MIPCOM is doubling down on creators, vertical video, and generative AI for its 2026 flagship event in Cannes, running Oct. 12-15 at the Palais des Festivals.
The trade show brought in nearly 10,600 attendees in 2025, including creators Inoxtag and Kevin Tran, with YouTube as an official partner. Lucy Smith, Director of MIPCOM, describes digital content’s power as “the biggest generational shift MIPCOM has ever seen.”
“We don’t see the creator economy and mainstream media as two separate worlds anymore. They are increasingly part of the same entertainment business.”
Creators join the majors
Smith says the event now mixes legacy players with new ones. “You have companies such as Disney, FOX, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, BBC Studios, Banijay and Fremantle all doing business in the same market,” she said. “Increasingly, they’re being joined by the ‘new’ businesses: YouTube, Webedia, Samsung TV Plus, Dentsu, Utopai, and other voices reshaping entertainment.”
That shift changes what MIPCOM means. “Content is no longer defined by a particular screen, format or business model,” Smith said. “Premium scripted remains incredibly important, but so do unscripted, factual, formats, live entertainment, creator-led content, vertical storytelling, and entirely new forms of IP.”
BrandWorks brings brands in
MIPCOM is adding MIP BrandWorks, which it says will help “develop original IP, fund premium content and create the next generation of entertainment partnerships.”
“Brands are becoming much more integral to the entertainment ecosystem,” Smith said. “They’re moving beyond sponsorship and advertising into developing, financing and owning content and IP.”
The initiative aims to bring brands directly into the marketplace. “There are many places where brands can talk about advertising,” she said. “MIPCOM is where they can come to talk about content, IP and entertainment as a business.”
AI forum goes live
The show also debuts the MIP AI Entertainment Forum, which Smith says will “bring AI innovators together with the studios, streamers, producers, creators, brands and IP owners who are putting these technologies to work.”
“AI is no longer a future conversation for entertainment,” she said. The industry is moving from experimentation to execution, she added.
Vertical content and YouTube return
MIPCOM 2026 also includes a slate of programming on vertical content and microseries. Smith says the format is “one of the fastest-growing areas in global entertainment,” with conversations shifting from basics to business models.
“Asia really kicked off microdramas with quick micropayments, and now we have major studios and platforms like Crazy Maple and ReelShorts, RoseBerry Media, Banijay and Fremantle getting in,” she said. “Vertical has totally exploded this year.”
TikTok will contribute insights to the vertical programming.
YouTube is also back, sponsoring the opening night party and doubling its creator development workshop sessions from 2025, with a dedicated theater space presenting to creators twice daily.
Smith frames the convergence as the show’s core purpose. “MIPCOM is the global gateway to the media and content business,” she said. “What makes it unique is the scale and breadth of the industry that comes together in Cannes.”
Source: tubefilter.com