Streaming Offensive dominates MIPCOM talks and business

Set under the motto ‘The Streaming Offensive’ referring to the arrival of US mammoths Disney +, Apple TV+, Warner Media’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock within the next few weeks and months, MIPCOM 2019 was the opportunity to hear executives from some of those major groups voice their plans, and to evaluate market changes.

Bringing market intelligence to the chaotic and dissonant flux of information, Tim Mulligan, senior analyst at MIDIA Research claimed that consumer attention has now peaked, therefore future growth in the SVOD market will come to the expense of existing mature players, including Netflix.

The slowing down of the US giant’s subscription base was confirmed by their Q3 results announced on Wednesday, that revealed a slower than predicted US growth (0.52 million more subscribers against 0.8 million forecast) although extra customers in the rest of the world were slightly more numerous than anticipated (6.3 million versus 6.2 million). In its letter to investors, Netflix itself acknowledged that “minor elevated churn in response to some price changes, and new forthcoming competition”, were responsible for the slowing down in its global subscription base.

At MIPCOM Mulligan underlined the market advantages of Disney with its massive brand awareness and robust catalogue, HBO Max and Peacock, able to “leverage their eco systems”, and to use their strong brands to increase engagement, similarly to Apple TV+ and its “amazing reach”. “Fandom is crucial to cut through competition today,” insisted the media analyst.

With content at the very core of fandom, recipes on how to create the best, most engaging and original shows, were discussed by various keynote speakers.

Personality of the year Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of Warner Media Entertainment and Direct to Consumer reassured HBO fans by saying that “there is no plan to do anything but keep that [brand and savoir-faire] intact”. He also confirmed HBO Max's plans to move into the original language market. “We’ve seen on Netflix and Amazon some extraordinary shows from different countries and we would love to have some of those as well,” he claimed.

In their Media Mastermind keynote appearances, Amazon Studios’ James Farrell Head of International Originals and Georgia Brown, Director of European Prime Original Series, said their focus is on quality content, wherever it comes from. “Co-production is key and we want shows that have a beating heart [in the local market] with universality in themes that can travel” said Brown.  

Major European players that outlined their strategies included French group Newen, shareholder in Danish production outfit Nimbus Film. CEO Bibiane Godroid said her group collaborates with all broadcasters in the different countries where they operate, as well as with the major SVOD platforms. She stressed that securing talent in France and internationally is crucial.

Slower dealmaking
Among MIPCOM exhibitors, global indie distributors quizzed, also felt that the potential disruption on the market with new streaming services, will be beneficiary to content creators.

“The Big US studios will focus on their own streamers and will withdraw some of their shows from local platforms, who in return, will need more volume from other sources. This will benefit independent distributors like us,” commented Laurent Boissel, co-founder of Paris-based boutique About Premium Content.

Boissel however underlined that the overflow of content on the market is having a negative impact on dealmaking, much slower today than a few years ago. “Today the sales process takes time. Buyers are buried under tons of content to evaluate. You simply have to be patient and trust your product and taste,’ said the seller of several Nordic shows including Finland’s spy thriller Shadow Lines, and Sweden’s crime thriller Alex.

Boissel’s views were echoed by Banijay Rights’ Head of Scripted Caroline Torrance: “We definitely find that it takes longer to close deals,” she said. “We used to launch a series at a market and almost immediately have offers everywhere. This is no longer the case [due to the saturated market]." 

Torrance goes on: “There are also more opportunities with new platforms popping up all the time,” she said, referring notably to TOPIC, the soon-to-be launched US streamer from First Look Media, which is looking for non-English language content. “Therefore you simply have to keep persevering,” stressed the senior executive who represented at MIPCOM Nordic titles including Occupied season 3, The Restaurant Season 3, and the Norwegian/Danish thriller Wisting, recently sold to the BBC. 

MIPTV 2020 REVAMPED
As global distributors started to pack their bags and finalise sales memos on Wednesday, organisers Reed Midem took the opportunity to reiterate to journalists, MIPCOM’s place as “the world leading entertainment content market”, but also the necessity to reboot the waning MIPTV in April. 

“In our current changing market, it is important for us to anticipate market trends and to accompany our clients,” claimed Laurine Garaude, Head of Reed Midem Television Division. She said that on the basis of a client survey, her company will revamp the spring content market, to make it more attractive, by offering “more scalable, flexible and cost-effective solutions”.

Key areas that will be improved for the next MIPTV, unspooling March 30-April 2, 2020 are the following: 

• Office space-New turnkey pre-packaged stand solutions will be offered to participants who will be able to design their stands from scratch. 
• Networking opportunities.  The ‘In development’ section will be optimised to make sure producers meet potential financiers.
• Market intelligence.  Reed Midem will increase data analysis and B2B information.  
• Buyers invitations. Reed Midem will increase by 50% the number of invitations to buyers/commissioners to make sure more buyers will attend MIPTV (3,300 in 2019 versus 4,700 for MIPCOM). 
• Finally the much-criticised obligation for exhibitors to book spaces both at MIPCOM and MIPTV will be cancelled.