With “Six of Us” climbing to the top of Turkish ratings charts, OGM Universe is setting its sights on Latin America. In conversation with Señal News, Ekin Koyuncu, Director of Distribution and Alliances, shares how the company’s emotionally charged dramas are resonating across demographics, and how strong local performance is helping fuel global confidence. Backed by a growing slate that includes “Shehrazad: The Tears of Istanbul”, “The Fall of the King”, and platform originals for Amazon and Netflix, OGM is not only selling finished content—but also aiming to expand its footprint through co-productions and remakes in key markets.
Let's start with “Six of Us”, please tell us about the local impact of the show, so what's the potential that you see on the international side?
I see a great potential on the international side for “Six of Us.” We started airing the title in mid-November, and so far, the licensing is going very strong. It's a family story; it's about the survival story of six siblings who lost their parents, and it's not only about their struggles but also about how they're going to rebuild their lives. How they're going to fall in love and to try to stay united. It's a very heartwarming story. The synergy between the kids is amazing and their energy with the couples is also brilliant. I believe especially in Latin America this title will have a lot of impact, because Latin American audience is very similar with the Turkish audience, who likes stories where there are struggles, hope, family bonds, relationships and values, with of course a great romantic love aspect and drama. I also believe this title is amazing for all age groups, not only women plus 35, because there are some action within the story that will captivate the male audience as well, and we have different age groups in the story, so even the younger audience will connect well with their love stories, their struggles, and how they built their lives.
How important is it to be able to show strong performance numbers in the local Turkish market, especially considering that this is often one of the key questions from buyers in Latin America?
It is very important. In terms of performance, on November 13 with the first episode in total group we started with 3.5 rating and on the seventh episode we reached 7.50, so we have seen an increase each week, until we reach the point where we were ranking number one in the last two weeks, even when we are competing with very strong competition, one of them is a very well-known adaptation from Latin America from Global Actually, so in ABC1 and total group, we are doing amazingly, and constantly ranking in the top three, and this is very important and a good validation for the buyers to trust in this title as much as we do.
To have a title like this performing so well in Turkey sets also a new positioning for the OGM brand in terms of production.
Of course, this year we are producing our fourth title which will be on air very soon, “Golden Boy” is continuing to its third season, we have “Six of us,” “Shahrazad,” “The Tears of Istanbul,” and we have the upcoming title “The fall of the King.” It's a very competitive market, seven nights plus seven channels each night on prime time, where the competition is fierce, so you need a good performance in order to stand out and to continue airing, otherwise you have no chance to stay alive, but so far with “Six of Us” we are over the moon.
What other shows are you offering for the Latin American and US Hispanic markets?
“Lost in Love” is being dubbed and completed, and we licensed it to Paraguay Telefutura that represents its first broadcast. “Broken Destiny,” our daily drama, completed with dubbing, broadcasting for the first time on TC Television Ecuador, and then TVN Panama will follow. We are very excited about these two titles first broadcast, the first introduction to Latin American audience, so hopefully the rest will follow. But in this market, we are also focusing on our newest title “Six of Us,” and we have another prime-time title which we are airing on Tuesday nights, “Shehrazad: The Tears of Istanbul,” a remake of the Iranian series, a heartbreaking love story with a great cast. And the fifth title that we are focusing on is “The Fall of the King” starred by Halit Ergenç, an actor very well known in all Latin America. So, we have three fresh titles, two library titles, and we are also introducing to the Latin American market our Amazon Prime title “Dilemma,” which is available as a first-run in the territory, and our Netflix series, “The Tailor” and “Another Self.” They will be available for TV rights very soon in Latin America.
And you were telling me that you are also focusing on co-production, that you want to increase that part.
Yes, we want to increase the remakes of our stories. As I mentioned we have four titles, and we have three other sets going on for Amazon Prime, Turkey, and for Netflix, a huge volume of production going on at the same time. So, of course, if the right moment comes with the right client, the right story, we're open to produce for other people, apart from our stories. But right now, our main focus is to produce our remakes in other territories, especially in Latin America, with strong partners.
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