We get the markets we deserve… and parasites are killing them

By David Jenkinson 23-10-2025

C21Media’s editor-in-chief & managing director on an issue that affects all industry events but remains something of a taboo subject.

There’s been lots of chatter about how many people were at Mipcom last week ‘without a badge,’ hanging around the bars and cafes poaching passing trade, rather than paying to be a legitimate delegate.

It’s a perennial problem for event organisers, but in Cannes it felt like an epidemic, with an increasing number of people seeming to think it’s OK not to pay to play.

These folk, of course, are the first to complain about their shows being ‘undervalued’ by a channel or platform, or pirated or scraped by generative AI. It’s perfectly OK to disrespect the producers of the market, but it’s a different matter when they’re the ones being undermined. They have no issue picking off meetings with the community Mipcom has brought into town, without making a contribution to the effort (and cost) it takes to do that.

In my mind that’s theft. And I’d think carefully about getting into business with anyone who skulked around the margins of good-mannered business society without paying fair dues.

Those skulking around the margins at Mipcom are not making an authentic contribution

Traditional TV markets are clearly in decline but doing their best to reinvent themselves to better serve the entertainment business community, while also trying to adapt alongside. If that community decides to show up but not make an authentic contribution, then the model collapses, and so might the event.

Whether or not Mipcom will convince the creator economy that a Marché International des Programmes is for them remains to be seen, but it’s giving it a go. And there is a significant cost attached to putting such a large-scale event on that attracts a global audience.

If you’ve made the effort to get to Cannes and paid for a flight and hotel, is it really appropriate not to buy a ticket to support it? After all, you wouldn’t be there without the effort that has gone into making it happen, and neither would people you’re meeting. The event alone has created the opportunity.

Mipcom, like other markets, is an entertainment business event, not poacher gathering. If you don’t support it in future, you may just spend the rest of your life meeting in ‘Le Wetherspoons’ around a stale croissant with blokes in nylon suits, which is not a good look.

Of course, the market is in a state of flux and everyone needs to get a return on the investments they make. But if it’s worth going to Cannes as a non-payer, it’s worth going as a payer. You might just sleep better too.

We are six weeks away from Content London. We expect there to be the usual small number of blaggers hanging around in the shadows there too. So on behalf of all the conferences, markets and events I’d say it one final time to those people who think it’s OK not to pay to play: do it on the inside or do it somewhere else. Somewhere else completely. You are undermining the hard work that goes into making these events worthwhile, not just for you, but for others. They will be forced to pay more and take away less if you are not part of the story.

There’s no ‘I’ in team and surviving the current transformational change sweeping through the business is definitely a team game. Play fair and make a difference.

Love and peace.