The director of Latin America and Iberia at Eccho Rights spoke to ttvnews about the distributor’s new titles for the international market, including its successful Turkish dramas, the increasingly popular Korean dramas, as well as new British series.
Eccho Rights, one of the largest distributors of content made in Turkey and Korea in Latin America, continues to add a wide range of trending titles -including British series-, to create an attractive catalog full of local and international successes.
In an interview with ttvnews, Barbora Suster, head of Latin America and Iberia at Eccho Rights, talks about the company’s new titles, including the Turkish dramas Chrysalis, Legacy, and My Home, My Destiny.
Eccho Rights is known for offering a trendy catalog. What is the focus of the company’s distribution strategy today?
Eccho Rights continues to focus on Turkish telenovelas, especially for Latin America. It is our flagship, the most important content. However, we complete our offer with Korean titles that we have had for a long time, and that are currently attracting more interest. We also have a lot of new European series with the opening of our London offices. We have five UK series in our pipeline, and they are perfect products for platforms and pay TV channels.
How is the appetite for Korean content?
Korean content right now is of interest for everyone in a certain way. From broadcast networks, linear TV and platforms. We will see which is the preferred house for this type of content. They are already being broadcast on various free-to-air channels and on some platforms. The truth is that they are attracting more and more customers in all windows.
What is the profile of Korean content according to the type of display window?
The Korean ones are very short. Most have 16 episodes; some very exceptionally are renewed for a second season, so there would be 16 plus 16 episodes, but it’s very rare. As for the type of content, Korean titles cover all kinds of genres. Mainly broadcast channels are more interested in the genre similar to the telenovela, a melodrama or a romantic comedy. As for the paid platforms and channels, they are more interested in premium content, more masculine, more crime and thriller.
What new titles does Eccho Rights have regarding Turkish drama?
On the Turkish drama side, I am promoting Chrysalis, one of the most watched productions on Kanal D that has just been renewed for its third season that will premiere in September or October.
Then we’re also offering My Home, My Destiny, a title that has previously been sold to HBO Max, and now sales are starting to pick up on free TV. And Legacy, which is the daily drama which is a guarantee for success after the success of Elif, because it is a similar content, more familiar. We are already receiving the first offers. And then we are anticipating a little what the new season brings us, which would be in September and October, where we are going to have between five and seven new Turkish titles, and I think they will raise a lot of interest at Mipcom, MipCancun and Natpe.
Which windows are interested in Turkish content in the region today?
At the level of Turkish drama, we have worked with all broadcast channels in most territories. Today I think Turkish content consumption has changed a bit. After the pandemic, the grids have been affected, the budgets have been modified, not all the slots that were used for Turkish drama are used for that now. Although everything has changed, the clients remain the same.
Is there a decline in Turkish content on screens in the region?
The Turkish product is not a fad that has come to Latin America to leave. I think it is a content that is going to stay. I know it is true that at the beginning of the boom everyone bought everything; It didn’t matter what kind of series it was. Within the Turkish genre there are many sub-genres. Customers today know what works for them, what their audience wants, and they are more selective in choosing the right titles for their channel and their audience.
And what about Turkish content on streaming platforms?
On platforms it was a great unknown. They took a long time to debut with that type of content, mainly because it seemed too long. At the end of the day, 100 episodes, for a platform that has a different type of content consumption than an open channel, it’s hard to imagine what audience can consume so many episodes. However, there are several of the big ones that have joined the wave of Turkish content, such as Netflix or HBO Max, and I think that the others will not take too long to get on board, because we’re talking to everyone, and there’s interest in that kind of content.
