Turkish TV Festival: MISTCO, Kanal D International, ATV, OGM UNIVERSE

MISTCO’s Aysegul Tuzun Yildirim, Kanal D International’s Duda Perman, ATV’s Müge Akar and OGM UNIVERSE’s Ekin Koyuncu took part in the Turkish TV Festival, offering insights on the current Turkish content landscape.

Jamie Stalcup, managing editor at World Screen, spoke with Tuzun Yildirim, managing director at MISTCO, about the key factors behind the continued dominance of the Turkish content industry in the Latin American market.

Tuzun Yildirim explained in the interview, which you can watch in full here: “There are several reasons for this, but I can highlight two in particular. The first is our talented group of producers and actors. Each year in Turkey, there is a massive rollout of productions, with approximately 30 to 35 dramas debuting in the local market. This large volume of output allows us to offer a wide variety to our clients. The second is that Turkish dramas have a unique narrative style, and I’m confident that not only in Latin America, but also in any region of the world, international audiences have grown accustomed to this type of storytelling. All of this will allow us to maintain our position for a long time—possibly even decades.”

She also commented on the trends she is observing in Latin America, the U.S. Hispanic market, and Iberia, the key role of historical dramas in MISTCO’s catalog, as well as the opportunities the company is exploring to expand the digital reach of its content. You can watch the full interview here.

Perman, sales manager for LatAm, North America and Portuguese-speaking territories at Kanal D International, spoke on trends in Turkish dramas in the regions that make up her remit. “Latin American audiences have always shown a preference for classic titles where the more drama there is, the better [they perform],” she explained in a Spanish-language interview you can watch in full here. “There are buyers from certain countries who are also looking for lighter stories for morning or afternoon time slots, but overall, classic drama is the most in demand. For that, key elements must be included, such as love betrayal, a villainess, and forbidden love. If these elements are present, then the title is most likely to be successful.”

Perman also spoke about the competition from Turkish dramas within the local market as well as in Latin America, the Spanish dubbing processes, and the business opportunities being created by streaming services and FAST channels. You can watch the full interview here.

Akar, head of sales at ATV, shared her perspective on the sustained success of Turkish dramas and highlighted some of the most in-demand titles from the company’s catalog.

“The journey of Turkish dramas began in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and after that success, Latin America reacted—and as you know, the Chilean channel Mega was the first to acquire a Turkish title,” she said in an interview with Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari, editor of TV Latina, which you can watch in full here. “The fact that Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market are huge and very important changed things for Turkish dramas and how they travel. After their success in Latin America, we’ve seen [the same results] in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and many other countries in Europe and Asia, regions that have also followed this pattern.”

Akar also touched on the distinctive elements that have allowed ATV’s productions to continue expanding their presence in various markets around the world, the business of selling scripts or formats, as well as plans and projects for the remainder of the year. You can watch the full interview here.

Koyuncu, global distribution and partnership director at OGM UNIVERSE, highlighted the company’s most significant achievements since its inception and how they have continued to expand their business in step with the ongoing evolution of the industry.

In conversation with Bowen-Tombari, which you can watch in full here, she explained: “The company already existed prior to 2019, producing important titles. But starting that year, it debuted as OGM Pictures and has since become one of the leading drama production companies, not only in linear broadcasting but also in the OTT space. We have a very clear vision for further local and global expansion, as well as for innovative storytelling. But there are a few key points I’d like to highlight—some titles that have broken domestic ratings records, such as The Red Room, The Innocents, Chrysalis, Golden Boy, 6 of Us, and The Fall of the King, our most recent title, which has ranked number one across all groups. This is a huge success, and most of these stories are very innovative, very fresh for both local and international audiences, with emotionally rich, character-driven narratives, and fortunately, they’ve been praised by viewers both at home and abroad. But beyond that, on the distribution side, some of OGM Pictures’ titles have been successfully licensed in over 110 countries. That is a major success. We also have partnerships with global platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video—we’re the first Turkish production company to produce for all three major platforms. In addition, we have an exclusive production agreement with Star TV and are responsible for all of their prime-time nights, marking the first time such a collaboration has taken place. So yes, in the past six or seven years, a lot has happened—we’ve produced around 10 TV series, another seven for OTT, 11 highly successful films, and we continue to seek out new stories that are creative and unique, with strong performance both domestically and internationally.”

Koyuncu also detailed how Turkish dramas continue to compete with telenovelas in Latin America, the importance of continuing to reach new territories, the current state of business in Brazil and the U.S. Hispanic market, as well as the work it is doing with streamers. You can watch the full interview here.

To watch all the interviews from the Turkish TV Festival, please visit www.FestivalTurco.com or www.TurkishTVFestival.com.