With Russia\u2019s attack in the news and seemingly on everyone\u2019s mind, it was clear the entertainment executives at MipTV wanted to show their support for Ukraine beyond putting out a press release or adding a flag to their LinkedIn profile pictures. This was about real financial backing. What I heard from content buyers time and again over the course of nearly 100 meetings was, \u201cWe need to acquire rights to more Ukrainian TV shows and movies.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\nThis was consistent across the board \u2014 coming from companies in the U.S., Western Europe and, in particular, Latin America. And the major Ukrainian media companies \u2014 Film.UA Group, 1+1 Media, Media Group Ukraine and StarLightMedia, the nation\u2019s largest broadcaster, among others \u2014 were all on hand to make deals. They were presenting as a united Ukrainian pavilion, just a few booths down from Whip Media\u2019s booth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To be clear, this isn\u2019t simply about offering financial support to a country in need. There are a handful of legitimate business and artistic reasons for the rise in demand for Ukrainian content.<\/p>\n
First, it\u2019s important to note Ukrainian films and shows have, for the most part, strong production value. Much of this is due to the Ukrainian government pumping tens of millions of dollars into the country\u2019s cinema industry in the last decade \u2014 a trend that hasn\u2019t decelerated since the 2019 election of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an actor and comedian who first rose to fame in a sitcom playing an ordinary schoolteacher whose viral rant about government catapults him into the presidency.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth noting that Zelenskyy\u2019s TV show, \u201cServant of the People,\u201d which ran from 2015 to 2019, has been one of the clearest examples of the recent spike in demand for Ukrainian content. Netflix added the show back to its service in the U.S. last month amid increased fanfare, about a week after the show\u2019s rights were purchased by Channel 4 in the U.K.<\/p>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\nContent travelability \u2014 or how well certain shows and movies perform outside their initial markets \u2014 is also another key factor at play. Drama is a popular TV genre in Ukraine, and that\u2019s helping to make the country\u2019s shows more attractive outside of Eastern Europe. Turkish TV dramas, for example, have found a second life in Latin America in the last decade, but that\u2019s also driven up prices. At MipTV, I heard from several LatAm content buyers who were turning their focus to acquiring Ukrainian series because it was both culturally familiar and affordable compared to pricier Turkish shows.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian content is also able to fill a void left for buyers who would typically be looking to acquire Russian shows and movies. It\u2019s almost hard to believe now, with Hollywood joining the recent wave of boycotts, but Russian content was one of the <\/em>hottest commodities at MipTV just a few years ago. That\u2019s clearly changed, and it\u2019s left an opening. And Ukrainian content, thanks to its similar sensibilities and comparably high production values, has become largely interchangeable with Russian programming. Another factor: A plurality of Ukrainian shows and movies are in Russian, since about 30% of the population speaks it as their first language. (Most of the dialogue in \u201cServant of the People,\u201d for one example, is Russian.)<\/p>\n The shift in focus toward Ukrainian content has obviously followed a real tragedy that\u2019s affecting millions of people. This shouldn\u2019t be minimized. But leaving Cannes, I at least could take some solace in knowing Ukrainian directors, producers and actors were receiving a new level of interest in their work. Hopefully it\u2019ll stay that way for years to come.<\/p>\n
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