RX confirms plans to close MipTV and move to London for 2025
MipTV is to leave Cannes for London in 2025
France-based events organiser RX will confirm today it is ending its annual April MipTV market in Cannes and setting up a new event in London from 2025.
The forthcoming 2024 MipTV in Cannes will be the last and from next year a new Mip London event will take place in the UK capital. The far bigger Mipcom market, which takes place in October, will remain in Cannes.
The move follows the success of the breakout London TV Screenings event, which runs alongside the annual BBC Showcase, and held its fifth annual event in February. Dates for that event in 2025 were confirmed this week.
C21 understands rather than a move for MipTV, Mip London will be a new event in its own right in a different format, focused on networking and screenings and MipTV will cease to exist. MipTV was first held in Lyon in 1963 before switching to Cannes in 1965 where it has taken place ever since. The move brings to a close 60 years of TV tradition.
Mip London will shift from the traditional April date to February to coincide with the London TV Screenings. The event will take place at The Savoy hotel and adjacent IET London on Savoy Place from February 24 to 27 with a pre-opening on Sunday February 23.
Calls between UK distributors and Lucy Smith, director of the entertainment division at RX, have been taking place this week. The planned event will be smaller in scale than MipTV and is targeted at international distributors looking to get in on the London TV Screenings action.
Despite its long standing on the events calendar, MipTV attendance levels and standing in a crowded industry events schedule have been in decline for some time, squeezed by rivals such as The London TV Screenings in February, Series Mania in Lille in March and C21’s Content London in November/December, and was severely hampered by the Covid19 lockdowns and travel restrictions in Europe.
RX/Reed Midem had long been criticised in industry circles for failing to address the cost of attending and/or exhibiting at MipTV to reflect these declines, and strongarming distributors into taking stands at the smaller event under pain of losing prime spots in Cannes’ Palais for the more prestigious and lucrative Mipcom market. C21 understands the new MipLondon event will admit buyers for free.
Industry figures gave the idea of MipTV heading to London and charging fees for a market and/or conference when the main UK distributors are already enjoying success with The London TV Screenings, which are free to attend, a frosty reception when quizzed by C21 in February.
UPDATE…
In a statement confirming the story this morning RX was at pains to state it saw Mip London as “complementary to the existing annual gathering” for London TV Screenings.
RX said: “The multi-genre market has been shaped through industry feedback to satisfy the growing need for versatile meeting and screening solutions in line with the increased demand for international companies to connect with buyers in London each February.
“Mip London aims to consolidate an already-busy global TV events calendar, and differs in format to MipTV. The focus is not on exhibiting but rather providing international companies looking to have a presence in London with tailored, scalable options to showcase and network in one convenient spot. Mip London will have a comprehensive invitation programme which gives free access to qualified buyers.”
Lucy Smith added: “The creation of Mip London is a direct result of clear and evidenced market factors. There is a continued appetite for a global content market in the first half of the year. Mip London will not only alleviate a busy events calendar but will provide an additional entry point for international companies to gather in London at the same time.”
“Staging markets that provide clients with the best possible solutions for showcasing their content and facilitating dealmaking is what we do best at Mip and take a huge pride in, as proven over decades in Cannes and more recently Cancun. We have consulted with many of those already hosting events in London as well as with international companies looking to do so. Our vision is a market that complements, not competes with, the established screenings programme, that provides further options for the widest range of international distributors, studios and buyers to take part and can bring even more business to London in February for the benefit of all. Leading RX France’s first MIP market in London is an opportunity I’m very grateful for.”
RX has also confirmed that CanneSeries, which currently runs adjacent to MipTV, will return for an eighth year in 2025 despite the cancellation, with dates to be confirmed.
