Series Mania 2024 - Day 3: A positive balance for an event in constant growth

Series Mania Forum has wrapped up its 7th edition with a more than positive balance and great expectations for next year. Over 4000 professionals, including scriptwriters, producers, sales companies, broadcasters, and platforms from 60 countries, attended the Lille Conference. "For the first time, professionals from all over the world are here at Series Mania, because we understood that is not about buy and selling, it's about been at the beginning of the series", said Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director at Series Mania exclusively to Señal News. "Scriptwriters, producers, sales companies, broadcasters, and platforms from all over the world are attending the event, and there are from so many countries, and we are so proud of that, and it's great that it takes place in Europe, more specifically in Lille, France," she said.

The focus point on the third day of the Series Mania Forum, the Lille Dialogue Day, ¡was Artificial Intelligence. "AI is an incredibly fast revolution. It took five days for a chat GPT to reach one million users. It is something that will have an incredible impact on creative industries and on the way we work," asserted Anne Bouverot, Series Mania President. In addition, Herszberg anticipated that next year, Series Mania will focus more on AI. "It is going to be a major change in our business for everyone, starting here, in Lille Dialogue, talking about the changes that will come, but next year we will see the changes, and we can analyze them so we will be ever stronger on AI," she concluded.

Xavier Bertrand, President of Raux-de-France Region, highlighted the speakers of the third day, including important French references such as Rodolphe Belmer, CEO of TF1 Group; Nicolas De Tavernost, President M6 Group and Delphine Ernotte Cunci, CEO of France Télévisions. "We have them each time here, as we say at home, the place to be and the place to talk. Because we have always wanted to have an advance time in Series Mania, before the others, before the debate came," he said. "This year, in full swing, we put the theme of IA and series and audiovisual at the heart of our debates because it's very important for us. On the other hand, there are principles that need to be maintained, and in these principles, whether at the European or national level, there is creation, there are the creators, and there is very clearly the right of the author. We must be very careful that this treasure is not plundered. It is part of what I call a cultural exception. It is French, and France also needs to carry it permanently at the European level," he concluded.

AI IN MEDIA
Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director of Media & Entertainment at Omdia, and Jonathan Broughton, Research Director at Plum Research, reviewed the impact of AI in the media landscape and its immediate changes. Rua Aguete asserted that people's trust in telcos has declined over the years, but in the media and entertainment marketplace, 63% of companies surveyed by Omdia said they're now very confident that they are going to introduce AI. "In general, 63% of millennial entertainment executives are happy introducing AI. In fact, AI is being seen now as the most transformative tech on the table," she affirmed. She also mentioned that AI is here to stay to prove and to take over more and more tasks. "It is the number one transformative technology in the next five years. The AI spent by media companies will reach 10 billion in 2028, and this will be across three different categories: analytics development and consumer experience," she concluded.

By Romina Rodriguez from Lille