Turkish TV series reach 750 mln viewers

ISTANBUL

Turkish TV series, which was under the spotlight in an international entertainment industry fair in Cannes, have reached an audience of more than 750 million people in over 150 countries, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Batuhan Mumcu has said.

"We are reaching 750 million audiences across 152 countries with content produced in Türkiye. All stakeholders in the industry are well aware of the multi-faceted importance of TV series sales, both in terms of exports and as potent instrument of cultural diplomacy," Mumcu stated during the 39th edition of the MIPCOM fair.

In the opening session of the fair, a statement from the organization revealed that Türkiye is leading in TV series exports among non-English-speaking countries, and is third worldwide after the U.S. and the U.K., respectively.

Turkish TV series secured a prominent place among the ambitious booths at the fair, with substantial interest in a large number of series, which set viewership records during their initial broadcast. The fair hosted representatives from 108 countries and over 10,000 attendees.

Murat Yancı, the head of Demirören TV Media Group, emphasized that Türkiye’s prominence in TV series exports on the global stage is a testament to the industry's success and progress.

"We anticipate that these figures will continue to rise. The support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry in bringing industry stakeholders to this fair is highly valuable. Under the leadership of the ministry, I believe that organizing such fairs in Türkiye will significantly benefit the industry,” he said.

Türkiye, one of the most powerful countries in the content sector, whose size is said to be billions of dollars in the world, attracts attention with approximately 50 TV series produced every year and hundreds of millions of viewers globally.

In order to continue and increase this great success achieved in the world, the Culture and Tourism Ministry supports the participation of producers and sales agencies in the world's most important content fairs, in cooperation with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO).

An industry representative earlier stated that Turkish TV shows have attained outstanding global success, revealing staggering episode revenue figures ranging from $300,000 to $700,000 in various countries.

MIPCOM, which is the global market of entertainment products across all platforms, organizes one of the world’s largest exhibitions of studios and distributors every year in Cannes, France.