Reed MIDEM, GSMA launch new forum at MIPTV 2011

8 Oct 2010

CANNES, FRANCE: Reed MIDEM* announced yesterday, 7 October 2010, a new partnership to launch the Connected Creativity Forum, said to be the first conference and exhibition specifically designed for the global entertainment and technology marketplace.

The forum will take place in Cannes (April 5-7, 2011) during MIPTV and will bring content creators and distributors from all creative industries together with mobile operators as well as others in the broad mobile ecosystem, including makers of Smartphones and tablets, connected consoles and networked television.

The forum will offer a unique platform through which the technology and entertainment communities can meet, share key industry insights and perspectives and catalyse new business opportunities. A Connected Entertainment Experience Hub will showcase the latest technology and interactive content and provide a glimpse into the future of the connected environment in and out of the home.

A 'key forum'

"MIPTV will be the key international forum to drive interactive, professional and user-generated content, across all distribution platforms," said Paul Zilk, chief executive, Reed MIDEM. " Together with the GSMA, the largest and most influential association in the mobile industry, MIPTV will address the needs of both the connected device community and the creative entertainment industries in this exciting digital space including television, music and film amongst others."

"The market opportunity for "connected" media and entertainment is growing dramatically, and mobile is at the heart of that," commented John Hoffman, chief executive officer of GSMA Ltd. "We are pleased to be working with Reed MIDEM to create a new venue through which our combined communities can explore the technologies, business models and delivery mechanisms that will accelerate the growth of this market even further."

Entertainment content is driving the growth of B2C applications across all connected devices with music accounting for US$17.5 billion (about R125 billion) in transactions annually and mobile TV expected to represent US$11.8 billion (about R84 billion) in transactions by 2012. The global mobile marketing and advertising market is expected to see double digit growth in the next few years.

*Reed MIDEM is the organiser of leading international television and music events (MIPTV, MIPCOM, MIDEM) and the GSMA, the organisation which represents the worldwide mobile industry and which also produces the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Congress events.