Mipcom 2009: How to take advantage from the Post-Crisis
Mipcom 2009, the major worldwide content market, poses as a challenge how to profit on the post-crisis environment that is strengthening at this point. How to achieve this? Here are some trends and tendencies.
The first question is rather obvious: Is the world crisis being overcome? Ricus Jansegers, SVP International programming & Scheduling at ProSiebenSat.1 (Germany), who manages the group's channels in Eastern and Central Europe and especially Hungary and Romania, comments: 'The most developed European countries have started to watch a recovery in August and September, with further expectations for the last quarter of the year. Concerning Central and Eastern Europe we expect better figures especially in the first months of 2010'. Agreeing with this opinion, the German government declared the end of the recession in July, being followed by other governments, such as the French and British, among others.
In the United States, the nation most affected by the global crisis, there is a slow recovery; in Asia and Latin America the situation is more defined by local circumstances than the global crisis, whose consequences have been subdued; there is an overall activation pattern of multi-industry investment. So, sooner or later , it will be possible to discuss the post-crisis. And, since the business is more based on expectation than reality, it is necessary to pay attention to the Post crisis market.
What does this market look like? We'll see it at Mipcom, but it promises to be a combination of the two earlier scenarios: what has been learnt during the crisis (to search for better cost-benefit options, seek alternate providers, get rid of stereotypes, etc.) will not be forgotten. On the other hand, with more resources available , there will be a leaning towards more local production, betting on not-so-proven formulas and to invest again in digital platforms, especially Digital Terrestrial Television, a n already booming business side in Europe.
The Antena 3 case in Spain is a good example; a 2009 that started bad for broadcast TV became good thanks to DTT. Bernd Reichart, director of digital channels at the Group, explains: ‘While our competitors tried to launch niche channels on DTT, we designed ours, Neox and Nova, to appeal to general interest audiences. So we could reach with them 1.6% of the total Spanish audience. This proved not enough to add advertisers, so we launched an “overall coverage” package, synchronizing the Antena 3 ad avails with the two DTT's. Since the broadcast channel has 16% penetration, we increased our market share by 10%, which did change the largest advertisers' perception'.
Asia exhibits a strong drive towards new platforms. Telemundo Internacional's Xavier Aristimuño, a specialist in this region, comments: ‘A good part of the Asian markets are young, with young audiences, therefore many channels focus on juvenile programming, And this audience is strongly related to digital platforms: mobile telephony, Internet, social networks. So, there is much to develop regarding convergence or synergy between different media, especially in those markets that were underdeveloped and now are emerging. The increase of local production (in Korea, China, India, the Philippines) is another feature' it travels within the same continent, there is more exchange between the nations there'.
If during the Post Crisis there is more production (though less than before the crisis, with more finished product than in 2008) and more risky projects, w hat's coming concerning programming? All in all, the broadcasters around the world interviewed by Prensario feel that humor remains the most effective resource, especially during the crisis; when people watch TV, they want to feel good. And they agree, too, on that, under the deluge of media available to people, broadcast television is focusing on “event programming”, fare capable of gathering the family and calling public attention: sports events, musical shows, resounding realities and successful daily fiction.
The n , particular features arrive. From Latin America, Bernarda Llorente, content manager at Telefe (Argentina) and Sara Gutierrez, at RCN (Colombia), agree: ‘On television, almost nothing is dead, everything is recycled, transformed, or pops out again. When there is much fiction, reality opportunities appear, and vice versa. When you come from family entertainment series, you can try with stronger drama'. In Mexico, teen series and comedy are being produced; in Colombia there is a trend towards hard product such as stories about drug dealers. Short series are a trend across the region.
In Europe, the crisis resulted in more fiction programming time slots: ‘We are looking after series, miniserie… definitely fiction', agreed for instance Alexandra Bezpalcova, acquisition executive de Nova TV Czech Republic, Nadia Kostova, program director of TV7 Bulgaria, and George Denisenko, International general manager at National State TVR Belarus. Now that there will be more money available, there is an opportunity to produce fiction within Europe, thinks Arthur Yezekyan , president at Shant TV, Armenia, which is producing Dorimedia's telenovela Men of honor: ‘We produce daily fiction because our competitors don't'.
If the recent L.A. Screenings are a clue, the Hollywood studios introduced the new seasons of their series with much about medical centers -Mercy, Three Rivers- and supernatural plots -V, Vampire Diaries. At this Mipcom, Fox is highlighting the 20 years of The Simpsons while Sony is adapting its series in Russia, as it is described in an interview in this issue.
Concerning realities, new original ideas are desperately sought. Hispanic network Univision is promoting Viva El Sueño!, whose difference is that it features professional musicians interested in becoming more popular, while young audiences-oriented German Channel ProSieben has German Next Top Model as its current top hit. Endemol is launching at Mipcom the merger of its distribution infrastructure with Southern Star's, adding 20,000 hours of programming; Freemantle is obtaining additional mileage from already proven fare, such as American Idol (now with the fourth season of Latin American Idol, a multi country venture) and The Hole in the Wall, a success this year at RTL Klub in Hungary, among others.
The Cannes trade show will provide additional news. All in all, there is one thing for sure: it will be necessary to move fast in order to accommodate to the new market circumstances to be put forward, different from the year of crisis that we've seen since Mipcom 2008. Stay tunes.
Nicolas Smirnoff
