Turkish cultural expansion through exporting TV series
In the last two decades, several cultures and their mediatic presence in the music and television industry have gained much recognition on the global market. Turkish TV series have been one of the most important examples. They have expanded their influence worldwide since the late 2000s. As modern-day productions gained viewers on Turkish TV channels and digital platforms, many TV series lovers became more curious about Turkish TV series and even became fans. Some even started learning the Turkish language and culture. Now, Turkey is the world’s second-largest TV series exporter after the USA.
Turkey is the second largest TV importer in the world.
Recently, this influence of Turkish TV series continued growing in the United States and permeated into US television through Hispanic and Middle Eastern audiences. For instance, the famous American rapper Cardi B, who is from a Hispanic background, tweeted referring to the world-famous TV show Magnificent Century in 2020, saying that she would love to watch another soap opera with the characters of the series. Cardi B is a big fan of Turkish series, and she even stated her love or hate for certain characters in the Magnificent Century.
The history of Turkish TV export
When we look at history, Turkish TV series were first exported outside of Turkey in 1981, but since then, there has not been much progress. However, later in the 2000s, three series, Magnificent Century (Muhteşem Yüzyıl, 2011), 1001 Nights (Binbir Gece, 2006), and Gümüş (2005), opened the gates for Turkish storytelling to reach almost a billion audiences since then.
Turkish TV series have been exported to more than 146 countries, got more than a billion audiences and generated nearly 1 billion dollars annually. We can see that this expansion has also affected the global cinema and TV audience as we have begun to see TV series and actors getting recognition in the international arena. For example, in 2017, Endless Love (Kara Sevda) won the Best Telenovela Award; in 2019, Haluk Bilginer won the Best Actor Award at the Emmy Awards.
Also, Turkish series now have the chance to expand their audience and impact worldwide through global streaming platforms, such as Netflix. The first original Turkish series on Netflix, The Protector, was released in 2018. Since then, countless Turkish movies and series have been shot specifically for Netflix’s audience, such as The Gift, Love 101, and The Club, all of which achieved worldwide success. Also, older series and movies considered niche in Turkey are available on streaming platforms, providing these series a chance to reach a global audience.
The expansion of Turkish cultural influence
Furthermore, the Turkish series on Netflix introduces not only the modern-day Turkish lifestyle but also presents Turkish history, heritage, and even Turkish music to the world. Thanks to these online streaming services, which wipe away borders between countries, Turkish culture has skyrocketed its popularity globally in recent years.
Yunus Emre Institute & Radio and Television Supreme Council conducted “field research with the participation of 5,000 people from 125 countries to understand how Turkish TV series contribute to the process of learning Turkish and to analyze how foreigners bond with Turkish culture, art, music, architecture, natural beauties, urbanization practices, family traditions, social rituals and social relations between individuals through Turkish TV series. In the study, 81.8% of participants said they watched Turkish TV shows before actively taking Turkish courses. The findings show that Turkish TV productions compel the attention of people who want to learn the Turkish language and understand the culture.”
And this statement is supported by Jose Antonio Anton, Deputy General Manager of Atresmedia Group. He said, “since we started broadcasting Turkish TV series, we have seen that their effect on Spanish society has gradually grown. So much so that Spanish families who named their children Jonathan when American TV series was influential in Spain are now naming their newborns Mustafa.”
The reasons behind Turkish storytelling success
Fatima Bhutto summarised this in her article in The Guardian in 2019 by saying that “the series that became global behemoths were powered by narratives that pitted traditional values and principles against the emotional and spiritual corruption of the modern world.”
We suggest that there are several potential reasons behind the success of Turkish TV series around the world in comparison to American and Western storytelling:
- Individualism vs Community-based cultures
- Social & cultural problems vs Personal & individual problems
- Everyday stories vs Extraordinary stories
- Relatable characters vs Idealised characters
- Real settings vs Studio
- Side stories vs single story
It is possible to say that the cultural success of Turkish TV series is deeply connected with the cultural structure of Turkey, its community-based society and the ability to generate dramatic and catchy stories while successfully reflecting social and cultural dilemmas. Hence, it is a fact that we will continue to see similar examples of this expansion throughout Europe and other parts of the world in the following years.
We have prepared this article by extending the information our founder, Serdar Paktin, has presented at Creative Culture’s webinar on “How do we define culture in this day and age?” You can watch the full webinar from the link above.
pakt is a cross-cultural strategic consultancy helping clients like Netflix, Unilever, Pepsi and Peugeot to find creativity and innovation at the intersection of culture and strategy. Please get in touch with us about your business challenges and we will help you by deep diving into cultural space to discover creative solutions, new perspectives and fresh opportunities.
