MIPCOM Boss Updates On MIP London As Numbers In Cannes Fall By 500

MIP London has tripled its number of companies planning to attend over the past two months but attendees at this week’s Cannes confab fell by 500, organizer Lucy Smith just revealed.

Newly revealed for MIP London, meanwhile, is a kids co-pro summit, which RX France‘s Smith said came out of the conversations that took place at MIP Junior several days ago.

Smith said big kids TV players from the UK including the BBC and Sky will be involved. “The industry needs as many opportunities as possible to get together to move projects forward,” said Smith at the closing MIPCOM press conference this afternoon, during which she unveiled the figures.

The kids genre has faced tricky headwinds of late and a group including the BBC gathered in the UK earlier this year to discuss at a hastily-convened summit amid existential questions over the genre’s future.

The kids co-pro summit will join formats and docs summits at MIP London.

Smith said today that 250 companies from 36 countries have confirmed their presence at the confab in the English capital. This has tripled over the past two months. The previous numbers release at the start of September had 80 companies including buyers from the likes of Netflix, ITV and Disney.

But Smith said MIP London is not really a numbers game. “We’re not talking numbers,” she added. “I know we talk numbers for MIPCOM and that has a history to it but for London we want to create a useful international marketplace where people come together for business opportunities by bringing more execs into London.”

MIPCOM attendance down

Those numbers were in the spotlight at MIPCOM as Smith revealed attendance was down nearly 5% this year from 2023, while there were 300 less buyers in Cannes. Buyers hailed mainly from the U.S., followed by the UK, France, Germany and Spain, Smith said.

Smith put this down almost solely to companies sending smaller delegations for their stands as they save on travel and expenses amid a difficult climate, some of whom made their decisions “late in the day.” She added that the numbers reflect the state of the market, while pointing out that 72 companies took stands for the first time and maybe were discussing new revenue streams.

Next year’s MIPCOM will take place October 13 to 16, Smith revealed. MIP London takes place in February.