Broadband TV News speaks with Sanja Bozic-Ljubicic,CEO and owner of Mediatranslations, Mediavision and Pickbox.
What was the idea behind launching NEM?
The idea behind NEM was to bring together the most relevant people from the TV industry, for them to have a new place in the CEE region where they would meet, exchange ideas, experience, learn from each other. Most of all, this region really needed an event like this one; we have so much talent and it is good to present to the world all that we can actually offer. Year by year we’ve been showing our progress.
How do you assess the event’s progress to date?
I’ve always been saying that for an event like this you need three to four years to stand on its feet and here we are on the eve of our seventh edition.
The number of attendees is greater than ever, we have more companies from the CEE region and the interest from around the world is greater than ever.
Where I can see the greatest progress of all is that the most relevant people from this industry recognise us and want to be part of NEM, so I have to say that I’m very proud to where we are today.
Why has NEM become so important to the TV industry in Central and Eastern Europe?
For sure, one of the main reasons is that we are up to date with all the newest content and topics of the market.
NEM is not a massive event and that was our idea from the beginning, to be accessible to the people from the industry and to gather the most relevant people at one place.
Furthermore NEM has a lot to offer, we have screenings, a market, panel discussions, networking parties. In short, this is the right place for any business surrounding the media.
I can say that NEM brings closer the world’s TV industry to the CEE region.
What are the main panel discussions attendees can look forward to at NEM 2019?
When people ask this question it’s always so hard to answer and single out one panel, since we put a lot of effort in choosing our topics, we are very careful with every detail when it comes to the panel discussions; we aim to provide insights into the most relevant global issues from the industry through the topics.
I can add that this year we are going to talk about whether this region should look at cooperation opportunities in order to be competitive through co-productions and bigger budgets, and one of the more interesting discussions will certainly be the one dealing with the extent to which free trials contribute to customer retention. The telcos are a huge part of NEM, since they are hugely responsible for new channels and services in the region. Listing all the topics NEM will cover this year could take ages, but the event will for sure, once again provide a cross-section of the hottest subjects within the TV industry.
Will there be any other must-attend sessions?
There certainly will be… This year we will have some great Q&A sessions with Pavel Stanchev, CEO at TV2, Dimitris Michalakis, Executive Director, Cosmote TV and Chris Marcich CEO, Croatian Audiovisual Centre. Then, as I think you already know we have special guests, Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba who will promote their new series “L.A.’s Finest”, Sony Pictures Television is behind the show and chose NEM to unveil the show at a prestigious screening.
The actor Alan Cumming will also visit NEM and promote CBS’s new series “Instinct”.
We will have great presentations and case studies, like the one with All3Media about script formats, then ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Epic Ambition: Viasat World Epic Drama Case Study and more…
Looking to the future how would you like NEM to develop?
There is always room for improvement and NEM has been showing that through the years, and we will make it even better in the years to come. Since we as a team always tend to go harder, better, faster, stronger!
Could you see it also being held in other parts of the region?
Never say never. But for now we are really happy where we are and our participants love it and that is the most important thing for us. Dubrovnik is a treasure of the world and people recognise that as they recognise NEM and everything that we have become in the TV industry so I think that Dubrovnik and NEM is a great, almost perfect combination… but of course we will never close our minds to the possibility of perhaps exploring other venues one day.
