Chinese entertainment industry in Cannes for trade fair

China's entertainment industry is in the limelight as the nation boosts the international profile of its programming at a global trade fair for the television and film industry in Cannes, France.

Marche International des Programmes de Communication, which is also known as MIPCOM, brings together the world's television studios and broadcasters and facilitates the buying and selling of programs and formats for international distribution.

China has been named the Country of Honour at this year's event and around 60 Chinese TV and film companies are participating in the four-day event at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres

Among the latest partnerships announced at MIPCOM is one in which the BBC has signed a co-production agreement with China's Tencent about the upcoming natural history series Dynasties.

The deal is part of a larger multiyear partnership between BBC Studios and Tencent that will see the two parties work together to develop and grow BBC Earth Tribe – a Chinese online community for people who are passionate about natural history and science.

Also, a Chinese adaptation of hit British series Broadchurch will be created after Dutch production company Endemol Shine China struck a deal with local partners Blue&White&Red Pictures and Cloudwood.

At an MIPCOM opening event on Monday, Fan Weiping, deputy director of the National Radio and Television Administration, said: "Over the past 15 years, with the rapid development of China's economy and society, China's film and television cultural industry has become increasingly prosperous, and international communications and cooperation have been remarkably active."

Laurine Garaude, a director at Reed MIDEM, which organizes MIPCOM, said: "In recent years, we have seen the growth in Chinese shows being presented at our events for sale to international broadcasters and an increase in cross-border partnerships between Chinese and international producers. We anticipate that the trend toward Chinese content being exported to international territories will speed up over the next two to three years."

According to a report from IHS Markit, China spent $10.9 billion on television programming in 2017, compared to $10 billion spent in the United Kingdom. TV broadcasters spent $6.4 billion while Chinese companies Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent invested $4.5 billion on providing programming for their online entertainment platforms.