Turkey's TV series exports yield $350 million per year, minister says

Not only is Turkish TV series a new trend for television but the sector has garnered considerable success in the last few years.

Turkish shows are currently aired in more than 140 countries and have reached export figures of over $350 million per year.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that Turkey has reached very high figures in the exports of TV series and films. The minister drew attention to the fact that Turkey ranks second in exports in this field, a very high ranking in global statistics - second only to the U.S., the birthplace of Hollywood.

"We want this figure to be increased in line with its purpose and for Turkey to be promoted correctly in the countries where Turkish series are broadcast," he added. The minister recalled that the amendment to the Law on the Evaluation, Classification and Promotion of Cinema Films passed the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). Ersoy said that the most important article of the Cinema Act is the fact that up to 30 percent of the domestic expenditures of TV series, including foreign films and domestic productions that benefit the country's promotion, are covered by the government.

Ersoy further added that they have decided to support projects carried out in this sector in accordance with the targets. The culture and tourism minister stressed that this support will provide a significant increase in the number of viewers in the country as well as the film production rate of the sector and the number of filmmakers coming from abroad to shoot films in Turkey and added that they have implemented the "Filming Turkey" platform for further promotion.

"The promotion of many aspects such as natural plateau areas in Turkey, the appropriate places to shoot a film, filmmakers, companies and facilities to benefit from in the process, and the possible income will be carried out via this platform," Ersoy said, underlining that this will be useful both for the promotion of Turkish tourism and for the film tourism created by film crews who are also tourists that spend money.

Commenting on their projects for museums, Ersoy said the museum visit rate of tourists coming to Turkey is half of Europe. "We are striving to bring this ratio at least to the European level," he noted. "As of April, we will start a serious publicity campaign for tourists visiting provinces where the museums are located; thus, we are planning to increase the museum visit rate in terms of both tourists and local visitors," the minister concluded.