BURAK SAKAR
The 2023-2024 TV series season in Turkish television started on September 1st with the broadcast of the 16th season’s first episode of “Back Streets”. In the first three months of the season, in which 36 series, including 14 new ones, came to the screens, the performance of the productions continuing from the previous season drew attention.
In the first quarter of the season, “One Love” took the first place with an average rating of 9.17. The series, starting its second season with a rating of 7.17, quickly rose to 12 in a short period, following an increasing trend. “An Anatolian Tale”, which has been in the top race in the previous three seasons, continues to pursue the summit in its fourth season with an average rating of 8.50. “The Ottoman”, consistently in the top race for four seasons, maintains its third-place position with an average of 7.32, while last season’s leader, “Golden Boy”, is in fourth place with an average rating of 7.23.
The season did not start as ambitiously in terms of new series as in previous seasons. Usually, a new series that started in September or October would reach double-digit ratings by November. “Inocentes”, “The Red Room”, “The Great Seljuks: Guardian of Justice”, “A Woman Scorned” in the 2020-2021 season; “Family Secrets”, “The Great Seljuks Alparslan” in the 2021-2022 season; “Golden Boy”, “The Father” in the 2022-2023 season were examples of this. However, none of the 14 new series that started this season can exceed the 7 rating limit these days.
SALADIN: THE CONQUEROR OF JERUSALEM MADE THE HIGHEST DEBUT
Among the new series of the season, TRT 1’s new historical series “Saladin: The Conqueror Of Jerusalem” made the highest debut. Although the series set a season record with a rating of 7.36 in its first episode, it experienced consecutive declines in the second and third episodes. “Wild Heart”, which started the season with a rating of 3.58, quickly surpassed the 6 rating limit, becoming the top-ranking among the newly started series, thanks to its increasing trend. Another series from FOX TV, “The Brave”, started with a rating of 2.78 but approached the 6 rating limit in a short time with the increases it experienced, making it the closest follower to “Yabani”.
Some series that continued from last season gained momentum throughout the current season. The Star TV series “Ömer” started the season with a rating of 4.25 but entered an upward trend, reaching a rating of 6.69. Similarly, “Deception”, which started the season with a rating of 3.22, is currently reaching a rating of 5.75. Sunday’s two series continue their strong start to the season by increasing their momentum. The Kanal D series “Family Secrets” surpassed the 8 rating limit in its 72nd episode. Similarly, despite being in its 85th episode, the TRT 1 series “The Shadow Team” approached the 7 rating limit.
TV8’s competition program, “Masterchef”, achieved success in its first attempt at the All-Star format this season, reaching higher ratings than the previous season. Although this situation may affect the ratings of some series, the high ratings of shows like “One Love”, “An Anatolian Tale”, and “The Ottoman” indicate that “Masterchef” is not the biggest issue.
In particular, the fact that no new series exceeded the 7 rating threshold could be a sign of an important problem. However, it’s important to note that in considering the current season, no new series started in October. This will lead to a large number of new series meeting the audience in December and January. This will differentiate the second quarter of the season from previous seasons.
This content was published in the international edition of Episode Magazine for ATF 2023
