In 2025, long-running TV industry trade show MIPCOM returned to Cannes with an “ambitious new focus” that put the creator economy at the heart of its event.
To do this, MIPCOM secured YouTube as a partner and welcomed over 10,600 attendees–including creators like Inoxtag and Kevin Tran–for three days of programming that celebrated the power of “the biggest generational shift MIPCOM has ever seen,” as Director Lucy Smith put it.
Now, Smith and the rest of the team behind MIPCOM are preparing for a 2026 where they’ll host not only the flagship Cannes event in October, but also MIP LONDON in February and MIP CANCUN in November.
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And content creators will have a significant presence at all three events.
“MIPCOM has been the industry’s unique annual meeting point for more than 40 years, taking place in Cannes,” Smith tells Tubefilter. “Historically, it was launched in October because that was when U.S. studios traditionally rolled out their international series for sale after domestic launches. That’s how MIP originated.”
In the decades since, MIPCOM has evolved into “both a conference and a large-scale exhibition that brings together acquisitions, sales, co-productions, creators, producers, and distributors,” she says. It’s also continually flexed to embrace technological advancements and new mediums.
That’s where content creators come in.
“MIP’s strategy has always been to evolve alongside the industry,” Smith explains. “Over the past few years, it became very clear that the creator economy—broad as that term is—was fundamentally reshaping the media landscape. We felt it was essential to help bridge the gap between what we might call ‘mainstream media’ and the creator economy.”
MIPCOM welcoming creators to its 2025 event was acknowledging that they “absolutely belong in a global market like Cannes,” Smith says. “We saw a real desire among creators to build global partnerships, co-productions, and distribution opportunities.”
At the same time, she says, mainstream media clients like Fox, Banijay, and Fremantle “were already leaning into creator partnerships.”
“As we began focusing more intentionally on bringing these worlds together, we had studios actively calling us asking how they could meet leading creators and creator-led studios,” Smith says.
“Cannes is recognized as the world’s red-carpet capital outside of the US where film has the Festival, advertising has Lions, and television has MIPCOM,” she adds. “Digital creators have earned their Cannes moment on the world stage, and MIPCOM CANNES is supporting their business growth alongside the biggest international TV studios and streaming media companies.”
Feedback to the 2025 event was “extremely positive,” she notes, and told MIPCOM exactly what it hoped to hear: That major studios, brands, and creators are eager for an internationally accessible communal meeting place where they will be the ones shaping the future of entertainment–on digital screens and beyond.
“That partnership helped reinforce our broader push into the creator economy. We featured major creators, creator-led studios, and platforms across the program, including YouTube, Tubi, Twitch, and Snapchat,” she says. “Speakers like Sean Atkins from Dhar Mann Studios brought incredible insight, and we also featured keynotes from major brands such as Mattel.”
For 2026’s event, Smith and the MIP team are looking at “creating a more dedicated and enhanced experience for creators and brands–potentially new spaces designed specifically for them,” she says.
And if there’s one thing MIPCOM wants those spaces to reflect, it’s that “for creators and brands interested in co-production, monetization, and global distribution, there is absolutely a place for you at MIP.”
MIPCOM returns to the Palais des Festivals in Cannes Oct. 12-15. MIP LONDON will take place Feb. 22-24 at the Savoy Hotel in London, and MIP CANCUN is slated for Nov. 17-20 at the Moon Palace in Cancun.
MIPCOM is a Tubefilter partner.
