Discop Istanbul 2014: 40 percent growth in attendance

‘Middle East presence grew 100% —with countries such us Libya and Iraq exhibiting for the first time— and Central Asia, 200%. We’ve clearly made focus on those regions and the results are fantastic’, said Patrick Jucaud-Zuchowicki, managing director of Basic Lead, and founder of Discop.

The executives consulted by Prensario agreed on the ‘expansion’ of the market and that the floor-format —the event has been moved this year from a hotel to a Convention Center— brings much more ‘professionalism’ to the show, being more ‘comfortable’ in comparison to last year. ‘Every buyer from Turkey is here doing business, and that is another goal. Next year, we confirm the same place for Discop Istanbul 2015’, added Jucaud-Zuchoicki.

He has also announced strategic alliances in Turkey, with Globus Fairs and Congress (organizers of ITVF, held in June in Istanbul), and in South Africa, with Nat Kekana. These companies have bought 50% of Discop Istanbul and Discop Africa, respectively, to ‘rapidly expand both events and build closer connections among their fast-developing TV ecosystems’, he remarked along with Hakan Adiguzel, president of the Istanbul-based trade show organizer.

‘Turkey has become a major player in the global industry. Both as a marketplace for international content suppliers, and as a production center with a plan to export USD 1 billion of TV content in the next decade —in 2013 it was USD 212 million, according to RATEM, the Association of Radio and TV Broadcasters. The city is now a strategic TV business hub for Central and Eastern Europe, Central and West Asia, North Africa and Middle East’, explained Adiguzel.

But, after Day 1, Prensario has noticed that Turkey is showing many faces. On one hand it is true that year by year there are more productions from the main networks —Star TV, Kanal D, ATV, Samanyolu, etc.— but on the other, some local sources agreed that the market is passing through some difficulties. 
‘You can feel the complex political situation —with massive protests last year— in the streets and this is impacting, in some way, in the TV industry. Broadcasters are demanding less content’, stated an important distributor from the United States. Two major TV channels have new owners since 2013: ATV was acquired by Kaylon Group, and Show TV, by Ciner Group.

Moreover, the market is changing its drama production system. How? A key Turkish distributor described: ‘The new rating system has changed the industry —people meters are considering A-B 20+ as ABC 20+— and the drama series are not working well. The strategy is now moving to produce short weekly series (not more than 30 episodes), focused on traditional themes to decrease the risk’. 

About yesterday panels, Dramas with Passports was about Turkish TV series exportation (CEE, Central Asia, Middle East) and the possibilities of co-productions between Turkey and countries as Ukraine, UK, Australia, etc. New trends on Turkish Drama (Mediametrie/Eurodata TV) showed the successful example of Turkish adaptations abroad (Pasion Prohibida, Telemundo USA), The End (Fox USA) and sales of Magnificent Century, Global Agency (+40 countries), 20 Minutes, ITV Inter Medya (Egypt, Sweden) and The Little Bride, Samanyolu.

At Welcome Party, India was introduced as Country of Honour. This year there are many Indian distributors at Discop Istanbul: consulted by Prensario, some of them see ‘many opportunities’ to grow in these regions. For example, Debkumar Dasgupta, VP Syndication & Affiliate Sales, Viacom 18, remarked the success of its series in the former Yugoslavian territories, with titles such as Balika on Pink TV, Serbia. 

Fabricio Ferrara, from Istanbul