Turkish TV in 2024: Top Series, Ratings, and Trends

The year 2024 in Turkish TV came to an end with a lot of ups and downs, featuring a total of 60 series. Two shows broke records by achieving double-digit rating averages. Let’s take a chronological look back at the year…

The year 2024 started off quietly on television with a series of finales, but things quickly turned around in the last week of January when Secret of Pearls (İnci Taneleri) made its debut with a 10.74 rating, making it the highest opening in the past five years. The series didn’t stop there, its ratings climbed by over two points in just two episodes, reaching 13.02, one of the highest ratings of the year. In the second week of February, Blooming Lady (Bahar) premiered and achieved the highest average ratings of the last five years on Turkish TV. While its first episode had an average opening, the second episode recorded a remarkable five-point jump. Impressively, Blooming Lady claimed 9 out of the Top 10 most-watched episodes of 2024.  Although the series saw a decline in its second season during the second half of the year, its exceptional performance in the first half secured its position at the top. Meanwhile, Red Roses (Kızıl Goncalar), which premiered in late 2023 but had its third episode delayed to 2024 due to an RTÜK penalty, ended the year in fourth place with an average rating of 8.88.

Read our previous article: First Look at the 2024/2025 Season on Turkish Television

In the month of September, The Good & The Bad (Deha), which brought together the lead actor, screenwriter, and producer of the beloved series The Pit (Çukur), made a strong debut. Its ratings increased by nearly two points in its second episode, reaching an 8.0 rating. It became the show with the strongest opening of the second half of the year and finished in sixth place with an average rating of 6.98. Another notable September release was Leyla (Leyla: Hayat… Aşk… Adalet…), which achieved an average rating of 5.67.

In November, one of the biggest successes of the past three seasons, Far Away (Uzak Şehir), premiered. An adaptation of the Lebanese series Al Hayba, it had an average opening but experienced a sharp rise of over 5 points within three episodes, surpassing the 10-rating mark by its fourth episode. Despite airing only 8 episodes in 2024, Far Away secured 4 out of the 5 highest ratings of the year in the Total category.

The year 2024 was marked not only by new series but also by the strong performances of renewed shows from previous years. Show TV’s One Love (Kızılcık Şerbeti) which began in 2022, built on its outstanding performance from last year and ended 2024 in second place with an impressive 10.32 average rating. TRT 1’s An Anatolian Tale (Gönül Dağı), which premiered during the pandemic in 2020, continued its success by airing 39 episodes (the most episodes of any series in 2024!) and securing a spot in the Top 5 with a 7.65 average rating. Another TRT 1 series, The Shadow Team (Teşkilat) also launched in 2020, saw a boost in ratings during the second half of the year following a lead role change, finishing ninth with an average rating of 6.23.

September saw the highest number of debuts on Turkish TV, with 8 shows premiering, followed by February with 7 and January with 6 Typically, 8–9 new series air during the summer, but due to the European Championship and its impact on ad revenues, no new series were produced. May, being the end of the season, had the most series finales, with 8 shows ending, followed by January with 7.

In 2024, a total of 60 series aired, with 36 new premieres and 38 finales marking a year of highs and lows. Out of those that ended, 15 lasted fewer than 10 episodes. Senden Önce (3 episodes) and Love in Pieces (Yaban Çiçekleri) (3 episodes) were the shortest-lived series of the year.

HIGHEST AVERAGE RATINGS OF THE YEAR

HIGHEST SINGLE EPISODE RATINGS OF THE YEAR

HIGHEST DEBUTS OF THE YEAR

MOST-WATCHED SERIES (BY CHANNELS)

*This article was written by Burak Sakar for Episode Magazine.