Mikaela Pérez, Sales executive for Latin America at Kanal D International, spoke to ttvnews about the Turkish distributor’s newest titles, as well as its extended catalog of dubbed hits.
With titles like Fatmagul, Forbidden Love, Wounded Love, Time Goes By or Price of Passion in its catalog, Kanal D International’s dramas have become a guarantee for success when it comes to engaging audiences in Spain and Latin America.
And in a year as unprecedented as 2020, the distributor’s classic Turkish dramas are making a comeback and experiencing a demand as high as when the international boom first started.
Since the pandemic began around the world and Latin America, many of our clients have premiered content they acquired last year and that they hadn’t aired yet. This allowed them to renew their screen and lower their budget,” Mikaela Pérez, Sales executive for Latin America at Kanal D International, said to ttvnews.
“But many of them have also turned to dubbed content. And seeking to keep their ratings up, buyers are looking for what they know and trust, products with track records. And that’s important for us because Kanal D International has many important and successful telenovelas,” she added.
So over the last few months, the distributor has seen its big classics make a comeback, especially in the networks’ afternoon slots.
“Many of the entertainment programs in Latin America went off the air for safety and health issues, and what the channels have done is cover part of those slots with series and telenovelas that we already have available dubbed into Spanish. Also, many channels have changed their strategy of programming, with a lot of news in prime time and creating blocks of telenovelas at other times. What we have done has been to help fill those time slots with content that has already worked and that the audience continues to enjoy,” she explained.
Even in Turkey a similar phenomenon has been experienced and Kanal D, with several of its past successes, has also achieved great results.
“Kanal D started a strategy of replaying classic titles like Forbidden Love, Tormenta de pasiones, Price of Passion… They are successful contents that every summer come back and continue to be successful,” she explained.
New classics
And in addition to its extensive dubbed series catalog, dating back to 2010, Kanal D International is presenting its new hits on the market.
For instance, Ruthless City has recently finished in Turkey with excellent results.
“It is our outstanding prime time series from last year. Shooting stopped due to the pandemic. The first week of June, filming for the last two episodes was resumed, which ended with great success in Turkey. It was one of the series that has been in great demand. I think it has everything the Latin American audience likes to see, especially now at this difficult time. Entertainment, love, romance… to soften the chaos we are experiencing worldwide,” she said.
“We will begin its dubbing soon, so by the end of the year it will be fully dubbed,” she added.
Another highlight for Kanal D International is the remake of Dr. House (Hekimoğlu), which has already aired 14 episodes and was also interrupted by the coronavirus. “It will return to our screen at the end of August. So far it has been very well received by the audience, with many views on YouTube,” she said.
And although it is not the “typical Turkish drama”, the executive does not doubt that it is an ideal product for Latin America. “It will undoubtedly work in Latin America, it is a very good product for the region,” she explained.
In addition to these two titles are the romantic comedy Romance Next Door – premiered in early July – and other titles already announced such as New Life, which will premiere in late September, as well as the Spanish adaptation of Fatmagul (Alba), which will be distributed internationally by Kanal D International.
