Back to business in Cancun

MIP Cancun 2021 is once again a focal point for unparalleled networking opportunities featuring its signature pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings format. Top it off with dedicated conference sessions highlighting co-production issues as well as the rise of streamers in the Latin America media landscape. Every session had an explosion of amazing insights coming from all over the world.

Welcoming Remarks from MIP Cancun Show Director

This year MIP Cancun is all about reconnecting

Bénédicte Touchard de Morant, MIP Cancun Show Director, opened the market welcoming delegates with a warm message:

We are really grateful and proud to be able to bring together, in-person, the MIP Cancun community. This market is all about you!

Manuel De Sousa, Partnership and Business Development Director, outlined the key pillars of MIP Cancun: 1-to-1 pre-scheduled meetings format, a world-class conference program to get inspired and stay up to date with the ever-evolving media landscape, and last but not least, networking and entertainment events.

Bénédicte invited all the members of the MIP Cancun team from Paris, New York and London offices to join her on stage expressing gratefulness for being able to deliver the market in such a difficult time to the MIP Cancun community!

STAY FRESH AT MIP Cancun

Managing Director of The Wit, Caroline Servy, provided the signature range of Fresh TV insights “Fresh TV”. She highlighted some emerging titles for Drama and Formats genres. Among the top formats titles she mentioned: “Date or Drop” (From All3media International), and “Por amor o por mentira” (From: Acun Entertainment).

Among the drama titles, she mentioned: Maradona, Sueño Bendito, Mi fortuna es amarte, Yargi, Alparslan, Sasmos, and ACI.

She also discussed some interesting formats such as: HIT Turkish Format, Turkish remake power and, Real life heroins.

Equity valuations and asset prices for content

Valuations has also become an important fixture during the first days of MIP Cancun. Senior Managing Director, Daniel Punt, FTI Consulting USA, outlined the broad objective of the session: Equity valuations and asset prices for content and IP have increased precipitously over the past few years, and especially over the last one.

What factors drive these run-ups in valuations? The answer is the post-Covid macro-economic context:

Many companies have had to refinance their debt, Daniel said. 2021 is the most active year in history, with 13% more deals than previous years 2018-2020 (34% above Q4´19 VS Q3 ´21)

During the past 18 months (post-COVID), the content investment continued to grow 24% more VS last year, due to the adoption to streaming platforms, 2021 has seen much higher valuations.

• Crunchyroll and Sony, 7x revenue
• MGM and Amazon, 27x EBITDA

It is a great time to raise capital, and for smaller companies to join a bigger company.

In conversation with: Catalina Porto Urdaneta, Arlen Torres & Christian Gabela

In another session, Gaumont SVP, Head of Latin America and Spain, Chrstian Gabela, outlined several production goals for the upcoming year.

There is a great increase in the demand for content. The pandemic stopped many productions and now everything is starting up again. The bottleneck has opened and everything is coming back with a rage, shared Christian. El español está de moda

The panel’s speakers also discussed issues such as consolidation and opportunities in Latin markets. Fellow panelist Catalina Porto Urdaneta, Executive Production Manager at Caracol Television, focused on three key themes: production in Latin America, tax incentives, and Spanish as a main language. Arlen Torres, Executive Producer at Caracol Television, described how technology is an ally in terms of producing.

Technology allows you to produce things that you had never imagined, in 1 day we can do up to 5 scenes

Content trends and storytelling also continued to be key themes throughout MIP Cancun 2021. CEO Noah Jones at FWRD MGMT, said:

Today´s booming Brazilian market can provide growth opportunities for writers in Brazil and in a global stage.

Raphael Montes, Writer, shared he loves to connect with the audience when writing new content. “If you do a good story you will find a place to sell it”. Also on the panel as moderator, Editor In-Chief at Videoage International, Dom Serafini, outlined that the chemistry between a writer and a manager is vital.

Marie Leguizamo, Banijay, Keynote

My main advice for producers: Premium content and attention to detail

Several sessions were about content trends. Banijay managing director Marie Leguizamo highlighted the goals for new content in 2022, and said content creation is back on track after COVID. Those extra moments you take to adjust details will make the difference to stand out from the rest, she added.

Juan Ponce, Telemundo Keynote

TTV MEDIA, editor in chief, Rodrigo Ros, interviewed Juan Ponce, SVP & GM of Hispanic Streaming at Telemundo. He explained the importance of capitalizing the demand for premium original content. Juan Ponce told delegates: “Telemundo is currently producing 12 projects. We aim to develop a model that allows producers to make long-term partnerships. It is really important to listen first, to be customer obsessed, to do some research about your audience and to listen to what your customer wants and doesn’t want.” He said content creators need to focus on the more curated niche offerings too.

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