Esports BAR Cannes, the world’s esports business arena, announced the 10th edition of the event series will take place in Cannes alongside MIPTV, the international television market, 4-6 April 2022. The 10th edition of the Esports BAR series, which gathers the whole esports community in one place to discuss the future of the industry, will take place in April 2022 in its Cannes home. The 2022 event will be hosted by RX France (formerly Reed Midem) side by side with a reshaped MIPTV.
Building on the successful scheduling at MIPCOM in October, where the events ran in parallel for the first time in the city, April will see Esports BAR also moving into a new dedicated bespoke area of the Palais des Festivals alongside MIPTV, creating one central venue, and encouraging yet further synergies between the complementary sectors. “We’re excited to be returning to Cannes in April and the timing of Esports BAR taking place simultaneously to MIPTV and its related events is significant. This buzzing programme of the world’s most talked about and in demand TV genres and formats is sure to pack a powerful content punch for global delegates, with esports being one of the most exciting and booming forms of on-screen entertainment on the planet,” Esports BAR Director, Arnaud Verlhac, said.
Lucy Smith, RX France's Director of MIPTV & MIPCOM, added: "The parallels of a global international content market and the largest gathering of the esports community goes far beyond just scheduling. When both events were staged simultaneously for the first time in Cannes in October the positive feedback demonstrated the powerful synergies emerging from the two sectors, synergies which can only continue to flourish in April at MIPTV."
Esports BAR is the largest international B2B event for the esports ecosystem and non-endemic brands who naturally partner with the sector. Esports BAR is an immersive experience – an arena for participants to step into, connect, be inspired and do business, with the event team on hand to showcase insightful and inspiring panels, guide introductions and broker relationships. A re-shaped MIPTV also brings popular genre showcases MIPFORMATS and MIPDOC into the heart of the main event in the Palais des Festivals in full for the first time, creating a streamlined three-day business efficient programme. The 59th edition of the market also sees the return of the International Format Awards (in association with C21Media, FRAPA, MIPFORMATS & Entertainment Masterclass) and a transformed layout within the Palais des Festivals.
In a bustling week for Cannes, premium high-end drama showcase MIPDRAMA will again be staged (3 April) and the city will also host the fifth season of international TV series, Festival CANNESSERIES (1-6 April). The areas of focus for the next Esports BAR event will be hooked around the core pillars of Content Creation/Production, Innovation, Investment and Monetisation. The conference will also feature a dedicated educational track for TV/Media participants, a workshop with brands and a dedicated women in esports forum is also planned. “It was such a pleasure to reunite the esports community in Cannes in October - to see the community reconnecting and the new conversations and business relationships that were launched at the event. So we can’t wait to bring everyone back together in April to level up in the industry, talk about all the pressing issues and trends and be inspired by some of the biggest players in the esports world, representing teams, games developers/publishers, the brands who partner with them and the investors funding this booming world,” Debora Atala, Head Of Content at Esports BAR, stated.