MIPCOM In Cannes Bets On Creators, Brands & AI

MIPCOM boss Lucy Smith wants the world to know that October in Cannes is now about more than buying and selling TV programs.

“Our biggest challenge is changing the perception,” she says, with this year’s event just weeks away. “You don’t come to MIPCOM just for your distribution deals anymore. You’re coming because you’ve got to find valuable IP, or you want to find out more about what’s going on in branded entertainment, or you’re looking at what’s happening in vertical drama or AI.”

Distribution remains the spine of MIPCOM, but as the international TV industry has changed, so has its biggest annual get-together. “We are a marketplace, but it’s not just a buy-and-sell market anymore,” Smith says.

That wider remit for MIPCOM means embracing the creator economy, brand partnerships and tech.

Put simply, it had to change to stay relevant. Consolidation and industry shifts are impacting its core distribution business. For example, Warner Bros. and Paramount may have separate stands and spaces in Cannes this year, but that is unlikely to be the case when MIPCOM 2027 kicks off. The same is true of Banijay and All3Media.

The medium and small distributors, meanwhile, are feeling the pinch. Acquisition execs still attend MIPCOM in healthy numbers, but often with reduced buying power as their budgets come under pressure.

Smith’s first MIPCOM was in 2006 and she now runs the market, which is organized by RX France. She says: “We evolve with the changes in the industry. We came out of probably ‘24 thinking, ‘This whole industry is just changing so much, and there’s less funding from traditional sources, so what does all that mean?’

The change under her leadership is visible. First, there was a heavy push into co-production and FAST channels, and then into brands and the creator economy.

“We really wanted to make sure we were bringing more of the creative conversations around funding and IP. That was the first step, and then we brought the MIP Innovation Lab, so we could address streaming in a broader way.

“And then, the big push had to be the creator economy.”

YouTube had its biggest-ever presence at MIPCOM in 2025. It will be even more visible this time. Smith says partnering with the Google-owned company was “the right way to really make a mark and to say MIPCOM would be focusing and pivoting to the creator economy.”

This year, Dhar Mann Studios kicks off MIPCOM, with a pre-market headline session on Sunday, before proceedings start in earnest on Monday. Powerhouse digital producer Mann and DMS CEO Sean Atkins will jointly keynote.

“We all know that you know creator-led businesses are reshaping the global media landscape and we knew that that was that was something we needed to address,” Smith says. “We were getting calls from studios saying, ‘Hey, we want to meet all these creator-led businesses.’ And these businesses are really at that intersection of creators, brands and branded entertainment.”

Having partnered with BrandStorytelling last year, RX France launches MIP BrandWorks this time to cover off its branded entertainment activity, with denstsu the headline partner.

“We want to become the home of branded entertainment because we see ourselves as the gateway to the global entertainment content and media business. If you want to be working in content, and obviously brands need to be embedded in content to be culturally relevant, this is where you come and do that.”

Artificial intelligence is also on the menu. A new conference and market will run under the MIP AI Entertainment Forum banner, with Versos AI and Protégé the partners.

“Companies involved in AI and entertainment have a specific need to be part of the content industry conversations,” Smith says about the reason for launching the new forum.

“You’ve got the studios and producers, the production side of things, you’ve got the workflow piece, and you’ve got the licensing part; those will be the pillars.”

While the focus is shifting, MIPCOM’s USP remains bringing a critical mass of people together. In a world of Zoom meetings and with pressure on travel budgets, the numbers are not as big as in yesteryear, but no other international TV event gathers 10,000 people.

“We know that bringing people together at one time in one place gives them the opportunity to work together on what these new businesses are,” Smith says. “We wanted to bridge the gap in the conversations between traditional media companies, who remain hugely important, and these newer creator-led studios.”

Glitz and glamor are in the DNA of Cannes. The film festival and Cannes Lions lean into that with starry photocalls and A-lister parties. MIPCOM has the same setting and its own share of photo moments, but as it expands its focus, the event is still really all about dealmaking.

“If you really want to do business and understand these new ways of doing business, this is where it’s going to be happening, and this is where things will start moving forward,” Smith says.