The Arab streaming platform Noor Play has bought the rights to the Turkish series “Kuruluş: Osman” (The Ottoman) for distribution in Arab countries.
Noor Play promises that more Turkish productions will be available on its platform.
“Kuruluş Osman” is about Osman Gazi, founder of the Ottoman Empire, and is the sequel to an earlier series about Osman’s father, Ertuğrul Bin Suliman Shah. According to the Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) website, that first series was watched by 200 million people in 2017 alone.
According to Orientxxi its success was due to being dubbed into literary Arabic, making the series accessible right across the Arab world. The principal character “praises the unity of Muslims beyond their ethnic and linguistic differences.”
“Turkish series cover every genre, from drama, comedy, horror to crime and history,” says Jose Antonio Anton, vice-president of the Atresmedia Group which imports Turkish series into Spain. “They have over 20 years experience of high level industry standards, generous budgets, great scripts, actors and filming – in the studio and on location.”
They are watched by nearly 700 million people in 146 countries, says the owner of the streaming platform Noor Play.
Turkey ranks second in global television distribution, behind the United States. And this, explains The Guardian, is thanks to specializing in dizi – epic series with two-hour episodes. The best known dizi, “Magnificent Century”, was watched by a third of the domestic audience when first aired in 2011.
For more information about the current audiovisual situation in Turkey, click here.
Sources: dailysabah.com, imdb.com, theguardian.com, aa.com.tr, orientxxi.info
