges going forward.
For Indiantelevision.com, one really positive strand that came through in most of the sessions was that the digital world and the multiplying platforms were only going to enhance and bring to centrestage even further the role of quality content. The way forward is time and space shifted media consumption and in such a world there will really be no place to hide if the content dips in quality or is not up to scratch. Switch out and off will be instantaneous.
It must be said though that really big deals seemed lacking at this year's market. As regards major hype, it was Buena Vista International Television, the distribution arm of Walt Disney Television International, which splashed out on full-coverage banners draping the Croisette hotels and on an even bigger harbor yacht. All thanks to the general gung ho spirit within the company confidence the mega-success of its drama slate, which includes Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy. Disney also made the mart the launch pad for its upcoming education oriented CGI animated series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Other highlights of this year’s event included Tuesday’s CEO Mipcom Superpanel and the three keynote speeches from Endemol's Peter Bazalgette, Howard Roffman from Lucasfilm Licensing and Dan Romanelli of Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products. Fittingly, it was Bazalgette who dominated Mobile TV Day at Mipcom.
Then there was the first Mobile TV Screenings and Awards and the Mipcom DVD Awards. Cisneros group of companies chairman and CEO Gustavo Cisneros receiving the Mipcom 2005 Personality of the Year Award.
Tipping its hat to the increasing global interest in the telenovella, there was a special day of screenings and panels dedicated to the genre.
