The 41st edition of the world’s largest market for television and streaming content Mipcom brings Cannes alive once again. From 13 to 16 October 2025, the event will bring together key players from across the globe, with MipJunior raising the curtains on 11-12 October.
In its new format MipJunior programme moved into the Palais des Festivals with its focus on helping companies maximise business across attention, creator and experience economies.
The creator’s economy being the event’s major theme brings an array of new initiatives at the market all designed to bridge the gap and open new opportunities and dealmaking between digital creators, television producers, platforms, distributors and brands at the 2025 edition.
On the first day of the event, a session titled Measuring Magic: Kids’ Hits & Trends spotlighted content from around the world that have struck a chord with young audiences which is hinting towards an upcoming trend. Glance senior research analyst Romy Nicolas and Glance regional sales director (Americas, UK, Nordics) Laura Freydier Dubreul presented a case study where they identified that half of top YouTube Channels in their research are TV IPs. Ranked in terms of viewership over the last three months in their five big markets were Kids Land, Peppa Pig Official Channels, Osratouna tv and so on. According to them, children’s viewing is becoming more diversified, especially when content is able to thrive across multiple platforms.
In another session, leaders talk about how they are building IP and audience, as well as changing the way the kids industry is funded and monetised. TheSoul Publishing business development vice president Patrik Wilkens also emphasised that they often create YouTube-first content, occasionally starting with image and short-form content on TikTok, but always aim to branch out to as many platforms as possible. “So that’s one way of de-risking the other one,” he noted.
One of the day’s most insightful sessions, Knowing The Digital Youth: How Gen A/Z Are Redefining Media, Identity, and Trust, featured behavioural scientist and Mindscope founder Lea Karam, who gave a compelling talk on how Gen A and Gen Z are reshaping media through new expectations, behaviours, and digital touchpoints.
She pointed out three landscape shifts: First, due to hyper-digitalisation, kids want to experience more real and tangible things. Secondly, when we talk about fragmented attention, it doesn’t mean their attention span is shrinking—instead, they’re filtering content faster than ever. Finally, they are not passive viewers but they are actively listening to creators as well as interacting with them.
Moving ahead, Karam continued the discussion with BBC children’s & education director Patricia Hidalgo, ANIMAJ co-founder Gregory Dray and pocket.watch founder & CEO Chris M. Williams. The panellists spoke about the shift in their content creating process over the years and how artificial intelligence can act as a really powerful tool and how everyone starts using it for good.
In her keynote speech, four-time Emmy Award winner and influential brand storyteller Toys”R”Us global CMO and Toys”R”Us Studios president Kim Miller Olko spoke about the brand’s global presence, the journey behind it, and their iconic mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe. She recalled a moving moment when a fan hugged the mascot and cried, highlighting the emotional connection Geoffrey has with audiences.
“One of the key reasons we’ve done that is a trend called the kidult trend,” Olko explained. “That’s an industry term-it’s not really consumer-facing but more adults are consuming toys than ever before.”
A crazy fun animated series based on France’s all-time best-selling manga Ki & Hi written by Kevin Tran – the famous YouTuber with six million subscribers witnessed the world premier of an episode of Ki & Hi In the Panda Kingdom. It is a charming tale depicting the daily life of two reckless but endearing brothers, 10-year-old Ki and six-year-old Hi. The animated series paint with humour all the nuances of siblings relations: torment, fights, jealousy but most of all, love, and togetherness.
Elena Defaee
The Speed Matchmaking Session-Content Ready for Distribution of MipJunior took place at Gare Maritime. The venue thronged with creators seeking co-production partners, looking to buy or sell content,or exploring new business opportunities. The day concluded with happy hours hosted by YouTube, offering valuable networking opportunities.
