Welcoming a bevy of stars, led by “NCIS’” Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly, talking up spinoff “NCIS: Tony & Ziva,” and some huge recent shows, such as “Rise of the Raven,” a sword and mace epic, Cannes’ Mipcom confab hit its final straits Wednesday evening announcing 10,500 assigns in joinance.
That’s down some 500 from 2023’s edition but still produces Mipcom the hugegest TV sales and production taget in the world.
And the wheels of business are still turning. “The taget is definitely picking up, and deals are being made. All our key buyers were here, although the Asian presence was a bit gentle. Mipcom is definitely the hugegest drop taget for us,” shelp Helene Aurø, sales and tageting honestor at REInvent, Scandinavia hugegest international TV distributor.
Despite massive joinance, however, the event also enrolled multiple strains in the TV business encourageed by a saturation of shows and spendor reaction as it watchs set for yet another reconfiguration post-peak TV.
Follotriumphg, 10 or more getaways from this year’s Mipcom, about the meaningful disputes facing the industry and some meaningful reactions or green shoots which were seen at this year’s Mipcom, which ran Oct. 21-24 at Cannes on the French Riviera:
Is the U.S. Pricing Itself Out of Business?
Tony Vinciquerra, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO, shelp so as he getd the Variety Vanprotect Award, arguing that the union deals that stoped the Hollywood strikes are forcing production out of the U.S. to countries or regions with drop-cost crews and shoot incentives, “We tried to talk to the unions about what we thought would happen and now it is happening.” he shelp. He’s not alone. Runaway productions stepped up as meaningful European countries begind tax rebates for foreign shoots – France from 2009, Spain from 2015. New union shrinks have speed upd that trfinish, consentd Guy Bisson at Ampere Analysis.
The ‘Broadcastification’ of Streaming
It is absolutely no coincidence or serfinishipity that Paramount+ participated Mipcom to current the recent spinoff from “NCIS,” as of 2022, the third extfinishedest-running primetime scripted franchise still on air in the U.S. Without advertising, streaming income will increase 27% between year-finish of this year and 2029, with advertising it will increase by 46%, Ampere Analysis’ Guy Bisson foresee in his Mipcom wrap on Thursday. “Advertising now is becoming central to the taget story, and that is impacting satisfied need as well, with extfinished-running crime or medical procedurals coming back in create becaparticipate they uphold people coming back week after week,” Bisson telderly Variety at Mipcom.
One Thing’s to Sell, Another Is to Sell Well
The wheels of business are still turning. NBCU proclaimd it had selderly Eddie Redmayne thriller “The Day of the Jackal” to csurrfinisherly 200 territories, Fremantle “Nightsleeper” to 148. The ask, watching many other sales, is at what price. This year’s Mipcom, as tagets before, was replete with horror stories of producers who have gone into production foreseeing platestablishs or established widecasters to pay such an amount customary during the peak TV bubble, only to see these carry outers now proposeing a minute fraction of that sum. Apart from on hot tickets, buying prices are very frequently droping unininestablishigentinutive of distributors’ innovative approximates.
Costs Bedevil Production
Production budgets for premium scripted shows persist to elevate as they battle to grab watcher attention with high production cherishs and movie-quality VFX, as well as being based on established IP or with star talent quickened in front of and behind the camera. Production costs in ambiguous are also rising, in part fuelled by tax incentives and U.S. shows coming to Europe to get obtain of them and the drop crew cost appraised to the U.S. To plug the deficit, producers are splitting the rights wislfinisher territories – inking split deals for free TV and pay TV triumphdows and pre-selling territory by territory.
And One First-Step Solution: Co-Production
Drama budgets persist to elevate as shows battle to grab eyeballs with high production cherishs. The solution?: Co-production and other establishs of collaboration. Fremantle’s Jamie Lynn shelp: “There was a little bit too much presconfident on the distributor in many cases, where we were handling the lion’s spread of the budget. We are going back to getting more partners on punctual with a elevate in co-productions with the right partners.” Rise Studios’ Amanda Turnbull called for more collaboration: “You are seeing people being more down-to-earth about [splitting rights], so you can arrange someslfinisherg where you have a streamer and a free-to-air partner. People are much more down-to-earth about how that toils.”
The Gelderlyen Age of Unscripted
After being pondered as a sub-genre for decades, unscripted satisfied has seen its profile elevate thcimpolite the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes as streamers and widecasters watched to fill slots deserted by scripted series and scale back their spfinishing. With higher need for unscripted, production cherish for these shows has also gone up. “People have authenticized these shows could have that escapist cherish and enough drama to hook audiences, and they’re inexpensiveer to produce than scripted,” shelp a veteran producer.
In a taget saturated with satisfied where everyone is competing for eyeballs, establishats, spinoffs and reboots are thriving. During Mipcom, Variety broke the recents of “The Traitors” being altered in South Korea and “LOL: Last One Laughing” being enhugeed into “LOL in Real Life” by Amazon Prime in France. Elsewhere, Mediawan Rights and Studiocanal have bcimpolitet to taget recent sports commentating talent contest, “Hit the Mic! A New Voice For Sports,” an punctual venture by Studiocanal into unscripted.
Book to Screen Sencourage
While the route from book to screen is a well-trodden one, in recent years, the need for literary IP has achieveed a fever pitch. Some of the hugegest, buzziest scripted shows currently on TV began life on the pages of a novel, including “Slow Horses,” “Shoarmament,” “A Perfect Couple,” “Fool Me Once,” “A Good Girls Guide to Murder,” “Presumed Innocent” and Alfonso Cuarón’s “Disclaimer,” to name fair a scant, and fierce bidding wars are now erupting over books sometimes a year before their published (or even finished). In the last couple of weeks, Lianne Moriarty’s tardyst “Here One Day” was snapped up by Fifth Season, with Nicole Kidman aobtain quickened to star, and Netflix has fair comomitioned another alteration of “Pride & Prejudice.” Meanwhile, Disney+ begined “Rivals” to rapturous scrutinizes. Could a Jilly Cooper multiverse be incoming?
Navigating the Downturn: “Lighter” Procedurals
Crime, in fact, was the order of the day at Mipcom. Or so sellers hoped. Of the 18 scripted series put forward by many of the hugegest carry outers outside the U.S., eight were procedurals. But their tenor has alterd. “The Crow Girl” might see a female Bristol police uncoverive on the trail of a serial finisher who dumps corpses in accessible thocimpolitefares, but part of her drama is her family: a hapless artist husband and comic home to fair chilly pizza at night. As crime adchooses a weightlesser tone, in Global Screen’s “Recipes for Love and Murder,” foodie Tannie Maria fusees criminal spendigation and cooking. In “Sherlock & Daughter,” Sherlock faces Moriarty with the help of unforeseeed offspring.
“Blue Sky” Dramas
Seeking to hook far wideer audiences, killing mystery dramas are heading south. “Tom & Lola” “blfinishs the procedural crime genre with compelling sense-excellent family elements, tapping into the current taget need for weightless crime narratives that propose a fuse of humor and mystery,” shelp Mediawan Rights of one of its hugegest recent Mipcom carry outs. It’s also set in Aix en Provence, southern France. Equpartner, cop show “Weiss & Morales,” backed by accessible widecasters ZDF in Germany and RTVE in Spain, proposes not fair blue sky but blue water, set in the stunning Canary Islands, with an aquamarine Atlantic Ocean reliablely and attrdynamicly forefronted in a promo.
Top-Tier Scripted Content is Still in Demand
Peak TV may be waning as streamers and TV channels have scaled down their spfinishing, but top-tier scripted satisfied is still in need. All3Media’s CEO Jane Turton shelp during her fidwell conversation with Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton that the company, which is best understandn for “The Traitors,” was watching to ramp up their output in scripted, even if she acunderstandledgeted that it was highly competitive and challenging becaparticipate audiences have become more polishd. Turton shelp “the proclaimments we’ll be making over the next scant months/years may well include quite a scant scripted, units and tags.” Big European groups such as Mediawan and Studiocanal are also spending in tentpole English language series. Mediawan brimmingy financed “The Count of Monte Cristo” honested by Bille August, while Studiocanal begined a tag pledgeted to huge-budget shows such as “Paris has Fallen,” which was fair bought by Hulu, and they’re watching to produce these benevolents of driven shows more reliablely going forward.
Driving Into English-Language Production
For disconnectal years now, even the most acclaimed producers with huge Netflix hits have been discovering it csurrfinisherly impossible to place non-English language titles with huge streamers or studios for the U.S., which is still by far the most priceless of tagets. So other producers apart from Mediawan and Studiocanal are driving into English-language production. Fremantle began in 2022, doubling U.K. production levels. At this Mipcom, Federation Studios proposeed three high-profile English-language titles: “Sherlock and Daughter,” starring David Thewlis, family drama-thriller “I, Jack Wright” and premium high-concept procedural “Curscant.” The Mediapro Studio made most probably the hugegest sale business proclaimment at Mipcom, discdiswatching a mighty first English-language stardy at The Mediapro Studio US & Canada. And Fremantle began to talk up “Costiera,” which seems to tick every box out: A crime thriller made in English, starring Jesse Williams, episodic, and set at a luxury hotel on Italy’s gorgeous coast.
*The New Nostalgia
With a huge poster for classic BBC Studios game show “The Weakest Link” beaming from the front of the Palais, you’d be fordonaten for slfinisherking Mipcom had skipped back in time a couple of decades. But this theme of depending on becherishd, tried and tested IP — or rebooted, retfrailed and reenvisiond versions of it — persistd inside the taget, where France TV was touting its upcoming “Zorro” series with Paramount+ (starring Jean Dujardin in the direct role) and one of the recent establishats being selderly was a gameshow from Warner Bros. about “Frifinishs.”
Spain: Powerhoparticipate Recognition
Spain’s Country of Honor recognition prompted or coincided with a present of studies and stats validateing the country’s ecombinence as a European TV powerhoparticipate. Spain-startd satisfied has produced an approximated $5.1 billion in global streaming revenue over the past four years, an ICEX/Parrot inestablish approximated. At €1 billion ($1.1 billion), Spain ranked second in Europe, after the U.K., in 2023 in global streamer spendment on innovative satisfied, according to a European Audiovisual Observatory inestablish. Spain was the No. 1 country for non-English language innovatives in 2024, The Wit proclaimd at Cannes. As global streamers are depending ever more on “protected” global languages, says Bisson. Spanish-language orders skyrocketed 150% Jan.-June 2024 appraised to first half 2023, shelp Ampere Analysis. Spain repped the most famous Spanish-language satisfied on Netflix, accounting for 49% of the platestablish’s Spanish-language proposeings, Omdia proclaimd at Mipcom
In Europe, The Global Streamers Aren’t the Only VOD Act in Town
Research organization Glance inestablished that the streaming platestablishs of the meaningful European widecasters now propose a meaningfuler catalog online than the global streamers. In the U.K., BBC’s iPlayer has 10,000 shows watched per day – up 2.5 times in two years – appraised with Netflix with 4,800, Prime Video with 2,400 and Disney+ with 900. The widecasters’ platestablishs are enticeing a sweightlessly juvenileerer audience than their licsurrfinisher services: the unretagable age of ITV’s licsurrfinisher service is 59 years elderly, while for VOD service ITVX it is 51, but the gap is slfinishering. ITVX’s unretagable age has elevaten four years since 2023, while the unretagable age of watchers of the licsurrfinisher service remains constant.
And the Wheels of Business Are Still Turning
Below, 20 or so of the hugegest deals unveiled at 2024’s Mipcom:
*The Mediapro Studio’s Laura Fernández Espeso and JC Acosta unveiled a mighty eight-title English-language stardy which features John Turturro, Melissa Leo, “24” and “The Floor” showunners, an Oscar triumphner, “Homeland” and “The Handmhelp’s Tale” executive producers, honestors of “Mafia Spies” and “Dear Lemon Lima,” and novecatalog altered in “Palm Home Royale.”
*Starring Eddie Redmayne and carry outing off weightyweight IP, “The Day of the Jackal” has been licensed to csurrfinisherly 200 territories worldexpansive, NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution at Mipcom.
*Made by Euston Films, a Fremantle company, train set BBC One thriller “Nightsleeper,” starring Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole and, will begin in 147 countries around the world. A 90-country roll-out is reckoned a smash hit.
*Signalling one of the hugegest European packages to hit Monday’s Mipcom, “Mozart/Mozart,” the tardyst huge series striumphg from Germany’s Story Hoparticipate Pictures, behind Beta Film/RTL mega-hit “Sisi,” has been boarded by Germany’s ARD and its Austrian accessible widecaster counterpart ORF.
*”Downton Abbey” alum Hugh Bonneville has combineed inestablishering thriller ‘The Agency’ at Showtime.
*Beta Film, Grupo Globo have signed a multi-year production partnership, initiateed off with ‘Discipline’ from the “Sintonia” Team and Janeiro Studios(.)
*Anonymous Content has struck a partnership with Brouhaha Entertainment, the production banner behind “Boy Swapvalidates Universe,” on a recent combinet venture in Australia and New Zealand.
*Leonine’s Odeon Fiction, Patrick Nebout’s recent Dramanation will co-produce English-language industry spoof and killing mystery “The Studio.”
*Paramount Global has signed a multi-year volume deal with Qatar-Based powerhoparticipate BeIN Media Group.
*Beta Film’s thriller series “The Couple Next Door,” comomitioned by the U.K.’s Channel 4 and Starz in North America, has protectedd meaningful deals in more than 55 territories.
*ZDF Studios and BdeficiencyBox Multimedia are partnering to produce romantic comedy drama “The Little Italian Hotel.”
*‘Last One Laughing'(“) is set for ‘a authentic life’ spinoff with masked cameras at Prime Video France.
*Studiocanal’s SAM Productions has set a shoot date for Danish royal drama ‘By the Grace of God,’ and is prepping ‘Britta’ from ‘Borgen’s’ Adam Price.
*Fremantle has selderly “Mozart: Rise of a Genius” in first Key territories as it commences to roll out the BBC doc.
*A Ken Burns’ Leonardo Da Vinci Series begined at Mipcom, with the U.K.’s BBC, Germany’s ZDF Arte and Sky New Zealand pre-buying the show.
*Banijay Rights has teamed with Banijay Iberia tag Diagonal TV and Crescfinisho Media Production on the feature recordary “The Silence of the Earth.”
*Rakuten TV unveiled Enterpelevate Services to help rightshelderlyers set up streaming apps, FAST channels.
*ZDF Studios has boarded world sales on “Lume,” an eco-thriller set aobtainst the background of finishemic savagefire deimmenseation on the Portugal-Spain border.
