Ultimately, what was predicted in VideoAge‘s February Issue became what we are now able to report in this story about the 16th annual Series Mania Forum, if only with more facts and figures. Series Mania took place in the city of Lille, France, and was divided between a TV festival (that is open to the public) and a business TV event, or Forum, for professionals only, which offered both panels and a market. The Festival portion started on March 20, 2026, and ended on March 27, while the Forum started on March 24 and ended on March 26.
According to official figures, the Forum was attended by 5,200 professionals from 75 countries, which makes it (and the Festival, which drew 112,000 attendees) the undisputed winner among the now numerous TV series events around the world, including Canneseries, to be held in the South of France April 23-28, 2026, and the Italian Global Series Festival, set to begin on July 3, 2026, in Rimini, Italy.
However, despite the large total number of Forum participants, the number of actual buyers — estimated at 500 — was difficult to ascertain even by the exhibiting companies themselves since the Forum’s database didn’t provide a complete list of acquisition executives in attendance.
Nonetheless, an envious 97 exhibiting companies from 16 countries spread across three levels of the Grand Palais — the Lille Convention Center — participated at the Forum with stands, meeting tables, and pavilions.
Forty companies opted for meeting tables, which make the market relatively inexpensive to attend, compared to participation with a stand (which can reach upwards of $40,000 all included).
Pavilions included the KOCCA Korean pavilion (with South Korea being this year’s Series Mania country of honor), Spain Audiovisual, Creative Europe Media, Quebec Creatif, and Screen Ireland, in addition to those from Belgium, Turkey, Taiwan, and Canada, among others.
KOCCA’s presence at the Forum generated a press release from Manchester, England-based consultant specialist K7 Media that stated that “the U.K. is closing in on South Korea’s position as the world’s leading exporter of scripted TV formats,” reporting that even though “South Korea remains the top originator globally, with 19 adaptations launched between July 2024 and December 2025, the U.K. is now just two sales behind on 17, significantly narrowing the gap on the market leader.”
In addition to distributors exhibiting at meeting tables and pavilions, large distribution companies had dedicated stands on the fourth floor of the Palais. These included BBC Studios, Fox Entertainment, Fremantle, Inter Medya, Studiocanal, Banijay, Beta Film, Gaumont, Federation, France TV, ITV Studios, Mediawan, Movistar, Studio TF1, The Mediapro, UGC, and ZDF Studios.
The largest chunk of Forum participants was composed, once again, of producers and co-producers with drama projects in development, who were looking for partners and networking opportunities. In fact, one of the biggest draws of Series Mania Forum is its consistent focus on drama, which sets it apart from other, similar events.
The conference segment of the Forum kicked off on day one with a panel titled “Key Trends in TV and VoD Markets,” which explored the latest data on TV series commissioning in Europe. The presentation highlighted a decrease in streamers’ investments in U.S. series and an increase in investments in European series, despite an overall reversal in the trend in the total number of commissioned series.
Other panels throughout the event explored a wide range of industry topics, from micro-dramas to the marketing of TV series, to producing for less, in addition to showcases, previews, and keynotes from HBO Max’s Sarah Aubrey (who announced a first-look deal with Domingo Corral, former Content director at Movistar Plus+) and Disney+ EMEA’s Angela Jain.
The traditional Co-Pro Pitching sessions were also held on the first day of the Forum, with 16 projects competing for a 50,000 euro prize. The award went to the 10-part drama series Red Pants from Kyrgyzstan. The project is co-produced by Erke Dzhumakmatova for Studio Oymo and Pavel Feldman and Alexander Seliverstov for Human Films.
At the awards ceremony, held at the Theatre Barriere, the winner of the second edition of the Series Mania Buyers Upfront was also announced: France’s thriller R91 from SND Groupe M6/Next Episode. NRK Drama chief Marianne Furevold-Boland received Series Mania’s Woman in Series Award.
In terms of sales activity, most exhibitors registered a good number of meetings. U.S.-based consultant Gary Marenzi of Marenzi & Associates, a returning participant of the Forum, found it useful to connect with French and European buyers and commissioning editors in a more relaxed environment compared to MIPCOM. The same feeling was shared by Italy-based Margherita Zocaro of Rai Com, who set up appointments with all the Western and Eastern European buyers that she wanted to meet with, but that she usually doesn’t see at other events.
Forum participants also had a chance to mingle and network at several social events, including the welcome drinks, a daily happy hour at the Chamber of Commerce venue, the late-night party at Tripostal, as well as multiple invitation-only lunches, breakfasts, and cocktail parties.
Audio Version (a DV Works service)
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