MIPCOM 2026

For four days every October, Cannes becomes the working capital of the global TV and entertainment industry. MIPCOM — the international television market, run by RX (Reed Exhibitions) since 1985 — brings around 13,000 delegates from 100+ countries through the Palais des Festivals: the global streamers (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Paramount, HBO Max), the major broadcasters and producers, sellers and buyers from every meaningful television market, the trade press, and the policy and industry figures who attend each year's keynote programme. Roughly 4,000 producing companies and 1,800 buyers attend the four working days — the most concentrated TV and entertainment deal week of the autumn.

The 2026 edition runs Monday 12 – Thursday 15 October 2026 (dates confirmed by RX each autumn). The official exhibition programme takes place inside the Palais des Festivals on the Croisette — the same building used for Cannes Film Festival in May, Cannes Lions in June, and MIPCOM in March. What makes MIPCOM distinctive is the working character of the week: this is a buyer-and-seller market, not a creative festival. The Bay of Cannes yacht hospitality programme runs on tightly-scheduled 20-to-30-minute meeting slots — format rights sold on the upper deck, hosted commissioner breakfasts in the saloon, broadcaster delegations holding closed-room meetings in the dining saloon, and producer-and-streamer dinners running into the evening.

The page below is built around how a charter client should actually approach the week: whether to charter a yacht as your private MIPCOM meeting venue — in which case the yacht is your office, hotel, breakfast room, dining room and reception space across the four working days — or to use the yacht as a smaller team's accommodation and on-deck client-hosting space. October on the Riviera is the closing edge of the cruising year — warm enough for upper-deck dining, cool enough that the headline beach clubs have closed, and a quieter version of the same Cannes that handles Lions and Film Festival earlier in the year.

The first reason TV and entertainment teams book yachts at MIPCOM is the most practical one: the yacht is a private meeting venue inside the festival footprint. The Palais des Festivals exhibition halls run from 09:00 to 18:30 each day with the major streamers and broadcasters running their hosted stands; the Bay of Cannes yachts run the rest of the meeting schedule. Each MIPCOM yacht typically hosts thirty to fifty discrete meetings across the four working days — producer-buyer breakfasts at 08:00, format-rights pitches on the upper deck through the morning, hosted commissioner meetings across the afternoon, dinners in the saloon, and after-hours screenings on the main saloon screen.

The second reason is Cannes capacity. The Croisette hotels — the Carlton, the Martinez, the Majestic, the Hotel Barrière Le Majestic, and the wider luxury and four-star stock — are typically at capacity for MIPCOM week by the previous May, with rates running at two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half times the standard October rate. Suites at the headline hotels routinely price at €1,800–€3,500+ per night across MIPCOM. For TV and entertainment teams of any meaningful size hosting multiple parallel client streams, a yacht charter is the cost-competitive option: four to twelve cabins plus dedicated meeting and screening space, catering, and after-hours hosting capacity that a hotel cannot deliver as a single venue.

The third reason is what the yacht delivers as a working venue. The main saloon is your private screening room — a venue you control, with the on-board AV system handling pilot screenings and trailer reels, dedicated catering by your on-board chef, custom branding if needed, and the ability to switch between a 4-person commissioning discussion and a 30-person trade-press preview inside the same hour. For studios, networks, sales houses, and the streamers, this combination is the entire reason the yacht-hospitality programme is a fixture of MIPCOM week.

The fourth reason is the autumn Riviera context. October is the closing edge of the French Riviera year — water still at 19–21°C, daytime highs in the low-to-mid 20s, evenings warm enough for upper-deck dining through the first half of the month. The same yacht can be booked across MIPCOM + a quiet week of Riviera cruising immediately after — or repositioned for the late-season Italian Riviera, Sardinia or Corsica before the fleet enters winter refit in November.

MIPCOM sits at the closing edge of the European yacht-charter season — the Riviera fleet is preparing for winter refit by late October, so the available pool of yachts is smaller than the summer event weeks. Combined with MIPCOM's tightly-scheduled meeting calendar, this drives a fast booking window. Headline yachts in the Vieux Port row are typically committed twelve months ahead.

Practical booking timeline for the 2026 conference week:

• Twelve to fifteen months out (late 2024 / early 2025 for the 2026 edition): The window in which the major studios, streamers, broadcasters, and sales houses commit the headline yachts — typically 30–55 metre motor yachts with the deck space, cabin count, and meeting infrastructure to host producer-buyer breakfasts, format-rights pitches, and hosted dinners across the four working days. Boatcrowd's pre-MIPCOM inventory in this segment is typically committed by the previous spring.
• Six to nine months out (January–April): The window for booking the mid-tier yachts — 25–35 metres, four-to-six cabins, the right size for sales or commissioning teams of 8–20 people running their week from a single yacht-based desk. Vieux Port and Port Canto show-week berths should be locked in by this point too.
• Three to six months out (April–July): Last realistic window for the headline yachts. Premium pricing applies; remaining inventory tends to be smaller motor yachts (under 25 metres) and catamarans available on a weekly rate.
• Inside three months: By MIPCOM standards, last-minute. Smaller yachts and overflow from cancellations are still occasionally available. Anchorage in the Bay of Cannes off the Croisette is free and unrestricted; the yacht itself is the harder commitment.

The Bay of Cannes has the deepest concentration of yacht infrastructure on the French Riviera after Antibes. The two Croisette ports sit inside the conference footprint itself; everything else is a short cruise. Anchoring in the Bay of Cannes off the Croisette is free and unrestricted across the year, including MIPCOM week, which makes a yacht-based MIPCOM visit considerably more flexible than the equivalent hotel-based one.

Vieux Port (Cannes Old Port) — the working-yacht row

The original Cannes harbour and the natural location for the headline MIPCOM-hosting yachts. Vieux Port sits a five-minute walk from the Palais des Festivals — close enough that delegates can step off the yacht for a Palais meeting and return for the next one. The yachts moor stern-to along the quays at Quai Saint-Pierre and Quai Laubeuf. Inside-port berths during MIPCOM week are the most valuable accommodation in Cannes — the major studios, streamers, and sales houses book these twelve months ahead. Vieux Port handles yachts up to roughly 70 metres alongside on the outer quays.

Port Pierre Canto — superyacht segment

The newer marina at the eastern end of La Croisette, a fifteen-minute walk from Vieux Port and the Palais. Port Canto handles motor yachts to 95 metres on its outer pontoons and hosts the larger superyachts that won't fit Vieux Port. The eastern Croisette location is slightly further from the Palais but well-positioned for the headline hotels at the eastern end of La Croisette (Carlton, Martinez, Majestic).

Anchorage — Bay of Cannes / off La Croisette

The standard cost-efficient option during MIPCOM. Anchor in the Bay of Cannes off the Croisette (depths 8–25 metres, good holding) and tender into Quai Saint-Pierre at Vieux Port. Free of charge, unrestricted, and where the majority of mid-sized MIPCOM-hosting yachts spend the week. Tender shuttle takes 5–10 minutes. Late October water is still warm enough for swimming in the first half of the month, though the anchorage is mainly used as a working base rather than a swimming venue during the conference.

Port Vauban — Antibes, French Riviera

The largest yacht marina on the French Riviera, 15 nautical miles east of Cannes. Port Vauban handles superyachts to 165 metres on its deep-water IYCA pontoon. The standard alternative when the Croisette is full — about a forty-minute cruise into the Bay of Cannes or a thirty-minute drive (closer to an hour during MIPCOM traffic). Working TV teams using the yacht as their off-Croisette base often run Antibes-Cannes by tender each morning.

Port Gallice & Marina Baie des Anges — Juan-les-Pins, Cagnes-sur-Mer

Two practical smaller marinas between Cannes and Nice. Port Gallice in Juan-les-Pins is a 25-minute drive from La Croisette and handles yachts to 50 metres on its outer pontoon. Marina Baie des Anges in Villeneuve-Loubet handles up to 50 metres and is the closest substantial marina to Nice airport — relevant for clients flying delegates in across specific MIPCOM days.

The natural way to think about a MIPCOM charter is as a four-day working-conference programme bookended by a weekend of light Riviera cruising and client hosting. The conference absorbs Monday-through-Thursday daytime attention; the surrounding Saturdays and Sundays are calm anchorage stops, working-lunch venues, and the headline restaurants of the Côte d'Azur still operating in the closing fortnight of their season. The late October weather window is consistently mild on the European Riviera — daytime highs in the low-to-mid 20s, water still at 19–21°C, evenings warm enough for upper-deck dining.

• Lérins Islands — Sainte-Marguerite & Saint-Honorat. Fifteen minutes' cruise from the Croisette. In October the islands are quiet and the wooded paths walkable; Saint-Honorat (owned by the Cistercian monastery) runs its autumn wine-tasting and lunch programme. The natural Saturday-of-MIPCOM-week lunch venue for a small hosted delegation.
• Cap d'Antibes & Juan-les-Pins. A short cruise east of Cannes. The Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc is in its final fortnight of the season (typically closes late October), and a closing-Friday MIPCOM lunch on the Eden-Roc terrace is one of the more sought-after reservations of the week.
• Saint-Tropez. A two-and-a-half-hour cruise west of Cannes — Saint-Tropez is in its final-fortnight wind-down by late October, but Sénéquier and the harbour-front restaurants run a quieter, more pleasant late-season programme. The natural Saturday or Sunday reposition for clients combining MIPCOM with a wider late-season Riviera charter.
• Villefranche, Cap Ferrat & Monaco. A short cruise east — Villefranche Bay, Cap Ferrat's anchorages off the Grand-Hôtel, and Monaco itself. The natural repositioning stretch for clients combining MIPCOM with a late-October Monaco-based week.
• Italian Riviera — Portofino & the Cinque Terre. About a six-hour cruise east of Cannes — overnight passage, anchor in Portofino Bay, lunch at Da Puny on the piazza, walk the Cinque Terre paths. The natural extension for charter weeks of eight-to-ten days or longer that pair MIPCOM with an Italian-Riviera close.
• Corsica. An overnight crossing south from Cannes — Calvi, Saint-Florent, and the western Corsican coast within reach for longer programmes. October water clarity at the Bonifacio cliffs is excellent, and the island is mostly empty of summer tourist traffic.

Late October is the final working window of the headline Cap d'Antibes restaurants — the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc typically closes for the season at the end of the month, and several headline beach restaurants are in their last fortnight of trading. This makes MIPCOM week a uniquely well-supplied dining moment: the year-round Cannes rooms operating alongside the late-season Cap d'Antibes and Mougins rooms, with availability still relatively open compared to the peak summer event weeks. The rooms below are the MIPCOM-week anchors. Reservations should be made at the time of charter booking.

During MIPCOM week, the Croisette hotel bars run as the standing neutral-ground meeting venues. Each major real-estate group effectively colonises one hotel for its delegation; the bars below are where the cross-firm meetings happen. Reservations help; arrival before 18:00 helps more.

The defining nightlife of MIPCOM is not late-night nightclub culture but the hosted-dinner-and-reception calendar — the London Stand party, the Paris Stand reception, the Greater London Authority and Berlin Senate dinners, the major REIT and developer hosted evenings, and the country-pavilion programmes that run each evening through the four working days. The list below covers the standing late venues; the city-stand and host-pavilion programme rotates each year.

• Country & city stand receptions. The Palais des Festivals exhibition halls run a tightly-scheduled programme of country-delegation and city-stand parties each evening through MIPCOM — London Stand, Paris Stand, Berlin Stand, Dubai Stand, Singapore Stand, Riyadh Stand, and the major real-estate-industry hosted events. These are largely invitation-only; charter clients running their own programme often appear on multiple guest lists through their advisory relationships.
• Bâoli Cannes. The defining Cannes nightclub — harbour-front, just east of Vieux Port. Runs at peak intensity during the headline industry weeks; the natural late stop after the Croisette hotel-bar circuit winds down around midnight. Tables work through the hotel concierge or your charter team.
• Yacht-hosted dinners. A meaningful share of MIPCOM evening hospitality runs on the yachts themselves. Investor dinners on the upper deck, sovereign-fund hosted meetings in the saloon, and city-delegation receptions across the swim platform run from 19:00 onwards. Boatcrowd's clients hosting on the yacht typically arrange custom catering, branded décor and guest-list management through our concierge.
• Casino Croisette & Casino Barrière Le Croisette. The two Cannes casinos run year-round programmes — Casino Barrière's Salon Privé and the Casino Croisette gaming floors provide a late-evening alternative to the nightclub circuit. Dress codes are enforced; passport required for entry.
• Off-Croisette dinner programme. Many of the working MIPCOM delegations prefer the off-Croisette restaurant scene (Mougins, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Cap d'Antibes year-round rooms) over the Croisette hotel-dining-room circuit. Hosted client dinners regularly run at one of these inland or off-Croisette venues, with the yacht as the late-evening return for nightcaps and continued discussion.

MIPCOM is a true event-premium week in the Cannes calendar, but two factors keep the premium below the summer event weeks (Lions, Film Festival, Monaco GP). First, late October is shoulder season — the yacht is delivering a working-meeting venue rather than a beach-club-and-pool hospitality experience, and the rate premium reflects that. Second, the Riviera charter fleet is preparing for winter refit by late October, so the available yacht pool is smaller and more concentrated around the year-round professional charter fleet. MIPCOM-week rates typically run 1.5–2× the equivalent yacht's standard September-October shoulder rate.

Standard French Riviera charters include the yacht, full professional crew (captain, mate, chef, full stewardess and deck team), comprehensive insurance, and use of all on-board equipment and tenders. Most charters include the marina berth at the embarkation port; MIPCOM-week Vieux Port or Port Canto berths are typically charged separately and command a significant premium over standard French Riviera October marina rates. Tender shuttle into Cannes from anchored or Antibes-based yachts is included as standard.

Additional costs are APA (typically 30–35% of the charter rate during MIPCOM — meeting catering, breakfast service, hosted-dinner spend), French VAT (20% on French-flagged charters in French waters), and a recommended crew gratuity of 10–15% paid at the end of the charter. Custom catering for hosted dinners and investor receptions, AV equipment hire, additional waitstaff, and branded décor are charged through APA or arranged separately depending on scale. Many MIPCOM clients also arrange a dedicated AV rig for client presentations in the main saloon — discuss with us at the time of charter booking.

MIPCOM sits at the closing edge of the Riviera year, two weeks after Monaco Yacht Show and immediately before the European fleet enters winter refit. The same yacht can be booked across MIPCOM + the late-September Monaco Yacht Show + the autumn Italian Riviera as a single three-week programme — or just MIPCOM + a quiet closing-season cruise of the Côte d'Azur, Portofino or Corsica. For clients running the wider Cannes corporate calendar, MIPCOM pairs naturally with MIPIM (March) and Cannes Lions (June) on a separate annual basis. Boatcrowd's brokerage team manages multi-event programmes regularly; the yacht is the constant, the events change.