MIPCOM 2026: a “convergence” point for every entertainment industry to talk vertical series, branded content, gen AI, and more

When more than 10,000 people arrive on the shores of the French Riviera for MIPCOM 2026, they’ll be greeted by an event designed with one theme in mind: convergence.

MIPCOM, which Director Lucy Smith calls “the global gateway to the media and content business,” has long been a meeting, networking, and dealmaking tentpole of the TV, film, and advertising industries. In 2025, it officially recognized the growing importance of digital creators in both entertainment and branded content–and for 2026, it’s expanding creators’ footprint while adding programming around current trends in our space, like vertical series and generative AI.

But Caroline Bernet, Head of MIPCOM Conference Programme, tells Tubefilter the approach here is not simply adding separate programming tracks for separate industries.

MIPCOM wants to put everyone from every industry in rooms together, giving them chances to connect, learn about one another’s businesses, and maybe even broker some partnerships.

“MIPCOM is really about how these businesses can meet inside the same global market for audiences, IP financing, and distributing,” Bernet says. “This is what we are achieving for 2026, with a new set of networking and conferencing formats and an all-new set of players alongside the traditional players.”

The convergence of new and traditional will have leaders from Netflix, BBC Studios, Banijay Entertainment, FOX, Fremantle, and Lionsgate in direct conversation with folks from YouTube, TikTok, Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, Holywater, Crazy Maple Studio, and dentsu, as well as creator studios like Dhar Mann Studios and the Sidemen.

Participants will attend workshops, showcases, invitation-only summits, and curated matchmaking sessions. And as for new networking and conferencing formats, MIPCOM 2026 is introducing nexus points like MIP BrandWorks, the Global Microdrama and Vertical Leaders’ Summit, and the MIP AI Entertainment Forum.

MIP BrandWorks will invite senior leaders to attend an exclusive CXO Summit, hear from Meta, Dentsu, and Ferrero Rocher about vertical dramas, and head to the BrandWorks Showcase for an Upfronts-style presentation highlighting individual brands and their content.

Those brands include Webedia-Elephant (with Dassault Systèmes’ series The Engineers of the Future on Prime Video, L’Oréal Luxe’s cultural dive on YouTube, and an exclusive sneak peek at a new upcoming project); Baby Teeth

(Jamie Oliver and Life360’s “Finding Jamie” vertical); Vinted with its new “Live Better for Less” format in partnership with WPP, Fan Club, and Electric Robin; and Bluelemon with “Three Economies, One Platform: Brands, Rights Holders and Creators on YouTube.”

“It’s a real-time marketplace for IP development,” Bernet says.

The invitation-only Global Microdrama and Vertical Leaders’ Summit will bring together people like Scott Brown (Second Rodeo), Cassandra Yang (RisingJoy), Anatolii Kasianov (Holywater), Timothy Oh (COL Group), Stephen Liu (NetShort), Lior Friedman (RoseBerry), Angela Colla (Globo), Dawn Yang (TikTok), Tomas Escobar (SHORTA), and Lukasz Wisocki (MediaSpurs).

“We are creating a closed-door event for vertical entertainment at the C-level,” Bernet says. “We’re creating something specific for them in the global market.”

She adds that MIPCOM is also expanding its established speed matchmaking sessions, which are usually split into scripted and unscripted (and sometimes children’s entertainment), to include vertical series. Bernet says MIPCOM intends for these sessions to be “truly impactful for the vertical business.”

The MIP AI Entertainment Forum is aimed at examining “creative and business use cases” for generative AI, Bernet says.

The forum will feature a keynote from former Google engineer turned UTOPAI founder/CEO Cecilia Chen and a roundtable discussion for attendees to speak with gen AI experts.

“We have a very dedicated agenda to push for a more educative and practical understanding of how AI is applied,” Bernet says. “Whether it’s AI startups coming to explain the solution they can provide to entertainment companies or entertainment companies launching their own AI initiatives or divisions within their organizations, we have the two worlds coming together to talk under the same roof. Again, it’s all about convergence and collaboration.”

Of course, these examples (while important) are just a fraction of what MIPCOM is offering this year.

To see the event’s full agenda, check out its website.

MIPCOM Cannes runs Oct. 12-15 at the Palais des Festivals. Tickets are still available here, starting at €1,780.

 

MIPCOM is a Tubefilter partner.