Advanced Television

MIPTV reshaping for digital era

February 24, 2016

By Colin Mann

Executives at TV programming market MIPTV are reshaping the 2016 event better to reflect the digital era. Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division, said that to differentiate the April event from its younger sibling MIPCOM, scheduled for October, there was a big focus on innovation, digital and new technology.

Speaking at a Press Briefing in London, Garaude said that MIPTV’s ‘Digital Square’ was the link between content and technology. “A number of start-up companies, whether they are in analytics, content delivery, content management, anti-piracy, apps development, will be in one area, and that creates quite a hub. It’s great for networking and meeting new companies,” she advised, adding that Reed MIDEM was being “very flexible” to get in new companies from everywhere.

Lucy Smith, Reed MIDEM’s Conference Director, said the ‘Digital Fronts’ element of the event had been launched three years previously to address the new digital content. “The models have changed a little since then. Initially, we were talking about YouTube channels; now it’s about players who are positioned as digital studios and bringing their talent to share. There’s a lot more going on between the linear channels and the online players,” she said, adding that the more traditional players needed to know where millennial audiences were going. “We’ve been talking for quite a while to get some of the more traditional [players] over to the Digital Fronts,” she disclosed.

In terms of innovation, Smith noted that Virtual Reality had become “a huge subject” that everyone was talking about. “There’s a lot going on … we’re putting on a whole afternoon dedicated to this,” she advised, revealing that Reed MIDEM was working with French telco Orange and Fox Innovation Labs on a session showcasing and exploring the potential of the technology.

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