The world’s largest audiovisual content market is set to begin Oct. 13 in Cannes, and the hottest item on the agenda is the future of TV.

According to MIPCOM organizers, there are 1.4 billion Internet users worldwide – a figure that has increased 300% since 2000. Today, roughly 25% of online users are watching video – a number that’s expected to double in the next four years.

‘We create our conference program to help the industry figure out what they need to get their heads around in the next five years,’ Reed MIDEM television director Paul Johnson tells Playback. ‘Digital players are exactly the same as satellite or cable or regular television channels. People are still consuming entertainment. They may not be watching as much TV, but we need to capture them on other platforms.’

Chad Hurley, co-founder and CEO of YouTube, will speak at this year’s market (which runs to Oct. 17), and Gary Wang, who runs Tudou.com, China’s top video site, will discuss riding the online video wave in his country.

And for the first time, MIPCOM will host a broadband video summit. Topics will include copyright and content delivery as well as the biggest question on everyone’s mind: how to make money delivering entertainment in cyberspace.

Two companies Johnson cites as among those with the most successful digital business models are France Telecom’s Orange and Finland’s Nokia, which allow cell phone subscribers to download entertainment. ‘Most mobile content buyers are interested in high-end content, such as movies and sporting events,’ he says.

The BBC iPlayer, which allows users to watch a selection of the pubcaster’s television programs, is also popular. ‘Those using the BBC iPlayer account for five percent of all Internet traffic in the U.K.,’ Johnson notes.

He says the big vacuum in the market right now is green programming. ‘[It’s] hot across all platforms. There is a demand for it and there is not enough of it,’ he says.

Reality shows and formats that can be adapted to various countries also remain popular.

One of the reality show formats looking for buyers at MIPCOM this year is Manitoba-based Frantic Films’ half-hour reality show Til Debt Do Us Part, in which debt-ridden couples are helped out by financial advisor Gail Vaz-Oxlade.

Like Johnson, Alchemy Television CEO Carrie Stein, who is representing the property at MIPCOM, says reality shows remain a ‘winning formula’ for producers.

‘The market is huge,’ she says. ‘You want a show to be on the air for a long time and be cost-efficient. When it works, it’s such a big win for producers and distributors.’

Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Ameba is looking to give content providers a boost in the digital age. It will be making its first trip to MIPCOM and MIPCOM Jr. in search of material for its entertainment portal AmebaTV.com.

The system is designed for both parents who want to have greater control over what their children watch, and for content providers who haven’t yet sold their digital rights.

The website includes a number of children’s titles that can be downloaded directly to the Ameba set-top box, allowing parents to choose the content for their kids.

‘For content rights holders, it’s a complete distribution platform,’ says company president Tony Havelka. ‘We let rights holders control every aspect of the delivery of their properties to the viewers’ TV by making it simple to administer and very low cost.’

Blueprint Entertainment, based out of Toronto and Los Angeles, is off to Cannes with The Dating Guy, a half-hour animated show about four twentysomethings’ struggles to find love. The show, coproduced with marblemedia, was commissioned by Teletoon, and now Blueprint is on the lookout for international and U.S. buyers, says Frank Saperstein, SVP of animation and children’s programming. The target market for the series is 16-30-year-old males who watch animated shows such as South Park and The Simpsons.

The Dating Guy features a website that will provide viewers with a ‘quick fix.’ They can watch on their iPods or cell phones, Saperstein explains.

He doesn’t believe that content providers need to completely overhaul their approach to providing entertainment to adapt to the digital age.

‘My philosophy is that entertainment is entertainment,’ he says. ‘Of course, we have to adapt the format slightly, but The Dating Guy is funny whether it’s seen on a DVD or an iPod.’