Adult Source Media Goes to MIPTV

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Adult Source Media and SoCal Licensing will join SexZ Pictures this week at the 45th annual MIPTV market in Cannes. With an estimated 13,000 content providers and buyers attending the international trade show, the opportunity to negotiate new distribution deals is promising for ASM and SoCal despite the fact that MIPTV is primarily a mainstream market.

"The show is one of the largest markets for digital media. Every major network, broadcast channel-everyone looking to buy content-goes to this show," said SoCal's Valentino Tolman, who has attended MIPTV for the past seven years. "Some people who buy mainstream also buy adult. They just don't let people know."

"Broadcasters need everything from children's content to adult content; they run the gamut," said ASM president Wendy Crawford. "Not everyone goes to the AVN show; not everyone goes to the Venus show. This gives us an opportunity to meet people face to face. But, because the [MIPTV] market is so expensive a lot of the adult studios don't go; they just have a representative attend for them."

During the last three years, ASM has acquired, licensed, and produced over 100 hentai titles, including Japan's long running Yakin Byouto's series Night Shift Nurses (Night Shift Nurses: Experiment 1 & 2 won the AVN award for Best Animated Release this year). The studio launched a 3D production arm in 07 and made its CG debut with Pinks.

Crawford is confident content distributors will be intrigued by ASM's CG efforts and extensive library of Japanese adult animation. "Animation is so rare," she explained. "It's difficult to acquire. It's very expensive to make. There's never really been an opportunity for broadcasters to get this content-even on the Internet. It's something that's been so carefully guarded. We've worked for 3 years to find a way to bring it to masses."

Like SexZ Pictures CEO Bo Kenney, Crawford expressed the importance of discovering new revenue streams.

"I don't think broadcast was as important to us back when DVD was thriving and was our bread and butter," said Crawford. "Now things are changing. People are looking to see other avenues they didn't tap into in the past."

Adult Source Media and SoCal Licensing will be at booth 06.23. MIPTV runs April 7-11.