Lucy Smith doesn’t want to be compared to MIPTV

MIPCOM Boss Lucy Smith told Cannes attendees what to expect from recently unveiled MIP in London scheduled for February 2025.

MIP Londonattributed to multi-genre international content and network technology market after the closure of MIPTV, will be held at the Strand’s Savoy Hotel and IET from 23 to 27 February next year, hoping to attract more than 250 companies from 36 countries.

Smith explained that the focus will be on unscripted content, FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) and children’s content. Following conversations at MIP Junior earlier in the week, Smith said they had already received support from a number of key players, including BBC Children and education and Skyto organize the UK and Europe Children’s Co-Production Summit in London. “There will be more information about this soon,” added the chief executive of RX France.

Attendance at the Cannes conference fell by 500 people this year, the organizer said on Wednesday. She explained that after hearing the feedback, the goal now is to adopt MIP London in the era of companies. Smith said: “We talk about co-exclusivity, co-branding, collaborations and teams. We can also make it easier to bring people together. This week we will be adding a central database, which did not exist before, and after the week of screenings we will also be providing an online and on-site viewing library, which we know many people greatly appreciate.”

Smith added that London in February was already the biggest content week in the first quarter, with London shows for example, from 23 to 28 February – and they see this as a chance to make money on the business that is already actively developing in the UK capital this month.

“I think what we’ve seen at MIPTV over the years is a decline in the number of companies that think it’s an important enough moment on the calendar that they should be there and invest in that way,” Smith said. “And we heard that the choice was: MIPTV or do we go to the BBC presentation and London TV screenings?”

“At the last MIPTV there were 3,500 delegates here. We all know that’s not enough for the mid-market at this level,” she said. “And we felt that it was time for radical change, and we believe in change and development. So we felt we wanted to create a new and additional event to create a focal point around such a busy moment in the calendar.”

She continued: “I spoke personally to the founding partners of London TV Screenings over a year ago. And the first message is this: this is clearly not a competing event. We consulted with them before announcing our plans to launch this event. They understand the business reasons for doing it… I think the arrival of a lot of companies around the events in London that week has already happened. This year there have already been 29 distributors.”

Smith was asked how MIP London could benefit people on a budget in a notoriously expensive city. She explained that this is a completely different event from Cannes and not a major exhibition. They’ll have solutions ready for anyone who wants to take part, and early bird registration for £450 ($583) is now open with access to all of their central London venues.

“I just want to make clear the fact that this is not comparable,” Smith said. “We did not bring MIPTV to London. This is a new conference, networking and showcase event in the international market. We bring more business, more companies, more opportunities. We really believe there is value here.”

“We want to open it up and create a market beyond buyers and sellers,” RX France added. “It’s about getting more people doing big business.”