Dhar Mann takes creator playbook to Cannes for first MIPCOM pre-opening keynote
Dhar Mann and studio chief executive Sean Atkins will take a headline speaking slot at MIPCOM Cannes.
The pair are scheduled to speak on Sunday, October 11, the day before the main market opens, as reported by Deadline. MIPCOM is the international television market in Cannes where broadcasters, streamers and producers buy and sell shows and formats.
Organisers have never scheduled a pre-opening keynote before. Mann and Atkins will fill that new slot. The wider event is listed as running October 11-15.
The booking reflects the scale of their operation. Dhar Mann Studios counts 170M followers, with its videos registering 300M views every week, according to Deadline. The company works from a 125,000 sq. ft. studio in Burbank.
That online audience has turned into television business. The studio has partnered with Disney on a deal for original programming. It has also signed a distribution deal with Fox Entertainment for a slate of vertical video titles, meaning short shows filmed upright to watch on a phone.
The Cannes trip is not only a talk. The studio and MIPCOM will co-host an invite-only dinner on Sunday evening for about 25 chief marketing officers and industry leaders.
What makes this stand out is the timing. MIPCOM put the creator economy at the centre of its 2025 edition, according to a market press release, and hosted YouTube's leadership for the first time, as reported by Variety. The 2025 gathering ran October 13-16, 2025.
Mann is known for short, moral-driven dramas built for YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. A keynote puts that playbook in front of the buyers, commissioners and producers who decide what gets funded, licensed and scheduled next.
