MAC, determined to look to the future in its imminent 25th edition

The 25th edition of MAC (Audiovisual Market of Catalonia) will return to Roca Umbert Fàbrica de les Arts de Granollers on June 5 with the objectives of promoting production and talent, disseminating useful knowledge and becoming a meeting point for all sectoral agents.

The event was presented at an event held at the Roca Umbert audiovisual set in which the mayor of Granollers, Alba Barnusell; the director of the MAC, Lau Delgado; the general director of Media of the Generalitat, Jordi del Río; the CEO of Xarxa Audiovisual Local (XAL), Marc Melillas, and the director of the Radio Observatory in Catalonia (GRISS-UAB), Josep Maria Marti.

The mayor has put this year's challenges on the table, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and has announced the expansion of the activity with more events linked to the MAC in autumn, under the seal MAC+. Next, Lau Delgado, director of the MAC, has delved into the main challenges that will address the industry in the short and medium term: "We have challenges on the table, such as technologies linked to the world of AI or the comprehensive digitalization processes of the sector. All these processes must be addressed: we need there to be a meeting point and a knowledge transfer point in which consensual decisions can be made."

Delgado has also said that this 2024 edition “it will be special", because the 25º will coincide^sanniversaries of the MAC and the Local Audiovisual Network (XAL), and the centenary of the first radio broadcasts in Catalonia. The CEO of the XAL, Marc Melillas, has influenced the inseparable relationship with the MAC: "The XAL and the MAC have an origin that without either of them would be explained. The MAC was born as a need for television stations to meet and share. The core of local television stations is in Granollers."

Melillas took advantage of the meeting to announce that the calls for production of audiovisual projects that will be presented at the MAC have received a hundreds of applications: 60 audiovisual documentaries and 40 podcasts. "They are well above the expectations we had set. This is a good sign, because it means that there is room to grow here," he stated. This year, in addition, the XAL call has the active participation of Spanish Radio Television (RTVE), fruit of a collaboration agreement.

Audio and podcasts, key areas of the MAC

Another of the axes of MAC 2024 is the world of audio and podcast. This year the market programming has been reinforced with a new line of content (MAC Audio), which also includes the fourth Podcasting Meeting in Catalonia. This last area, as always, is organized together with the Observatori de la Ràdio a Catalunya (GRISS-UAB).

Your director, Josep Maria Marti, has highlighted the growth of audio consumption and the expansion of themes regarding this year's Troba del Podcàsting: "The podcast is even broader. We must talk about a more diversified world of audio, with digital music, audiobooks or online radio. Studies say that media consumption, in part, decreases due to the volume of supply. It is even more valuable that audio is gaining a preeminent place."

Finally, the general director of Media of the Generalitat, Jordi del Río, has highlighted the collaboration of Govern with the MAC: “It is an excellent meeting point for the audiovisual and proximity sector and an excellent transmission belt for the Government's mandates in the audiovisual sector,” he stated. In this sense, the MAC will host presentations on the 3Cat Diversity Plan or the need to strengthen the Catalan language in content production.