MADD ENTERTAINMENT GREW ITS BUSINESS BY 120% IN 2020

Tukish drama distributor Madd Entertainment enjoyed another record-setting year, growing its business by 120% and completing 164 contracts covering 114 countries. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the company set new highs in its licensing business, launched the innovative new online sales platform MaddNext, and partnered with ViacomCBS International to bring about its first international co-production.

“Despite the Covid-19, we received wonderful business results in 2020 thanks to our partners, Ay Yapim and Medyapim. They produced more than 350 hours of fresh content, a huge success. Madd became the #1 supplier of fresh Turkish drama content in 2020, transforming our business. Turkish drama now has new homes like HBO Max, Globoplay and Olympusat. 2021 will be another Madd year, as we plan to double our business,”  said Ateş Ince, Managing Director at Madd Entertainment.

In addition to established hit series like “A Miracle” and “The Choice,” Madd Entertainment introduced a half-dozen new series to the global market in 2020, including “A Woman Scorned” — Medyapim’s notorious adaptation of BBC’s “Doctor Foster” — and red-hot drama “Flames of Fate” — Ay Yapim’s adaptation of TF1’s “Bazar de la Charité”.

Last year’s success was also buttressed by summer sensation “Love is in the Air,” whose leading couple set social media ablaze around the world. The romantic dramedy has already been acquired by Mediaset for broadcast in Italy and Spain, and Fox Network Group picked it up for 15 countries across CIS and the Baltics.

Continuing its sales success is “My Little Girl,” which was recently acquired by Spain’s Antena 3. The series has enjoyed phenomenal success throughout Latin America, US Hispanic markets and Europe on stations like Telemundo, MegaTV, Telefe, Wapa TV, Ecuavisa, Telemetro, Canal10 Saeta, Imagen, Skai, TvKlan, TV2, Antena TV, and Nova TV. 

Part of Madd’s 2020 success also has to be attributed to MaddNext, the innovative new online conference series Madd launched in partnership with NATPE V-Fronts.  With traditional markets closed due to Covid-19, Madd developed a virtual solution that brings international broadcasters and journalists together with Turkey’s top producers and talent online. MaddNext amounts to an intensive seminar on the future of Turkish drama, and hundreds of stakeholders have participated in the first two events. Now the company plans to continue the series as a biannual event in 2021 and beyond.

Lastly, Madd’s crowning achievement will soon be available for all the world to see, when ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) releases “El Asesino Del Olvido”. This unique co-production between Madd Entertainment and VIS is a Spanish-language adaptation of Ay Yapim’s prestige series “Persona,” featuring legendary actor Damián Alcázar and helmed by acclaimed director Ernesto Contreras. The 10-episode series was shot throughout Mexico last year and is slated for release in the first half of 2021.