Playing favorites: a Video Age opinion poll rates the markets.

MIP-TV comes out on top

It's a situation familiar to industry journalists. You're at a trade show, you've finished interviewing an executive, and the person turns to you and asks, "What does everyone else think of the market?"

In order to assuage that curiosity, Video Age conducted a poll of executives from a random mix of companies: studios, medium-sized and small companies, international companies and domestic companies with international activities. Respondents were asked to rank the major markets in order of importance to them and their business.

The results, which are recorded fully in the tables below, crowned MIP-TV king of the lot. A full 62 percent of international respondents, 33 percent of U.S. respondents and 48 percent of all respondents said that MIP-TV is the single most important market. The results were also used to compile an average ranking of the markets: in all categories, MIP-TV came first, MIPCOM came second, NATPE was third and the L.A. Screenings were fourth. Monte Carlo, the AFM and MIFED alternated in fifth, sixth and seventh places, the AFM and Monte Carlo being slightly more popular with U.S. respondents and Monte Carlo and MIFED being more popular with the international respondents.

Asked why she had put MIP-TV and MIPCOM at the top of her list, Ellen Politi, vp of International Sales for King World, said, "Quite simply, those are the two markets which are most widely attended." She explained that the Cannes. markets offer the widest and largest audience for announcements of new projects and allow one to see more clients and hear industry news. "The larger markets, while they get more hectic, offer the broadest opportunities," Politi said, whereas the other markets are specialty markets.

"To me it's so obvious," concurred Lisa Pierce, vp of Marketing for Canada's Alliance Television. "I'd put MIP-TV and MIPCOM and NATPE all on the same level. They're the most important markets in the world in any given year." She explained that attendance at these markets is essential for a distributor."Most of the significant buyers in the world will make it to one or two or three of those markets."

Nadine Nohr, managing director of the U.K.'s Brite, also ranked MIP-TV and MIPCOM as the most important markets. These events are attended by important clients from around the world, she said, so one has to be there. However, she was careful to note that Cannes can't be a company's only stop, that it's impossible to get all the business done there. "They're only part of our ongoing sales strategy," Nohr said. She also noted that the L.A. Screenings became more important to Brite than NATPE when the company took on a network series to distribute. "The imperatives for NATPE are different somehow," she commented.

Desiree de Jong of Endemol Entertainment in the Netherlands said that, since her company's business is strongest in Europe, MIP-TV and MIPCOM are naturally the key markets. Endemol maintains the largest stand and the largest presence at those two, de Jong said. The AFM is also important to Endemol because the company recently created a film distribution department.

WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MARKET FOR YOU AND YOUR COMPANY?(*)

                      DOMESTIC      INTERNATIONAL        ALL
                      COMPANIES        COMPANIES       COMPANIES

AFM                      8%               -                4%
L.A. SCREENINGS         33%              15%              24%
MIPCOM                   8%              23%              16%
MIP-TV                  33%              62%              48%
NATPE                   17%               8%              12%

* PERCENTAGES MAY NOT ADD UP TO 100.
MARKETS IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

            DOMESTIC         INTERNATIONAL         ALL
            COMPANIES          COMPANIES         COMPANIES

1.          MIP-TV              MIP-TV             MIP-TV
2.          MIPCOM              MIPCOM             MIPCOM
3.          NATPE               NATPE              NATPE
4.         L.A. SCREENINGS    L.A. SCREENINGS    L.A. SCREENINGS
5.          AFM                MONTE CARLO          MONTE CARLO
6.         MONTE CARLO            MIFED              AFM
7.           MIFED                 AFM               MIFED

Going against the grain was Damaso Santana, vp of Sales for Venevision. Santana ranked MIPCOM as the most important market and felt that either MIP-TV or NATPE could hold the second slot. "Traditionally, MIP-TV is supposed to be a better market, but I've been in the business for nine years and I've found MIPCOM to be the best market for us," he explained, noting that he does a great deal of business at MIPCOM."It's always been a better market for me, for whatever reason." He said that, in spite of the fact that MIP-TV is supposed to have greater attendance, he's always found the two to be roughly equal, perhaps because of MIP-TV's proximity to NATPE.

NATPE naturally had some fans among the American executives. "It kicks off the beginning of the new year," commented Tom Devlin, senior vp of International Sales for Hearst Entertainment. He noted that NATPE is useful because everyone has a budget at the beginning of the year, whereas by MIP-TV and MIPCOM the money may already be used up. And, according to Devlin, if you want to reach Latin Americans, NATPE and the L.A. Screenings are the only markets you need to attend.

Lisa Hryniewicz, managing director of France's Salsa Distribution, also sang NATPE's praises. Since her company specializes in the Latin American market, NATPE and the L.A. Screenings were her top choices. "Even though NATPE is shorter [than the L.A. Screenings], it's more important," she said. At the beginning of the year, one catches people at the beginning of their buying schedule, Hryniewicz explained. She concluded that NATPE is perfect for the market she deals with. However, she diplomatically noted that MIP-TV and MIPCOM are extremely useful for reaching larger markets and panregional clients.

Offering the international buyer's perspective was Pia Lindqvist, acquisitions executive for International Programming at Denmark's TV2. Lindqvist said that she essentially bases her yearly schedule on the new shows that debut at the L.A. Screenings. "They're sort of a locomotive for the international slots," she explained, adding that the Screenings are also the place to spot programming trends. NATPE was second on TV2's list, primarily for the opportunity it offers to see how the network and syndicated shows are being promoted. Lindqvist goes there "more to see what the dominant American market is doing."

The L.A. Screenings are the first and most important stop for MTM International, according to Managing Director and VP of Sales Victoria Ryan. This is due to the fact that the company's primary business is American network productions. "NATPE is the second stop," Ryan said, because if you haven't sold your series by the L.A. Screenings, by NATPE you've got ratings to show off. NATPE is also crucial to MTM because of the company's first-run syndication activity. Ryan also had kind words for the Cannes markets. "MIP-TV and MIPCOM are obviously very important," she said, and MTM couldn't do without them. Some Europeans don't go to NATPE and the L.A. Screenings, she explained, and thus Cannes is the only place you'll find them.