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After relishing Korean dramas in the past few years, young Indian viewers are now falling in love with Turkish programming, with shows like Daydreamer, The Promise, Our Story, The Protector and Magnificent Century drawing large numbers on streaming platforms like MX Player, Netflix and YouTube.
The shows have helped the Turkish genre triple its viewership on streaming platforms, though India had first got a taste of Turkish drama on Indian television through Zindagi, a ZEE channel showing foreign series. The Turkish shows on themes of love, family and class strife work well for Indian viewers and the general storytelling seems different from mainstream daily soaps. Media experts said word-of-mouth and social media recommendations are driving this surge in viewership.
“International content has been a window to the outside world,” said Mansi Shrivastav, senior vice-president, content acquisitions, alliances and distribution, MX Player. “While the core user base (for Turkish content) resides in metros and tier-I cities, we have seen that the appeal of such shows transcends geographies. Even smaller towns in far-flung places show a big appetite for dubbed Turkish shows. The long format with 100-plus episodes indicates high commitment and interest levels by users,” Shrivastav said. The platform has seen hits like Daydreamer, The Promise (currently airing its third season), Our Story; Brave and Beautiful; Feriha; A Miracle; Love is in the Air; and Endless Love.
The key target segments for Turkish programming are 18-24 year olds, followed by 25-34-year-olds, with four times the average engagement when compared to other categories, Shrivastav said.
Through these shows, MX Player has built strong relationships with Turkish broadcasters and distributors such as Madd TV, Kanal D and InterMedya. “We have hand-picked and curated offerings that cover relatable themes of complex love, family and class strife which are packaged in a linear style of storytelling, relatable characters, and emotional plots,” Shrivastav said.
She said internal research suggests that word-of-mouth has been a key driver for shows going viral. “Our audiences are actively searching international content on the internet, and almost 50% of our viewers discover content on social media or were recommended by a friend,” Shrivastav said.
The cost of acquiring these shows varies for exclusive and non-exclusive rights, said Vibhu Agarwal, chief executive officer and founder of video streaming app Ullu. He said the platform is in talks with distributors to bring Turkish content both to its streaming platform and to its TV channel Atrangi. “The feedback from viewers has been that Turkish programming is focused on differentiated storytelling and strong themes, and it would serve us well to pick it up,” he said.
TV broadcasters served Turkish content way back in 2016, which was well received then, Shrivastav added. In recent years, Turkey has developed from nothing to the world’s second largest exporter of TV dramas. Turkish series The Protector was among the most popular titles in the fantasy genre on Netflix in India in 2020, and viewing of global Netflix content with local language dubbing has almost doubled from 2020 to 2021 in the country. Netflix did not elaborate on Mint’s queries on the popularity of Turkish content.
Sandeep Goyal, managing director at ad agency Rediffusion, said Turkish content has the same draw that Pakistani dramas used to have in the 1970s and ’80s. “There is a lot of cultural similarity but the storytelling is more layered, and many times, more deep and profound. Also, the themes are more varied—they go beyond the saas-bahu stuff Indian GECs thrive on,” Goyal said.
Indians love drama, and Turkish shows are dramatic with high-pitched emotions that touch hearts across borders, said Mitesh Kothari, co-founder and chief creative officer at digital agency White Rivers Media. “Since language barriers have been eliminated through dubbing and subtitles, people can understand and relate to foreign content better. Good content has no limitations anymore,” Kothari said, pointing to a similar trend for Korean, Spanish and German shows. “Content has crossed all language barriers and come to a point where people all around the world can relate to shows from any culture, and this is truly the globalisation of art."
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