


In Serbia, research from January 2013 indicates that the top two Turkish series in TV were “Magnificent Century,” which ranked fourth, and “ Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki (As Time Goes By),” which came seventh. In Kosovo, the most popular TV series in December 2012 were “ Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?” (“What is Fatmagül’s fault”), which ranked top of all programmes and “ Aşk ve Ceza (Love and Punishment)”, which came third according to data by Index Kosova. The most watched show in Bosnia and Herzegovina was “ Magnificent Century“. Turkish TV series are widely successful all over the Balkan Region. Turkish Series in Balkans and South Eastern Europe Some Turkish series are more appealing to women, while some action series attract male audiences, which helps attract different types of advertisers for different viewerships. Some series have political overtones, including Ayrılık, which depicts the daily life of Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. This explains the high-quality of its products, and consequently their popularity. Turkish television channels producing Turkish series include TRT, Kanal D, Show TV, Star TV, and ATV. The Turkish series market is marked by stiff local competition: out of the 60 dramas produced every year in the country, almost 50% don’t run for longer than 6 episodes due to the strong competition among the different local channels. Turkish series feature relatively high production values, with production costs of nearly $100,000 per hour for high quality series, compared to $35,000 to $40,000 for Arab productions. Since 2001, 65 Turkish series have been sold abroad, bringing in over $50 million to the booming Turkish television industry. Turkish series are generally produced in Istanbul, as television companies chose to settle there after the wave of liberalization for private television in the 1990s. Turkish series industry has played a crucial role in increasing Turkey’s popularity in all the world. In a survey carried out in 16 Middle Eastern countries by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, three out of four of those surveyed said they had seen a Turkish series. Turkish series ( televizyon dizileri) are extremely popular in Turkey and are among the countries.
