MIPTV projects 20% spike in attendees for 2023

MIPTV projects the sum of attendees to the 60th edition of the Spring International Content and Co-Production Market to increase by 20% from past years. Just three weeks shy of the event date, the company confirms that acclaimed natural history producers Silverback (Silverback Films and Studio Silverback) will be honored with the fourth annual MIP SDG Award. “MIPTV is back to growth,” said RX France Entertainment Division Director & Director of MIPTV Lucy Smith. “We’re expecting the biggest MIPTV in years for our 60th anniversary. I am hugely grateful for the overwhelmingly positive response to the reformatted MIPTV. It’s not too late to join us in Cannes.”

In total, MIPTV expects 6000 international entertainment executives to attend the event at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes from April 17-19, 2023,  a 20% increase vs. 2022, including an estimated 530 exhibiting companies and 1600 buyers hailing from over 80 countries. The increase makes it the largest international content and co-production market behind October’s Mipcom Cannes. The list of exhibiting companies, sponsors and partners confirmed for the event include Abacus Media Rights, A+E Networks, Canal+ Groupe, Caracol Television, Cineflix Rights, CJ ENM, Globo, Studiocanal, ZDF Studios and numerous others.

MIPTV 2023 features five programming strands accessible with one pass: Documentary and Factual (MIPDOC) and Formats (MIPFORMATS) alongside Drama (MIPDRAMA), Kids (THE FUTURE OF KIDS TV SUMMIT) and FAST Channels (FAST & GLOBAL). The event will feature additional exclusive premieres of drama and documentary selections for MIPTV buyers as part of a pre-market ‘Super Sunday’ on 16th April.  

This surge in MIPTV bookings includes more than 530 exhibiting companies and 1600 buyers hailing from over 80 countries, amongst them hundreds of the industry’s biggest international studios, distributors, content producers and FAST channel players. The market is also being fuelled by a strong return from Africa and Asia-Pacific regions (including China which returns with its first presence at a MIP Market since 2019), alongside a marked growth in buyers attending from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Türkiye.

The MIP SDG Award will be accepted by producer/director Jonnie Hughes, Director at Studio Silverback. The session on Tuesday (April 18) in the Palais des Festivals will include an on stage interview with Hughes discussing both the craft behind, and the purpose driving, the company’s globally impactful work. The award will be presented by Caroline Petit, United Nations. Established in association with the United Nations in support of their Decade of Action campaign, the MIPTV SDG AWARD recognises media companies for their action and contribution to delivering against the UN’s 17 SDGs; with All3 Media’s Silverback Films being recognized alongside Studio Silverback, in particular for work supporting goals directed at ‘climate action’ and the conservation of ‘life below water’ and ‘life on land.’  “This annual award recognises the creative programming of Silverback that reaches millions of viewers worldwide,” Caroline Petit, Deputy Director of United Nations Regional Information Centre said. “It also demonstrates the television & media industry’s increasing commitment to generate innovative content on the topic of sustainability. This award is timely as 2023 must be a year of game-changing climate action.”

Founded by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, the UK-based Silverback Films are renowned for global wildlife landmark series and features, including "Our Planet" (Netflix), "David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet" (Netflix), produced and directed by Jonnie Hughes, "The Hunt" and "The Mating Game" (BBC One), six "Disneynature" features (Disney+), and the recently launched "Wild Isles." “We’re proud to receive this award for our work in supporting the SDGs,” Jonnie Hughes, Director, Studio Silverback said. “At Silverback, our mission is to combine powerful storytelling with world-class cinematography to reveal the urgent truth of our changing planet to a global audience as well as the opportunity we have for a sustainable future. We see that to drive real change, we must tackle the communications challenge. Through our wildlife series and features, our purpose-driven films, and our multi-media projects, we have been working to tell the story of sustainability in a new way and to achieve more through collaboration. It’s a huge task, but we’ve already made progress and we’re grateful to MIPTV and the United Nations for recognising our contribution so far.”