Variety, one of the leading cinema and entertainment news sites in the USA, published a news stating that the arrival of US online video watching platforms in Turkey has increased the production costs, but this situation offers new opportunities to content producers and producers.
Stating that Netflix is the platform with the most subscribers in Turkey with 7 million people, Variety said that Disney Plus, which will come to Turkey this summer, and HBO Max, which has just entered the country, are in the production race.
Speaking to the magazine, stating that Amazon Prime will start original Turkish productions by 2023, Ahmet Ziyalar, head of the production company Inter Medya, said, “Disney Plus is investing in Turkey as if there is no tomorrow.”
Ziyalar added that Disney Plus pays very high sums to writers, directors and actors.
It was stated that this race of online video surveillance companies made it difficult to find both talent and technical staff to work for low salaries.
Disney Plus did not respond to the magazine’s problems regarding its operations in Turkey.
In February, WarnerMedia announced that they had appointed Nermin Eroğlu, who used to be a manager at Ay Yapım and Kanal D, as the person responsible for original productions in Turkey.
While it was emphasized that the acceleration of competition increased the construction costs for all companies in Turkey, it was stated that this situation stimulated the market.
It was reported that apart from US companies, local platforms such as BluTV also produced their own productions.
Pelin Diştaş from Netflix, who is the head of original productions such as Club, Fatma, Bir Başkadır, which was produced in Turkey, stated that they aim to reflect people’s lives in the stories they make, and that local and international audiences can easily connect with these stories.