Format

A Mipcom like any other, it seems. Attendance was good, more or less on a par with last year's event: according to official figures, more than 10.500 delegates (including 3.240 buyers) from 110 countries gathered at the Palais des Festivals, with 347 companies represented and 34 national pavilions. Even the good old rituals were there. The International Formats Awards ceremony on Sunday night at Hyde Beach was as good as ever, with a good mix of winners in the various categories (big productions like The Traitors or Squid Game: The Challenge, but also smaller ones like Basque-based Pausoka's Instagram/TikTok show Itsatsita - which, to be honest, has nothing to do with unscripted formats, but ok...). The people who filled the Grand Auditorium for The Wit's not-to-be-missed presentation saw some interesting formats, including some new ones such as Werewolves, The Box, Backpack of Life and others (unfortunately, almost all of them belong to the "psycho" and "adventure" reality trends, which are important, but certainly not the only ones in the market). At the Opening Party at the Majestic on Monday night there was a lot of fun, food and drinks and to top it all off there were fireworks on the beach.

There were also a few small additions to remind us that this is 2024 after all: the AI Summit, confined to the Innovation Hub (with a good turnout anyway) and little else. Everything apparently as usual, so. It was only after the second (or third) glass of wine, looking into each other's eyes, that we asked ourselves: how much longer is this going to go on? Because the market is changing, economic models are changing, the media system as a whole is changing, but we still pretend not to notice (at least not completely). In fact, our business will never die: humans need and will continue to need entertainment content, even more than food. But there is a need for a generational change which, for now, is rather limited (the average age of those attending continues to be quite high, with very few really young faces around...) We will see what happens. For now, let us enjoy this other round of the waltz…

To read the other articles two interesting (and fun) formats from Japan and the last part of the ultimate list of the unscripted genres, go to https://cmmespresso.substack.com/p/postcard-from-cannes

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