Markets

The two-day first edition of the IPXChange -"Independent Producers' Exchange" in Cologne ended on Tuesday, March 28th, with an extremely positive result.

40 TV producers from Germany, Ireland, UK and Ukraine had checked in for the event at MMC Studios Cologne - including well-known German production companies such as Seapoint, Constantin Entertainment, Janus, Sagamedia, Riverside and Fandango. But also smaller or younger companies like Cinemars, Gatzke.Media, MEworks, and Darepictures.

The event was organized by TV marketing expert Sandra Lehner and TV producer Wolfgang Link: "the basic idea is to create a platform for small and medium-sized TV production companies to exchange ideas, trade formats and join forces for a stronger market presence" - they confirmed.

The lecture program of the two days was tightly scheduled with lectures by internationally renowned format distributors and "learning sessions" by industry experts.

Companies such as Passion Distribution (UK), Can't Stop Media (UK/France), Lineup Industries (NL), United Heroes Group (Ukraine), Serafilms (Turkey), Darefilms (UK) and TV Asahi (Japan) provided an insight into their format catalogues.

The "Learning Sessions" dealt with topics such as "Branded Entertainment" (Luci Sanan, UK), the change from linear to digital TV (Rebecca Ahlen, rbb), global format trends (Axel Fiacco, Italy) and the creation of worldwide success formats (Sian Gwilliams / Tony Gregory).

"The generation of 11-26-year-olds is not lost for TV," assured Sandra Lehner, "if you take their social media use seriously and credibly integrate it into TV programs."

Luci Sanan from '53 Degrees North Media' was surprised at the lack of interest shown by German TV producers in "branded entertainment". "German broadcasters are cash rich," analyzed Sanan - and at the same time warned that advertising target groups are being reached less and less in classic advertising islands.

Rebecca Ahlen (rbb) revealed how public broadcasters want to achieve visibility with unique content "so that contributors actively decide for us and against billions of other videos and offers".

And RTL entertainment boss Markus Küttner explained how RTL is currently achieving good viewer numbers in the evening and in the afternoon with successful brands and retro formats.

The unanimous conclusion of all IPXchange participants was very positive as the tv industry needs such an event. A repetition is thus decided for the two makers.