When Croatian-born TV exec Sanja Božić-Ljubičić set out to establish a television market in her corner of the world a decade ago, she had always felt the Baltics had been overlooked on the global content map. “The Balkan region was always somewhat neglected,” she tells Deadline. “But Croatia always seemed like a romantic little resort” which she thought would be an “ideal location for a boutique event” for top global executives.
Indeed, the romantic and picturesque country, which lies entirely on the Adriatic Sea and was the first of the former Yugoslavia countries to join the European Union, is a beautiful setting.
But crucially, says Božić-Ljubičić, who also runs local pay-TV and SVoD service Pickbox as well as media service provider Mediatranslations, she felt she was well-placed to create something that would align foreign industry professionals with local talent. “I thought I could do better than some of the events that were circulating around at the time,” she says. “The experience was there, the people were there – we just needed the right market.” And so, NEM (New Europe Market) Dubrovnik was born.
The annual four-day event is described as the “TV market with a view” but as delegates who have attended the prominent market know, it’s much more than that.
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