MIP London🎡 2026: The Buyers Didn’t Disappear — The Margin For Mediocrity Did
- Gato Scatena
- Feb 27
- 6 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Every market cycle creates a myth. Right now, the myth is that buyers have disappeared.
You hear it in hallways. You see it in filmmaker group chats. You feel it in the tone of decks that suddenly sound defensive instead of confident. The narrative is simple: streamers pulled back, broadcasters tightened budgets, and the independent marketplace shrank to the point where selling films has become nearly impossible.
It’s a comforting explanation. It’s also incomplete.
Because when you step back and actually look at the data — not anecdotes, not frustration, not the handful of projects that stalled — the picture looks very different.
At MIP London this year, the buyer list tells a story that contradicts the prevailing panic.
There weren’t fewer buyers. There were different buyers, behaving differently, with sharper filters and less tolerance for risk disguised as optimism.
That distinction matters more than most filmmakers realize. The 2026 MIP London attendee list shows meaningful buyer density across public broadcasters, FAST and AVOD platforms, telecom operators, regional streamers, specialty distributors, and global SVOD players. From Amazon, Netflix, Paramount, Pluto TV, Rakuten, Canal+, TF1, ARD, ZDF, ITV, Sky, BBC, Globo, MBC, OSN, CJ ENM, TVN, Movistar+, and dozens of regional broadcasters, the ecosystem still contains an enormous amount of licensing capacity — just not for everything.
The buyers didn’t vanish. The margin for mediocrity did.
A few years ago, a film could survive on packaging, concept momentum, or simply the velocity of platform expansion. Execution flaws were tolerated because inventory demand outpaced discernment. Platforms were scaling libraries. FAST was exploding. Aggregators were optimistic. Territorial buyers were filling gaps quickly. That window is gone. Not because the market collapsed — but because buyers learned what doesn’t travel, what doesn’t retain audiences, and what doesn’t monetize downstream.
And once buyers learn that lesson, they don’t unlearn it. Today, there is still a healthy market for good films. Not perfect films. Not star-driven studio replicas. But films with clarity of tone, competent execution, recognizable audience positioning, and enough production discipline to survive scrutiny across multiple territories.
Where filmmakers are running into friction is assuming that the presence of a completed film automatically implies global demand.
If a film struggles to sell into even a third of available territories, the problem is rarely that buyers disappeared.
It may be time for the harder question. Not “What happened to the market?” Rather “Did the market simply get better at recognizing what works?”
That question is uncomfortable. But it’s also where growth begins.
The Structural Shift Filmmakers Are Misreading
What changed is not buyer count. What changed is risk tolerance.
Buyers are still acquiring — but they’re acquiring more selectively, leaning toward clearer audience signals, proven genre mechanics, and films that feel deliberate rather than opportunistic.
Public broadcasters remain active because they need consistent pipeline volume. FAST and AVOD remain active because library depth still drives engagement. Telecom and regional platforms remain active because localized content supply remains inconsistent. Even global streamers remain present — just less impulsive.
The contraction filmmakers feel is less about fewer doors and more about fewer doors opening automatically. You now have to knock with something worth answering.
Where The Buyer Density Is Still Strong (And What That Means)
Regionally, the MIP London list reinforces a pattern we’ve been seeing across AFM, Cannes, and EFM: buyer density is not evenly distributed, but it is extremely real.
Western Europe continues to anchor acquisition activity through public broadcasters and hybrid streaming groups. Southern Europe remains genre-friendly with strong appetite for recognizable commercial storytelling. Nordics and DACH maintain disciplined but consistent acquisition pipelines. MENA shows growing selective activity tied to theatrical and premium positioning. Asia remains fragmented but very present. FAST and AVOD buyers are embedded across nearly every region.
In other words — the map didn’t shrink. The expectations did.
And that’s the difference between a discouraging market and a maturing one.
🔒 Premium Section — Territory Buyer Signals & Actionable Targets
Below is where things become tactical. Because knowing buyers exist is comforting.
Knowing which buyers are active in your category and territory is what actually changes outcomes.
The following breakdown identifies key buyer presence by territory and buyer type — highlighting where independent films realistically still have opportunity, and where expectations may need recalibration.
Premium subscribers can continue below for the full regional buyer signal breakdown.