In the face of a downturn in the global economy, Paul Johnson, the director of television at Reed MIDEM, was able to announce record attendance for MIPCOM at a Press Conference held Thursday, 16 October. He said that as of the third day of MIPCOM, the participant count was 13,545 which was up from 13,295 at the same time last year.
There were a total of 552 stands as of Wednesday, 15 October, up from 545, spread over more than 22,000 square meters of exhibition space, a 4% increase on last year. The number of companies present, however, dropped to 4,517 from 4,581, and the number of exhibiting companies fell to 1,779 from 1,801, from 64 countries. Particularly pleasing was the 8% gain seen in the number of 4,566 buyers. That increase, Johnson says, marks a “significant additional investment for every participant who comes to MIPCOM.’
Johnson explained that the gains in attendance this year were driven by the “METRIC’ countries of the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, India and China.
While conditions were tough in the kids market, MIPCOM Junior was nevertheless well represented with 613 registered companies, a % rise, from 55 countries. Buyers were up by 7% to 497 and sellers up 38% to 428. In total 977 participants arrived at MIPCOM Junior, a 19% increase.
New countries in attendance included Chile, Ecuador, Hungary and Slovakia. MIPCOM Junior hosted 1,143 programmes, a 23% jump.
Johnson also unveiled Reed MIDEM’s new branding strategy for its television market. In future MIPTV featuring MILIA will be branded as MIPTV, and MIPCOM Junior as MIP Junior
