Netflix Turkey Dossier

Abstract

This report on Netflix Turkey is a part of a series of dossiers compiled by the Global Internet TV Consortium members. All country reports are available on the Consortium website: https://global-internet-tv.com/netflix-country-reports/

Netflix in Turkey: Localization and audience expectations from video on demand

“…Netflix’s entry into the Turkish market was disappointing for the local audience for similar reasons: “…with a very limited catalog which was especially poor in local content, the company gave the impression that it had nothing to expect from its potential Turkish audience who have been binge-watching for years Netflix mainstream original series…through illegal streaming platforms” (Vitrinel, 2018: 6). Vitrinel also points out that Netflix’s Turkish catalog aspires for a particular locality based on “widespread taste for national series” (2018: 6), a locality, as will be discussed below, that seems to attract a global audience, and is not necessarily appealing to Netflix’s Turkish users. 4 Vitrinel introduces an element that often lacks in scholarship on localization of Netflix, an element that we explore further in this article: the complexity of local taste and the audience’s search for a quality experience.…”

Breaking the chains of television: Streaming and the ‘Netflix effect’ in Turkey

“…The launch of Netflix Turkey has affected the video culture in Turkey significantly. The first adopters of the service were among the audience segment already following global Ildır content through illegal streaming, including Netflix's acquired and bespoke content (Vitrinel and Ildir, 2021). Early original series from Netflix and domestic services were strongly distinctive from established Turkish norms.…”

“…Torrent users quickly adopted streaming services after 2016, when Netflix and other local and global services entered the Turkish market. 7 Ildir and Celik Rappas' (2021) research indicates that one of the reasons streaming audiences in Turkey prefer SVOD (streaming video on demand) services is their dissatisfaction with the pirated content. By 2023, the initially limited streaming audience in Turkey had expanded to a more general audience because streaming services offered a convenient and satisfying viewing experience defined by shorter episodes and a lack of long ad breaks.…”

“…This case illustrates Netflix's ideological and political position in Turkey in the current political context, which has included regulation by Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTSC) and de facto censorship (and self-censorship) since 2019 (Koçer, 2020). This allowed the RTSC to regulate and monitor Netflix and other streaming services and platforms such as YouTube, causing a backlash on social media with hashtags such as #DontTouchMyNetflix (Ildir and Celik Rappas, 2021).…”

“…Turkey is one of the world's top exporters of television series (Bhutto, 2019) and a country with a robust television culture, which makes it a region that stands at the intersection of global and local flows in internet television and video cultures (Vitrinel, 2018). Television in Turkey has been defined by structural and political constraints and scarcity in content, except for the brief period of diversity in the late 1990s and early 2000s enabled by cable and satellite television that resulted in standardization of content in Turkish broadcast television.…”