The first edition of MEAI IMEC seems to have been a runaway success with 360 meetings conducted between 20 international buyers and 20 Indian participants. The two-day event saw speed matchmaking between the participants at pre-fixed 15 minute slots.
MEAI vice president and ALTBalaji partnerships and alliances head Sudarshan Kadam details the welcome response from the Indian M&E industry: “When we opened our online matchmaking, we were in for a surprise with all slots being full within the first four hours. The team had to go back and add additional slots to ensure each participant got maximum exposure with the buyers. Frankly, we weren’t expecting this response.”
Co-located with ESC’s IndiaSoft and Global Soft, MEAI IMEC saw nine MOUs signed between the participants to pave the way forward towards mutual co-operation.
MEAI president Sushil Bhasin commented, “MEAI has been consistently finding ways to promote the Indian M&E industry from the ground up which includes additional focus on the MSME organisations from the industry. IMEC was formed with the objective of connecting Indian producers directly with international buyers and with expected business of over Rs. 3.3 crores, IMEC has very firmly placed itself as a leading B2B event in India. We are grateful for ESC and IndiaSoft’s support towards this.”
The 20 companies from 13 countries attending IMEC included 13 distributors, four broadcasters and three OTT/OD platforms. 20 participants from India comprised of 16 animation production houses, four live-action producers and two OTT/VOD platforms.
“We are extremely happy to support MEAI IMEC @ Indiasoft 2018 – 18th International IT Exhibition & Conference concluded recently in Bengaluru, and are glad to learn that the event assisted Indian companies in generating export orders and signing of MOUs with foreign buyers,” said ESC executive director DK Sareen. “ESC is committed to continued support to Indian companies to enhance their reach and exposure in the global markets and look forward to working jointly with MEAI to take this initiative at bigger heights in the future editions.”
The nine MOUs signed were between:
- Bhasin Studios and Asia Broadcasting Corporation
- Pencillati and Ying Group
- Jugnu Kids and Filmscape
- Jugnu Kids and Mountain River Films
- Mountain River Films and Hiru TV
- Juita Viden and Citrus Inc
- Wishing Tree and Bluemax
- ChibiTv and Appu Series
- Purple Turtle and Hiru TV
Delegates and buyers alike have lauded efforts of MEAI to put together this focussed market. MEAI founding member and delegate at IMEC, Jugnu Kids’ Kamal Pahuja commented, “MEAI has delivered a great experience considering it was their first B2B market in India. As a delegate, Jugnu Kids had good meetings with buyers from South Asian countries and we are expecting at least two deals to get through. Looking forward to seeing more of these kind of B2B events happening in India and I am sure MEAI will lead the way.”
Riding on the wave of success of IMEC, MEAI has announced IMEC as an annual event in association with and to be hosted annually with ESC’s IndiaSoft with a target of at least doubling the number of buyers for the next edition.
