Content 360
January 23, 2007 – 9:34 amI’ve just been invited to participate in Content 360 at Milia this year.
Reed Midem have persevered with the attempt to establish an international market for interactive media for well over a decade. I think I first went there in 1995 . It never really became a focus for serious deal-making but it was always a good networking event (you’d meet people from the UK whom you hadn’t seen since the previous February in Cannes) and there were one or two great parties.
Milia has now ceased to be a stand-alone event and, as an inevitable consequence of perceived convergence, has been rolled into MIPTV. It now stages a pitching competition, Content 360, which is sponsored by the BBC, the National Film Board of Canada and the Korean Broadcasting Commission amongst others.
I hope that this is evidence that a real market for new media content and services is finally opening up. The Pitching Forum at IDFA in Amsterdam which I went to in November is attended by dozens of international buyers from broadcasters around the world and is an important source of finance and support for independent documentary producers.
Content 360 is still in its infancy and feels like a bit of a PR event for its sponsors but it has the potential to grow become a real focus for serious commercial activity in the future. It’s good to see a competition offering development funds at the beginning of a project rather than a gilded doorstop when its finished.