After enjoying Korean dramas over the years, young Indian audiences have now fallen in love with Turkish programming, with shows such as Daydreamer, The Promise, Our Story, The Protector and Magnificent Century on streaming platforms such as MX Player, Netflix and Coming in large numbers. youtube.
The show has helped the Turkish genre triple its viewership on the streaming platform, although India first got a taste of Turkish drama on Indian television through ZEE channel Zindagi, which showed foreign series. The Turkish show on the themes of love, family and class struggle works well for the Indian audience and the simple storytelling feels different from the mainstream daily serials. Media experts say word of mouth and social media recommendations are fueling this jump in viewership.
“International content has been a window to the outside world,” said Manasi Srivastava, senior vice president, content acquisition, alliances and distribution, MX Player. “While the main user base (for Turkish content) resides in metros and Tier-I cities, we have observed that the appeal of such shows extends beyond geographical regions. Cities also show a huge appetite for dubbed Turkish shows. The longer format with over 100 episodes indicates high commitment and interest level by the users,” said Srivastava. The platform has hosted Daydreamer, The Promise (currently airing its third season), Our Story; Brave and beautiful; Feriha; a miracle; Season of love; and endless love.
Srivastava said the major target segment for Turkish programming is 18-24 year olds, followed by 25-34 year olds, which has four times the average engagement compared to other categories.
Through these shows, MX Player has built strong relationships with Turkish broadcasters and distributors such as Mad TV, Kanal D and Intermedia. “We have hand-selected and curated offerings that cover complex love, family and related themes of class conflict that are packed into a linear style of storytelling, relatable characters and emotional plots,” Srivastava said.
She said that internal research shows that word of mouth has been a major driver for shows going viral. “Our audience is actively searching for international content on the Internet, and nearly 50% of our audience has discovered content on social media or has been recommended by a friend,” Srivastava said.
The cost of acquiring these shows varies for exclusive and non-exclusive rights, said Vibhu Agarwal, CEO and founder of video streaming app Ullu. He added that the platform is in talks with distributors to bring Turkish content to both its streaming platform and its TV channel Atrangi. “The audience reaction has been that Turkish programming focuses on different storytelling and strong themes, and it would serve us well to take that on,” he said.
Srivastava said that TV broadcasters served Turkish content in 2016, which was highly appreciated then. In recent years, Turkey has grown from nothing to the world’s second largest exporter of TV dramas. Turkish series The Protector was one of the most popular titles in the fantasy genre on Netflix in India in 2020, and global Netflix content viewing with local language dubbing has nearly doubled in the country from 2020 to 2021. Netflix did not elaborate on Mint’s queries on the popularity of Turkish content.
Sandeep Goel, managing director of advertising agency Rediffusion, said Turkish content has the same charm that Pakistani dramas used to have in the 1970s and 80s. “There’s a lot of cultural similarity but the level of storytelling is more layered, and at times, deeper and deeper. Plus, the themes are more diverse – they go beyond the saas-bahu stuff on which Indian GECs thrive, Goel said.
catch all business News, market news, today’s fresh news events and breaking news Updates on Live Mint. download mint news app To get daily market updates.