Advertisers and brands show increased interest in MIPTV

MIPTV, the international content fair, was traditionally the hunting ground for everything to to with TV programming. But as other "content" fairs have seen over the past few years, there is increasing spillover from other industries - notably advertising. “The growth of advertising agencies and brands participating at Mip TV Featuring Milia 2008 reflects their sincere desire to join the entertainment content production and distribution players—at a development stage—as strategic partners,” said Paul Johnson of Reed Midem, the convention’s organizer. Companies that have confirmed their presence so far include media groups TBWA, Havas Entertainment, Euro RSCG and Ogilvy, as well as global brands Dove, Nike, American Express, Fanta, Ford, BP and Kodak.

Many are looking to the new formats as a way of reaching new audiences using mobile platforms, while investigating cross-marketing possibilities. A number of conferences will be devoted to the subject, under the "Audiences on the move" banner. Amongst the speakers will be Richard Dickson of Mattel. MIPTV will be held April 7-11. For details about the conference programme, see MIPTV.

McGuinness and that Midem speech

The ripples made by U2 manager Paul McGuinness when he called on the Internet providers to share some of the monumental profits he claims are being made on the back of cretive people (notably musicians, although movie makers will soon feel the pinch as well) have travelled the world. The speech's title was clear: "The Online Bonanza: Who Is Making The Money And Why Aren't They Sharing It?" The background is falling music revenue of between 10-17% per year. At the same time, ISPs are openly using the downloading of music as a feature in their ads. So McGuinness wants them to start sharing the profits.

One of the ideas has been a sort of levy on Internet subscriptions. This has met with some resistance, despite the fact that people have accepted levies on blank tapes, CDs and even video recorders in previous years. I pay authors' rights on my cable subscription. Putting one of an ISP is not such a big jump.

Talking to a movie director recently, I said that some people were complaining that as they didn't download music, they shouldn't be asked to pay more for Internet subscriptions. His reply: "That reminds me of the people that say, 'I don't drive at night, why should I have to pay for street lighting?'".