The international media industry is heading to the Balearic Islands. At a press conference held today at the Oceans Calvià Beach Club, CONECTA Magaluf-Mallorca officially presented the program for its milestone tenth edition.
This year, the forum isn’t just celebrating a decade of networking; it is positioning itself as the primary laboratory for the trends reshaping the global content landscape. The 2026 program is built around the “tectonic shifts” currently moving the industry. Key themes include:
- The AI Revolution: Beyond the hype, panels will explore the practical adoption of Artificial Intelligence in production and writing rooms.
- The Microdrama Boom: Assessing the explosive growth of short-form vertical content and its impact on traditional storytelling.
- Conglomerate Consolidation: How global entertainment giants are navigating a year of massive mergers and acquisitions.
- The Power of IP: Intellectual Property remains the cross-cutting theme of the forum, emphasizing the protection of original ideas in a digital-first economy.
In a move that bridges professional insight with public engagement, the forum will feature a special screening of the Movistar Plus+ original series, Many people need to die. The presentation is expected to be one of the highlights of the week, showcasing Movistar’s continued commitment to edgy, high-concept Spanish fiction.
Calvià Mayor Juan Antonio Amengual emphasized that hosting CONECTA is part of a broader mission to redefine Magaluf. Through initiatives like the ‘Calvià, Film Set Route,’ the municipality is successfully pivoting from a leisure-only destination to a sophisticated cultural hub for literature, music, and the screen sector.
The Regional Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Jaume Bauzà, highlighted the key role of the media sector as a driver of diversification and excellence. “Committing to events such as Conecta means consolidating the Balearic Islands as a benchmark for the creative industry on an international scale,” said Bauzà. The Minister also emphasised that “the regional Government’s support through the Institute of Cultural Industries (ICIB) and the Sustainable Tourism Tax reaffirms our commitment to a model that brings together culture, technology and quality tourism that generates value throughout the year”.
Calvià’s Deputy Mayor for Tourism, Elisa Monserrat, highlighted the importance of hosting top-tier events that position Magaluf as a MICE destination. In fact, she said, the support provided by the Regional Government through the Sustainable Tourism Tax will serve to “continue attracting a large number of initiatives to Magaluf that position us as a quality destination”.
The Island Councillor for Culture, Antonia Roca, believes that Conecta is a “key opportunity to put Mallorca on the international map of the audiovisual sector; within this framework, the Conecta CREATIVE LAB becomes a strategic space for reflection and innovation that reinforces our commitment to talent, creativity and the development of the industry”.
The director of Conecta, Géraldine Gonard, then presented an overview of the conference program, highlighting that “we will be offering more than 40 activities featuring nearly 100 speakers, in a year in which we are celebrating our tenth anniversary in a very special way.
For this reason, we will pay tribute to a great journalist and international figure in specialised journalism, John Hopewell, as well as presenting the Movistar Plus+ original series ‘Many people need to die’ at a special screening open to the public. We will also be focusing on all the key players that shape our industry: from creators to distributors, including commissioners, investors, producers and digital content creators, not forgetting the media, whose work is essential to us all.”
The conference was also attended by, among others, the director of ICIB, Diana de la Cuadra, and Raquel Aguilera, director of projects, programmes and production at IB3, the supporting regional pubcaster of the event, which will take place from 25 to 28 May in Magaluf.
The director of ICIB emphasised that “CONECTA Magaluf-Mallorca responds to a need for the Balearic Islands to have an international forum where the local audiovisual sector can grow and expand nationally and internationally”. “We are crossing the invisible border of the Mediterranean, this time in the opposite direction: through CONECTA Magaluf-Mallorca, we are attracting the sector’s most important players to our island, in the belief that this will generate connections, boost our industry and increase its competitiveness.”
2026 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Many people need to die, the Movistar Plus+ original series, will be showcased at CONECTA with a special public screening
The Movistar Plus+ original series, produced in collaboration with Corte y Confección de Películas and Living Producciones, stars Anna Castillo (winner of two Goya Awards for ‘El olivo’ and ‘Viaje al cuarto de una madre’), Macarena García (Goya Award for Best New Actress for ‘Blancanieves’) and Laura Weissmahr (Goya Award for Best New Actress for ‘Salve María’).
The production, which recently entered the Official Selection of the prestigious Canneseries 2026 festival, was created by Victoria Martín and is based on her successful novel of the same title. The premiere is scheduled for 21 May on Movistar Plus+, whilst CONECTA Magaluf-Mallorca will host its big-screen screening in the Peguera auditorium, also known as Casal de Peguera, on Wednesday 27 May at 7:00 pm.
AI and vertical microdramas in the dock
The most eagerly awaited debate on the programme puts artificial intelligence firmly in the spotlight. In a groundbreaking session entitled ‘AI and vertical microdramas on trial’ (Wednesday 27, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm), María Rua Aguete, analyst at the renowned consultancy Omdia, will lead a mock trial in which various key voices from the industry, IT and the digital content creation sphere, will debate the real impact of AI on the media sector (opportunities, risks and ethical limits), as well as the emergence of vertical microdramas and their dual conception as either a natural evolution of content consumption or a break with traditional media. All this will take place before an audience acting as both jury and interested party.
The discussion on technology does not end there: the ‘Workshop AI: Creating and producing a vertical series’ (Tuesday 26, 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm) will demonstrate in real time just how far generative tools have come: in less than three hours, creator Paco Torres will produce a complete episode of a vertical series in front of the audience using exclusively artificial intelligence models.
Market analysis with the most influential consultancy firms
The market analysis track will kick off on Tuesday 26 with two sessions led by some of the industry’s most respected research firms. Jonathan Broughton from PlumResearch will lead ‘Focus on Fiction: What’s Next?’ (10:00 am), whilst Caroline Servy from The Wit will do the same for the Entertainment genre (10:30 am). Both sessions will offer a forward-looking analysis of where the markets for both genres are heading on a global scale.
High-level matchmaking: where the conversations that matter take place
One of the big bets of this year’s event is the Conecta SUMMIT (Tuesday 26, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm), a space designed on the premise that the industry’s most relevant conversations rarely take place on stage. The invitation-only event will bring together a select group of 20 international executives from studios, streamers, production companies and big techs in an environment free from the press, recording and attribution of sources, to address the issues shaping the current reality of the global content business. This is not a moderated panel, but a direct exchange between peers who share decision-making responsibilities and whose aim is to lay the foundations for future international collaborations.
Meanwhile, the Conecta CREATIVE LAB 2026 (Monday 25, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm) is establishing itself as the event’s international think tank. As a result of this meeting, the CONECTA Mallorca Report will be produced, a strategic document setting out the main conclusions and recommendations for the future of the media sector. Although places are limited, this meeting is open to professionals and requires separate registration.
Rounding off this high-level networking opportunity is ‘Focus on Commissioners’, where programming executives from some of Europe’s major broadcasters and platforms will explain first-hand what content they are looking for. Confirmed participants include Morad Koufane (France Télévisions), Alberto Fernández (RTVE Play), Michele Zatta (RAI) and Ludovica Fonda (Mediaset Group).
The new landscape of entertainment: supergroups, distributors and digital creators
The structural transformation of the entertainment television formats will be the focus of some of the programme’s most strategic panels. The session ‘Formats: Reviving, Sustaining and Launching’ (Tuesday 26, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm) will bring together André Renaud from Warner Bros. Discovery and Nick Smith from All3Media International to analyse how concentration within large international groups is shaping project development and intellectual property control on a global scale.
From the perspective of independent companies, ‘Independent Producers: Who Is Still Standing?’ (Wednesday 27, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm) will give a voice to the most innovative indies that continue to hold their ground in an environment marked by constant mergers and acquisitions. Avi Armoza of Armoza Formats, Miroslav Radojevic of Global Agency, and Simone de Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne of Primitives will share the keys to their business models.
The tension between linear broadcasters and new digital-first content creators will take centre stage in another of the most eagerly awaited sessions: ‘Creators vs Broadcasters: Who Owns the Future of Entertainment?’ (Wednesday 27, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm). Sebastian van Barneveld (Talpa Studios), María Arroyo (Seven.One Studios International) and Catherine Alvaresse (Banijay France) will discuss how digital-native talent, production companies, broadcasters and platforms are redefining the ownership and development of entertainment formats.
Microdramas, funding and the creator economy: opportunities for prodcos
The rise of the microdramas as a new genre of fiction for mobile screens will be the focus of the ‘Microdramas Workshop’ (Wednesday 27, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm). US producer Jay Blumenfield of The Jay & Tony Show and Portuguese producer João Maia Abreu of SPi will explain the real opportunities offered by a format that has won over millions of viewers worldwide.
For those in need of practical tools to finance their upcoming productions, the programme includes the ‘Financing Workshop’ (Tuesday 26, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm), where Luis Piñas (Bankinter), Alexandra Lebret (AXIO Capital) and Sebastián Vibes (Green Screen) will share their expertise on financial structuring for audiovisual projects.
Emerging talent and sports
CONECTA reaffirms its commitment to emerging talent through the second edition of Pitch Talent (Tuesday 26, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm), an initiative organised in collaboration with the screenwriting labs IsLABentura Canarias, CIMA Impulsa and DAMA Ayuda, to offer visibility to emerging screenwriters and creatives selected by each lab, who will be joined by Mallorcan screenwriter and director Ferrán Bex. Following individual presentations of their fiction projects, the four participants will take part in a discussion moderated by screenwriter and showrunner Curro Royo.
The conference program also includes a breakfast hosted in collaboration with the Spanish Television Academy (Tuesday 26, 9:30 am – 11:00 am) dedicated to original sports-themed content, featuring Marta García (IB3), Javier Martínez (You First-Gersh) and Juan Andrés García ‘Bropi’ (Movistar Plus+), moderated by sports journalist Matías Prats Chacón.
View the full event programme.
