RioContentMarket 2016 expects a participant growth of 33%

A very important news for the independent producers has been disclosed by Rosana Alcantara, director of the Agencia Nacional do Cinema (Ancine), during the Opening Ceremony, held yesterday: the federal judge Ricardo Levandowsky has approved the increased of 28% to finance the audiovisual business in Brazil. It represents a total of R$ 1 billion for the sector.

On the other hand, it was heard from different participants the intention of the Government to propose a new “digital” law that will obligate OTTs and SVOD players to produce independent Brazilian content. Both news have been received with plenty of enthusiasm by the sector.

Staged by the Brazilian Association of Independent TV Producers (ABPITV), organized and promoted by Fagga | GL events Exhibitions and curated by Esmeralda Produções, it brings global industry players to Brazil on March 9-11.

The figures are impressing: in 2015 more than 3,500 television and digital platform executives from 38 countries attended the market; some 275 academic sessions were scheduled and about 800 business meetings were accomplished. This year, the organization expects participation will grow about 33% and reports 40% more projects to be pitched during the show. 

According to the organization, on its previous five editions, RioContentMarket has attracted 14,000 digital media executives and professionals from the audiovisual industry from over 38 countries. In addition to this, over 4,000 one-to-one meetings were arranged with over 600 national and international market players.

This year, 1,180 one-to-one meetings have already been scheduled. Content exhibition, meetings and pitching sessions were divided into seven rooms. In each room, producers showcase new projects, which are assessed by a panel of audiovisual professionals, in front of an audience made up by players. The 2016 edition also pays homage to females who have stood out in the market. Definitely, there are huge business opportunities here.

RioContentMarket has consolidated a key meeting point to promote business with Brazilian players (scriptwriters, investors, producers and channels), but it also brings together a good variety of global buyers from America, Europe, MENA and Asia Pacific. From the distributors point of view, the 2016 edition has TV Globo, SBT, Record, YouTube, Universal Channel plus over 30 companies, as exhibitors.

The conference program is huge. There are key panels where international buyers from Europe, MENA and Asia Pacific, explain further about what are they looking for in the market, describe projects and co-productions, in order to match their needs with the Brazilian producers.

TV networks from nations ranging from Russia to Japan and the UK are in Rio de Janeiro, and there are several keynote speeches by producer Steve Golin (Oscar winner for Spotlight), Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24), Melissa Rosenberg, creator of the series Jessica Jones and Transparent co-producer Rhys Ernst. Digital platforms will be strongly represented, too, with YouTube, Amazon, Netflix and Hulu among the most active participants.

Thanks to the SeAC Law (12.485, 2012) Brazil has been subsidizing independent video production and has established mandatory quotas that the Pay TV outlets must fulfill. The regulation has been a key factor for Brazilian growth in the last years, even when the Pay TV subscribers have decreased last year because of the recent political and economical crisis.

There are new challenges in the horizon. Independent producers agree that it should be important to think new strategies and to create new funds -or update the ones already available-, while they are seeing in the international market their best opportunity to fund new projects.

Fabricio Ferrara, from Rio de Janeiro