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Turkish Drama Serials and Arab Audiences: Why Turkish Serials Are Successful in the Arab World

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Television in Turkey

Abstract

This chapter explores the social and cultural factors that have contributed to the success of Turkish programs in the Arab world. Following the cancelation of Turkish serials on the Arab world’s largest networks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, this chapter will explore how dedicated Arab fans are continuing to watch Turkish shows via alternative platforms after having seen them become such a large part of their daily lives and a permanent fixture on their screens in recent years. By using the Gulf State of Qatar as a departure point, it will examine why Turkish content resonates so closely with female Arab audiences, while also determining their viewing motivations and how Turkish serials have managed to fill a void among its viewers that Arab media has failed to satisfy. At the same time, this chapter will discuss why Turkish dramas have been widely perceived as a women’s genre despite being prime-time serials in Turkey.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data were drawn from 30 focus groups conducted with university students (2013–2014, 2017–2018) and 40 semistructured interviews with female Arab Turkish drama serial fans (2013–2014, 2016–2017), all of whom were from various Arab backgrounds. Interviews were also conducted with production companies, Turkish and Arab television executives, Turkish screen writers, directors, and actors (2010 and 2015).

  2. 2.

    The term “expatriate” or “expat” refers to workers who stay much longer than a typical short-term contract and try to create a new life away from their country of origin.

  3. 3.

    Due to Qatar’s diverse demographic, it was possible to conduct qualitative research not only with Qataris but also with Arab nationals from various other Arab countries who were residing in the country. The majority of research participants were from or had identified their heritage as originating from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.

  4. 4.

    All focus group participants were University students in Qatar between the ages of 18 and 25.

  5. 5.

    Fans of Turkish serials interviewed were between the ages of 21 and 55.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northwestern University in Qatar, Doha, State of Qatar

    Miriam Berg

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  1. Miriam Berg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Communication Studies, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Yeşim Kaptan

  2. Department of Communication Studies, California State University, San Bernardino, CA, USA

    Ece Algan

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Berg, M. (2020). Turkish Drama Serials and Arab Audiences: Why Turkish Serials Are Successful in the Arab World. In: Kaptan, Y., Algan, E. (eds) Television in Turkey. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46051-8_12

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