For its in-person return, MIPTV has tried to address those issues and, according to MIPTV director Lucy Smith make MIP “a three-day business efficiency market” with a greater focus on global drama series. MIPDoc and MIPFormats, formerly stand-alone one-day markets for documentary and reality-TV/entertainment content, respectively, have been folded into the main event.
What is clear is that two years of coronavirus lockdowns and pandemic protocols haven’t slowed the international boom in TV drama. The volume of new drama series continues to skyrocket as global studios and streamers pump money into non-US productions and regional powerhouses such as France’s Canal+, Germany’s RTL and Viaplay in Scandinavia, shift budgets away from U.S. series acquisitions towards investment in home-grown originals.
“We saw gains from Spanish programming in France, from Canadian programming in Germany,” says Eric Steinberg, media research and insights lead for Whip Media. “Of course the success of individual shows has an impact, so Spain’s increase in share has a lot to do with the success of [Netflix’s Spanish thriller]. But there is a sense that new shows will get a hearing no matter where they come from.”