Patrick Zuchowicki, founder of the DISCOP markets, and Robert Blagman, founder of Media Fusion International launched an industry-wide survey to assess demand for a new, America-focused marketplace that brings together content creators, platforms, and brands targeting the U.S. consumer economy.
Following the closure of NATPE and the Realscreen Summit, an ex-NATPE board member and a veteran advertising executive launched an industry-wide survey to assess demand for a new, America-focused marketplace that brings together content creators, platforms, and brands targeting the U.S. consumer economy.
The initiative, led by Patrick Zuchowicki, founder of the DISCOP markets, and Robert Blagman, founder of Media Fusion International, comes at a moment when the television and digital content industry finds itself without a dedicated U.S.-based dealmaking hub for the first time in decades.
The survey is designed to gauge interest in a next-generation, in-person market to be held in Los Angeles in May 2028. The extended timeline is deliberate, allowing organizers to track how rapidly evolving technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, reshape content distribution, localization, and monetization, and to design a market aligned with those changes.
The concept under evaluation focuses on the United States as the world’s largest and most sophisticated content marketplace, inviting distributors, producers, next-gen creators, and storytellers to engage directly with U.S. platforms, brands and marketers, and co-production partners under one roof.
While details remain preliminary, the initiative reflects growing industry sentiment that the disappearance of legacy markets has created a structural gap in the ecosystem.
“The question is not whether the industry still needs a market,” said Patrick Zuchowicki. “The question is what kind of market will make sense in the years to come, and how it should be built to deliver real business outcomes.”
Robert Blagman added: “We want to build a marketplace that reflects how content monetization will actually take place in the years ahead. That means putting brands and advertisers at the center of the equation and understanding how their needs are shaping new deal structures, from revenue sharing to performance-based models.”
Results of the survey are expected to inform the next phase of development, including potential partnerships with technology and AI companies. Further details will be released in the coming weeks.
