NATPE’s 50TH – “ONE TO REMEMBER”
Commentary by Stuart Alson
NATPE: Content First Market and Conference celebrated its milestone 50th anniversary at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami from January 28-30th, 2013. NATPE is the global content marketplace for a digital world and is the only American programme market serving the worldwide television community.
With an aptly titled theme “Beyond Disruption,” a sold-out sign across the exhibition space, a record number of domestic and international buyers and prominent names featured in the official programme, the who’s who of TV has never been more robust. Some 5,000 attendees converged at the newly-renovated Fontainebleau Resort, including 1,000 buyers from Asia, Australia, India, Latin America and all over the US looking for hot new available content.
Whether you buy, sell, develop, finance, advertise, own or license content, NATPE is very meaningful event for the calendar. The face-to-face contact with prominent television, technology and advertising leaders alone is worth the trip. Deal-making at poolside and at cabanas, thought-provoking seminars, nightly special events, not forgetting morning yoga sessions and massages add to the appeal and made you forget all about winter!
This year’s keynote speaker was Mark Cuban, chairman of the HDTV cable network AXS TV and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theatres. The technology billionaire Cuban still believes that television is the best way to reach audience and for driving consumerism and social media. Interestingly, nonconformist Cuban allows that “Facebook is a better competitor to TV than YouTube.”
Additional highlights included an energized Larry King who chatted with Guggenheim Digital Media CEO, Ross Levinsohn about a deal to expand distribution of his new talk show on Ora TV. The legendary broadcaster also revealed the UK-Australian syndication of Larry King Now. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim financed this new internet show currently running on Hulu, which apparently was the brain child of King’s wife Shawn Southwick.
Sunny Miami definitely affords better access to American and Latin-American buyers than Las Vegas. Plenty of heavy weights from Telemundo, Globo, TV Azteca and Televisa were touting new content such as The Lady from Vendaval, a Mexican telenovela starring TV actress Ariadne Diaz. Matt Forde (BBC America Worldwide) was seen promoting high-end programs Ripper Street and Africa.
As always NATPE event planners ensured the entertainment was top-notch. The opening welcome party, sponsored by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau took place at the Eden Roc Hotel. DLA, Venevision, People Television, Inc., Salsa & Flavors and Lionsgate hosted a terrific party at the Fontainebleau pool. NATPE’s official 50th Anniversary birthday party took place at LIV nightclub. Guests were treated to a musical performance by critically acclaimed indie soul band, Fitz and the Tantrums.
The much-anticipated 10th Annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award reception was hosted by Louis Hillelson at the Fontainebleau. Honorees, selected by NATPE’S Executive Committee, included: John Langley (Executive Producer, COPS); Herbert Kloiber (Chairman, Tele München Gruppe); Debra Lee (CEO, BET) and Steve Levitan (Co-Creator, Modern Family).
The new state of the art NATPE 2013 content app as well as the live streaming of sessions made it much easier to keep up with the packed agenda and helped facilitate key networking opportunities. For the first time NATPE featured an interactive companion experience, powered by interactive TV company TVplus. During sessions, attendees were able to use laptops, mobile handsets and tablet devices to access additional real-time content and contribute to a real-time social feed.
Sponsors for NATPE 2013 were Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Centre, Warner Bros Television Group, Media Link, You Tube, NBC Universal, Subway, Azteca, CAA, Freemantle Media Enterprises and MSN to name a few.
Event organizers working under the expertise of newly-appointed President-CEO Rod Perth worked tirelessly to ensure NATPE remains very relevant.
Check out Natpemarket.com for more highlights from NATPE 2013.