MIP London (February 24 to 27, 2025) is set to be a very different creature from MIPTV, with a focus on meeting spaces and networking over panels and stands, says Lucy Smith (pictured), RX France’s entertainment division director. 

Smith shared the first details about the new event yesterday at a presentation that took place during MIPTV’s final edition in Cannes. Unlike MIPTV, this new content-focused event won’t have an exhibitor hall, and it also won’t be conference-led. It will instead focus on providing lounge-style meeting spaces for sellers in both The Savoy Hotel and the IET London: Savoy Place, which are a 30-second walk apart in London’s West End. 

There will be meeting tables, five private club rooms and pavilions for international trade organizations. Buyers will be able to attend for free and access a hub where they can meet with distributors and producers.   

The kids entertainment industry will be a part of the event, but it’s too early for the organizers to say exactly how they plan to appeal to this part of the broader content market, says Smith. 

An online screenings platform is planned, as are two screening rooms in the IET, one for 450 people and the other for 180. Both are equipped for A/V, and MIP London will provide a team to handle the tech side of presentations. 

The event will start with a pre-opening event on Sunday, February 24, which could present conference content, including market insights. That plan is still being developed.  

“It will be completely different from MIPTV in format and size,” says Smith. The event is meant to run alongside and complement the existing London Screenings and BBC Studios Showcase that happen at the same time. The aim is to give companies the opportunity to meet with buyers when they’re not screening, and to bring more of the global media industry to London in February. 

Smith believes there’s a need for a market at the beginning of the year. There were 750 buyers in London for the Screenings this year, and almost 1,200 at MIPTV.

RX France chose London because it’s accessible by direct flight for many international companies, and because there was an existing event there that MIP London could latch onto. The reality of the events business is that consolidation is increasingly necessary to stay alive, Smith explains.  

London is an expensive city, though. Smith acknowledges this and says her team is working on securing blocks of rooms at hotels near the venue. She also noted that because there are no stands or booths (and no need for companies to hire teams to build them), costs could level out for companies attending. 

MIPTV’s last hurrah welcomed 3,537 attendees from 84 countries, including 1,133 buyers. This represents a 35% drop compared to last year’s crowd of 5,510 attendees last year.