In the early days of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Filmart, Asia's leading film and television trade show, was faced with a dilemma. Forge ahead with the event, which typically takes place in late March and gathers content buyers and sellers from all over the globe, or postpone until the summer out of an abundance of caution over the viral outbreak that was just beginning to leak over the border from mainland China.
Fast forward a full year, and Filmart, now dubbed Filmart Online, is preparing for its second annual all-digital edition. In the interim, the event’s organizers have gone from responding to a situation of dire necessity to operating from a position of strength."We are very experienced at putting together a world-class physical exhibition, but when it came to creating an online event, we were basically starting from scratch," Liu explains.
Ultimately, the event went off without any major hitches : The marketplace hosted more than 670 exhibitors from 38 countries, providing a platform for the release and promotion of nearly 2,000 film and television productions. Six industry conferences and more than 2,000 business matching meetings were arranged over the event's all-new digital systems — and nearly 7,000 buyers engaged in the market.
Going digital also has helped organizers better understand the industry operators they are serving."Because it's an online platform, we have data, which tells us who is meeting with whom — and which countries and companies are doing business where," Liu explains."This allows us to structure things better and do better publicity, because we have a better idea of what people are looking for.