Notes from the MIA: Development, original producers, theatrical and platform consumption
by Tina Bianchi

The Rome Audiovisual Market (MIA), directed by Gaia Tridente and promoted by APA and ANICA, has just concluded its eleventh edition. We have gathered some insights that emerged from the Market’s rich program, which may offer indications of current trends in the audiovisual sector.

On the development side, a trend that began several years ago and has been confirmed on numerous occasions - such as at the Venice Film Festival and in Cannes - continues to be evident: literary adaptations. At the MIA, as at the Marché du Film, a collaboration was launched with the French initiative Shoot the Book promoted by SCELF, within the framework of so-called literary IPs. Literary agents and publishers meet producers in search of stories to be adapted for cinema or television. This is not a new phenomenon, but the trend shows how this search has now become highly structured within market and fair sections that increasingly cater to producers, who are in constant need of content.

From the panel The Art of Literary Adaptation it emerged that acquiring IPs capable of generating, over time, a flow of products able to meet the content needs of broadcast, OTT platforms and cinema must be accompanied by a well-crafted adaptation strategy in order to attract the best screenwriters and talent. Consequently, it is not enough to identify successful titles or literary prize winners: the producer’s role is fundamental in building the adaptation, balancing creativity, budget and target audience.

This context also includes the presentation of Dedalus, an alliance of Italian “original producers”, an initiative promoted by producers such as Marina Marzotto, Riccardo Tozzi, Nicola De Angelis and others who, as individual professionals rather than as companies already belonging to trade associations, seek to promote the central role of the producer in the realization of a project, including from a creative standpoint.

This represents a reinterpretation of the concept of the independent producer, traditionally more closely linked to the management of private and public financing and rights issues, whereas the original producer is a concept tied to the creative contribution made by the producer in the selection of stories and in relationships with the talents involved. In other words, producers who not only supervise and coordinate the production of a work, but who are at the very origin of the conception of projects, as a result of intuition, analysis, experience and the ability to engage talent.

Such an approach aims to reaffirm the centrality and independence of the producer at a time when the creative role of commissioners such as TV networks and OTT platforms has grown significantly, particularly in defining complex editorial strategies. Indeed, all these organizations have invested heavily in professional roles and operational units dedicated to “Originals,” the local works that so strongly characterize, for example, the content offerings of Amazon Prime or Netflix.

The producer’s role will probably be truly “originating” not so much in producing content for these commissioners - who are in any case guided by solid corporate strategies aimed at building catalogs, increasing subscriptions and advertising targets - but rather in creating works for the commissioner that is the “public of viewers,” which is not driven by strategies but by numerous and varied motivations that the producer should interpret, intercept or promote in an original way.

And within this “public of viewers,” who is the theatrical audience according to the ANICA and Ergo Research study?
https://www.anica.it/allegati/DATI/SALAeSALOTTO_ANICA_MIA_09102025_v06.pdf

In 2024, Italian cinemas lost 2.1 million tickets (70.7 million in 2023, 68.6 million in 2024, according to Cinetel data). With an optimism that seems to defy the evidence, the October 9 presentation at the MIA highlighted, within this overall decline in terms of tickets sold, an increase in frequency per cinema-goers. Unfortunately, what the study considers the positive sign of 2024 - namely the increase in those who “returned to the cinema at least once” - were, in 2023, viewers who went to the cinema more than once (data on individual admissions are processed on a national sample of 7,000 cases, defined as moviegoers by the Sala e Salotto research).

In the analysis of audience profiles (CinExpert survey based on an annual sample of 32,000 interviews), data by age group show - something many exhibitors already observe directly at the box office - that admissions among the 3–14 and 15–24 age groups increased in 2024, by 29% (from 9.5 million in 2023 to 12.2 million in 2024) and by 11% (from 15.3 million in 2023 to 17 million in 2024), respectively. In essence, children and very young audiences went to the cinema more in 2024, while young adults aged 25–30, adults aged 35–49 and those over 50 declined by 22%, 12% and 10%, respectively.

The loss of the more mature audience, and therefore the one with greater spending power, is cause for reflection. Indeed, when analyzing the Cine-type categories - Frequent (+10 tickets per year), Regular (5–10 tickets per year), Mid Casual (3–4 tickets), and Super Casual (1–2 tickets per year) - the Sala e Salotto data for moviegoers in 2019, 2023 and 2024 show a decline in Frequent and Regular viewers and an increase in Casual viewers. This indicates a change in consumption habits: cinema-going is currently no longer perceived as a habitual activity.

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