TIFF expands TV lineup ahead of TIFF: Market

Exclusive: The Toronto International Film Festival delves into television and makes primetime even bigger. The festival has a television section called Primetime, and TIFF executives told Deadline they plan to increase the selection by 40% for 2026.

Appropriately, the news comes from MIPCOM, the TV market in Cannes that is being screened this week. The setting was fitting, as TIFF was on the ground meeting with the TV industry ahead of the launch of TIFF:Market next year.

TIFF and Deadline hosted a networking reception with buyers and distributors and we met with TIFF’s executives in town, Judy Lung VP, Strategy, Communications and Stakeholder Relations and Jeff MacNaughton, Vice President of Industry and Theatrical Programming.

McNaughton told us the Primetime division he oversees will expand by 40%, to include about 14 series in the next year.

This year’s Primetime lineup saw six world premieres including Inside informationWhich opened Netflix’s Mae Martin series section stray, Black rabbit Starring Jude Law, Jason Bateman, and Origin: The story of the African Basketball League, Which was the only documentary series.

Macnaughton told guests at the TIFF-Deadline reception that many of this year’s Primetime shows scored deals after the TIFF screening. This is an important point for MIPCOM audiences, especially as TIFF prepares to launch its own market in 2026.

TIFF: The Market will include TV, film and next generation content and is a notable new addition to the calendar. “This year, our 50th anniversary was a really exciting opportunity to celebrate how far we have come, but also to look to the future and stimulate our vision for the next 50 years and beyond,” Long said. “This vision for the future is centered around a commitment to deepening the Toronto Film Festival’s support of global entertainment businesses, including the launch of the festival’s official content marketplace next September.”

MacNaughton added: “We’re always looking for series that we haven’t seen before, that will surprise people, but also… [projects] Looking for distribution. And we’re leaning into the idea of ​​designing a content market and building not only what we do on the cinema side of things, but also growing what we do on the series side, and that’s really important to us.

TIFF: The market will be held September 10-16. Its venue is TBC, but as it takes place, TIFF has assembled a panel of industry advisers including TV directors from BBC Studios and Blue Ant.