Since the premiere of 1001 Nights five years ago on Mega in Chile, the Turkish drama phenomenon is now more present than ever in Latin America and Spain.
It all began five years ago when Chilean network Mega premiered 1001 Nights (Global Agency), a Turkish fiction that broke all types of ratings records in the country,
From then on, Turkish dramas -led by an array of production and distribution companies- expanded their presence across most of the region’s screens.
And now, five years later, the phenomenon has become unstoppable. To see just how relevant it is, ttvnews analyzed the titles currently on air during the first week of August in 18 countries in LatAm.
The result? Turkish dramas have 49 timeslots on the main broadcast TV networks* in the 18** main countries in the region. The results, up next.
Turkish Fever Keeps Rising in Chile
As it was to be expected, Chile leads the markets’ ranking with the most Turkish titles currently on air with eight, followed by Colombia and Uruguay with six each.
In fourth place rank Mexico and El Salvador, both with five dramas, followed in fifth place by Argentina with four.
In addition, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay currently have three titles on air.
And lastly, the US Hispanic market has one Turkish drama currently on the air, same as Peru; while Brazil, Belice, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela have no Turkish dramas airing at the moment.
Elif, the Region’s Most Popular Drama
According to the analysis, Elif (Eccho Rights) is the drama with the most networks in Latin America, having aired in seven markets in August: Argentina (Telefe), Colombia (Caracol Televisión), Chile (TVN), Costa Rica (Teletica), Mexico (Imagen Televisión), Paraguay (Telefuturo) and Uruguay (Teledoce).
El Sultán (Global Agency) follows behind with four screens: Honduras (VTV), El Salvador (Canal 12), Mexico (Imagen TV) and Colombia (Canal 1).
The podium is shared by Orphan Flowers (ATV), Paramparça (Global Agency), Esposa Joven (Latin Media Corp.), Me robó mi vida (FOX) and Ezel (Eccho Rights), all with three markets.
And lastly, the still popular 1001 Nights (Global Agency) is airing in two markets this month: in Chile for the second time on Mega and in El Salvador (Canal 12).
Meanwhile, the ranking of networks with the most titles on air is: Canal 12 from El Salvador (5), Imagen Televisión from Mexico (5), Mega from Chile (4), Saeta Canal 10 from Uruguay (4) and Telefe from Argentina (4).
Global Agency and Eccho Rights Lead the Race
In terms of Turkish distributors, Eccho Rights and Global Agency lead the race in Latin America with titles across 13 networks each.
Followed by ATV with seven, Kanal D with five, Calinos with three, and Inter Medya, Madd, FOX and Latin Media Corp with one each.
Considering titles alone, Global Agency is the most successful with six dramas on air, followed by Kanal D with five and ATV with four, while Eccho Rights has three.
The Phenomenon Grows in Spain.
In January of 2018 and after seeing the results in Latin America, Nova, the Atresmedia network especialized in telenovelas, finally took the plunge and premiered its first Turkish drama: Fatmagul.
The series became the highest-rated in the network’s history and the first of many Turkish dramas to air in Spain.
Now, Nova has four Turkish dramas on air (Elif, Amor prohibido, Medcezir and El secreto de Feriha) and Divinity (Mediaset), its main competitor, has another four (Erkenci Kus, Kuzey Guney, Icerde and Amor en blanco y negro).
This brings the total number of Turkish dramas in Spain to eight.
When adding those that aired in the past, there’s another seven and at least another five have been acquired and will air in the future.
* The networks in Latin America that currently air Turkish series are: Canal 10, Teledoce, Monte Carlo TV, Telefe, TVN, Mega, Canal 13, Telefuturo, Unitel, Red Uno, Latina, Caracol TV, Canal 1, Teletica, Repretel, VTV, Canal 12, Televisiete, Imagen TV, Univision
** The countries monitored were: Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and the US
