Turkey eyes TV series exports worth $350 mln

Sadi Özdemir - CANNES

AA Photo

Turkey plans to realize popular TV series exports worth $350 million this year, according to sector representatives attending the world’s leading TV content fair MIPCOM Cannes on Oct. 5-8.  

Turkey, selected the country of honor at this year’s fair, has risen from an average of $500 to around $200,000 per episode in TV series exports over the last decade. 

While Turkey’s TV content market had exports only worth around $10,000 in total in 2004, the figure is this year projected at a whopping $350 million. One unnamed Turkish TV series has been sold at the MIPCOM fair for around $200,000 per episode. 

Around 400 TV sector representatives from Turkey attended the fair under the motto “Turkey: Home of Content.” They will be hoping to woo sector players from 111 other countries this year. 

“With a sharp rise in quality and branding in the sector, Turkey has now exported TV programs and soap operas to more than 80 countries - from the Middle East to Eastern Europe. The Economy Ministry’s target is to achieve TV series exports worth $1 billion by 2023,” said Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) head İbrahim Çağlar. 

Turkish TV series are estimated to reach over 400 million audiences across the world and the sector has now defined new markets to expand into, including South America and Scandinavian countries, Çağlar said. Indonesia, Malaysia, India and China are also on the radar of distributing companies, he added. 

Many popular Turkish actors are also attending the MIPCOM fair to mark current projects or launch their new projects. These include Halit Ergenç, the lead actor of the massively popular “The Magnificent Century,” which focuses on the life of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent; Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, who is particularly popular in the Middle East due to his fair-haired good looks; Beren Saat, who will play the mother of an Ottoman sultan in a new drama titled “Kösem Sultan;” and Tuba Büyüküstün, who was one of four nominees for the Best Performance by an Actress prize in the 2014 International Emmy Awards.