The popularity of Turkish dramas has reached phenomenally across the globe. The essence of Turkish dramas is being felt by people of all cultures today in the world. Thanks to translation, subtitling, and dubbing services, these dramas are becoming a sensation at a rapid pace.
An article published on Arab News has highlighted that Turkey stands second to the United States in TV series exports and is the first in Europe. That is a phenomenal achievement that the Turkey TV series has achieved abroad.
Speaking of the Arab World, the success of the Turkish TV series is exceptionally overwhelming, and that can be because of the historical ties the two share. There is frenzy among Arab countries for Turkish dramas and costumes worn by actors in those series. People have started to imitate the style in their get-together parties to enjoy and feel the Ottoman period, often depicted in most Turkish dramas.
Izzet Pinto, the chief executive officer of Global Agency, which sells Turkish series' rights abroad, said that with the launch of the "Magnificent Century," a Turkish drama depicting the Ottoman period, the Turkish soap operas reached a popularity peak. Arab fans influenced by the costume in the series started buying Ottoman-style clothes and organizing ottoman-themes parties.
Now that is something that reveals how brilliantly well these soap operas are doing in the Arab world.
What contributes to the success of Turkish soap operas in the Arab world?
To put it straight, it is the cultural ties between Turkey and the Arab countries that have contributed to the success. The main reason behind the success of these super TV productions of Turkey in Arab countries is the use of historical subjects that form the basis of their narratives.
"Diriliş: Ertuğrul" (Resurrection: Ertugrul) received the best director prize by Golden Butterfly awards in 2018. This spectacular series very intricately tells the tale of the rise of the Ottoman empire, which went through struggling times fighting against various domestic and foreign obstacles.
The series "Diriliş: Ertuğrul" received a lot of love from foreign audiences, especially Arab-speaking countries, where many young people even put the photo of the Ertugrul character on their social media profiles. But the sadness of the death of the character of “Bamsi Alp” in the series was also widely seen among Arab fans who posted tons of heartfelt messages.
The media has the magnificent power to leave a lasting impression on the minds of people. For this reason, many times bans are imposed on soap operas to purposely target and hit another country in terms of earning revenue.
According to data given by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), 200,000,000 web users, with Saudi Arabia in the lead with a total of 600,000, watched the episodes of "Diriliş: Ertuğrul," which was dubbed and subtitled by the Al-Noor website for YouTube.
The list of Turkish series that went unbeaten in Arab countries is endless. But it was only due to the power of translation that Turkish dramas gained a steady fan following and became incredibly popular.
The list of Turkish series that went unbeaten in Arab countries is endless. But it was only due to the power of translation that Turkish dramas gained a steady fan following and became incredibly popular.
Translation, dubbing and subtitling make it possible for audiences of different cultures to enjoy a series that is not native to them. The series serves both the purpose of entertainment and education (in the case of historical dramas). Non-native series also reveal a lot of peoples' mindsets of a region, and the idea propagates worldwide, making it easier to understand and relate with one another.