The post-Mipcom debrief: I’ll message you!

By Siobhan Crawford 20-10-2025

Our resident format specialist gives the lowdown on another successful Mipcom, with plenty of new commissions attracting buyers and a call for more honesty with regards to ratings and performance.

OK, let’s start with the musical accompaniment to this one so we get you all as pumped as I was last week… power walking the croisette… The Jonas Brothers’ Love Me to Heaven… now, let’s go!

I’ll message you… to go for a run, to go for a swim, to go to Brown Sugar after dinner, to find a person’s location, to make sure you have each other’s details because you know you want to follow up… a Mipster to his would-be-Mipstress on landing at the airport… (yes all those things could be true!) My WhatsApp is full (almost) of all the people we spent four magical days with and as always, my heart is full (almost) too.

As the sun sets on Mipcom 2025 and I take my taxi to the airport, I am reminded by my now gentle tan and slightly tight travelling trousers of a market well enjoyed and maximised. Yes, it might have been something to do with all the carbs and three days of La Californie pancakes.

Straight out I want to tell y’all (Yellowstone remember) this Mip was a joy, let’s dive in!

Mipcom 2025 was another great success

The Content 
Generally and positively, we have seen an improvement in the amount of content at Mipcom with more format offerings and commission updates plus long teased material finally ready to view. We saw the likes of The Lighthouse (TGC), Pandora’s Box (Fremantle), Let’s Play Ball (Banijay), Caught in the Middle (Talpa) and SeaBattle (Dreamspark). We saw Wisdom of the Crowd (BBC Studios) with a few really positive nods and we know The Box creator, SeeFood has launched their newest offering too, Bloodlines. The mood was that we are seeing more content than before and the UK is naturally upset at becoming an importer, but the new titles are coming from all territories across Europe in a well-balanced way. In this market I would say we are not a leading country that sets a hot trend.

My note though, controversially and honestly, there is no one hot format that people can’t keep out of their mouths. And on a bigger note, I question the quality. Hear me out… I am a Netflix girl. I love it. Their scripted romcom series Nobody Wants This is perfection. From an entire Mipcom with 10,600 people, with hundreds or possibly thousands of companies, is there anything so perfect in unscripted you saw? I am talking about the format that gives the viewer exactly what they want and viewer satisfaction. I just want you to really ask yourself this – and yes I understand target demographics and timeslots, channels and streamer positioning – were any of the new launches keepers? For me, this Mip I honestly felt more joy for the old.

The Rest
Let’s go fast as there is so much to talk about!

Honesty: in a MIP where an honesty box existed (thank you BBC Studios) it continues to surprise me that we cannot be more honest with each other about ratings and performance. Let’s call a flop a flop… you can absolutely give context and differentiate between digital and linear performance, but please, it would save us all a lot of time researching if you kept the talk straight. Remember, not all things can or should be sold.

We the people: on speaking to various people and friends it is evident that in the industry we are experiencing mental health ‘downturns’, self doubts, and exhaustion. We have given a little bit too much of ourselves at our own detriment in a community where we believe we always need to stay in hustle mode regardless of timezones and time of day. We don’t stop and celebrate the small anymore. It is something to watch as we are all professionals and many of us friends, and likely many more of us have some of these feelings too but our game faces give nothing away.

The Fresh Wit: there is a growing wave of people asking for an official content overview at Mip that includes all launches, something that gives oversight of the ‘real’ launches. Only RX will know how big this wave of people is and whether anything will change but keep in mind this Fresh was all subtitled and mostly originated from the Western European cornerstone of Formatland, and this woman [Virginia Mouseler, co-founder of The Wit] has saved 500 beagles via her animal shelter Beagles of Burgundy and still she entertains the likes of us with the Fresh. And without attending her presentation I would never have known about a YouTube show in France that cost US$700k per episode otherwise!

The tone: Cannes gave us the perfect weather, easy access to the Palais with zero problems, a super busy Brown Sugar (especially on Monday) that had us unite as always but the bars flowed easier. Yes, the karaoke bar on booze alley was closed but some people still found the beach at 3am equally entertaining and yes the French rudeness continues as always in cafes with the 9 euro small bottle of water. We know all this, yet we love it. The restaurants seemed to cope with the numbers and we did not feel the queues. Plus, Nice airport now has a Pret a Manger, so clearly the French are trying and we should be grateful.

Success: When we talk content, or origination of content, Belgium comes up. It has slowed in the past two years as a launcher of formats but this Mip, Virginia stated that Belgian unscripted distributor Primitives joined the big leagues of Fremantle, Banijay, ITV etc with 3.8% of format sales globally. Keep in mind that NBC had 3.2% and were in 10th place behind Primitives. When we look at the 13 years this company has been running, the dream is alive people… from tiny Flanders, magic comes and I could not be prouder of my Primitives family.

And the one liners

• My first panel and on-video interview on Formatland!

• The idea of being the home of a genre and not avoiding similar formats. Amazing.

• Downshifting in scripted to spread the budget across unscripted, praise the lord this logic is starting!

• Global Agency flew their ‘key’ buyers to Venice for 10 hours (their first method of transport was a bus but ok…)

• Cannes can still surprise you – people who ‘don’t’ have money to pay invoices have visible presence in Cannes. The irony!

• The big yellow ball and That’s My Chair chair arrived in Cannes but we seemed to have missed their installation/reveal.

• RX suffers budget cuts in badge holders – could be a headline in itself, let’s sign a petition to bring back plastic!

• Dutch celebrities go ‘incognito’ in Cannes but we all have eyes for 6’5, brown eyes…

You know I can gush over Cannes but also my people, they were out in force, and I can tell you the best way to start a Mip is to find your favourite Latina on your doorstep. Every day message commentary with your favourite red head… the list could go on.

We are taking 2025 as a success and starting the countdown to 2026, because Cannes is the one place I will always want giant hugs and real conversations, truffle pasta and pancakes with all of you. Non-stop. And I think the feeling is mutual.