ATV Distribution built at Mipcom, where it presented the titles A Little Sunshine and The Father, an excellent precedent for the reunion with Latin American buyers at MipCancun 2022.

A fantastic Mipcom Cannes 2022, where ATV Distribution was on the spotlight thanks to the event in which it presented its new titles, The Father (Ben Bu Cihana Siğmazam) and A Little Sunshine (Bir Küçük Gün Işığı), seeded the fruits that the Turkish distributor hopes to reap during MipCancun.

“This time Mipcom was very active for us,” said Emre Görentaş, Sales Director for Latin America and MENA for ATV Distribution. “We organized an event and brought actors and actresses from our two new series. Mipcom was like it was before the pandemic; a very busy market and we are very happy to see that everything is back to normal.”

With the presence of Seray Kaya and Berk Oktay, stars of A Little Sunshine, and Oktay Kaynarca, Pelin Akil and Ebru Özkan, main actors and actresses of The Father, ATV’s event was at highlight at Cannes, and the executive anticipates that it will translate into great results for last months of the current year, with multiple agreements in the horizon, several of which are waiting to be finalized in Cancun.

How was the event held in Cannes with the presence of talents, directors and producers of your new titles?
We had a great event. The talent met the clients and our friends. We had already held other events at Mipcom, with the talent of Hercai and The Ottoman, with very good comments and felt their impact on sales. When the client sees the talents and meets them, he connects even more with the series. It is very good promotion, although it is difficult to take the actors and actresses to Cannes, because in Turkey we film our series for almost five or six days a week. Bringing talent to Cannes, even for two days, is very complicated.

How are The Father and A Little Sunshine doing on the local screen?
These two titles are doing very well. We broadcast A Little Sunshine on Monday nights and The Father on Tuesday nights, during prime time. Both series are ratings’ leaders of their days. The ratings in Turkey are between 5 or 6 points, but The Father, from the very first episode, reached 8,2 points of ratings. It was the best premiere of the last ten years. It became a phenomenon from the debut.

To what do you attribute this?
The main things about The Father are the story, the production quality and the cast. Before The Father we had another successful title, Grand Family, which was our number one series on Tuesday nights during the six years it was on the screen. In The Father we have the same actor [Oktay Kaynarca]. People are used to seeing him on Tuesday nights. And since the quality of the production and the stories are very good, we got these results.

All this has led to sales already completed, such as the one closed with Mediaset. What do you expect from titles in Latin America?
I can’t announce anything at the moment, but we already have some offers from Latin America for these two titles. And I think that during MipCancún we will close some agreements for very important countries like Chile and the US. There is great interest from the entire region.

After these years of pandemic and the new territories that Turkish content has conquered. What role does Latin America play in your business?
Latin America continues to be a very active market for us. This year, For My Family has been traveling to almost every country in Latin America, but only Chile and Peru have aired the series. Soon it will start in other countries. We are very active in Latin America and our series are doing very well and in each country we have a series on the air.

What happens with the Hispanic USA as a destination for your series?
US Hispanic demand has increased a lot, but the problem is that there are only two big buyers, Telemundo and TelevisaUnivision. We are also working with small networks and platforms, but when it comes to Free TV we only have two options. The demand for them is increasing, we are closing more deals, but their slot is limited: they can have two Turkish series at the same time, so we only have four slots in total between the two channels. It’s very good for us, but we hope to have more vacancies in the US Hispanics.

What can you tell us about the success of For My Family?
Having a series of more than two seasons in Turkey is very hard because of the level of competition. With For My Family we are in the third season at the moment. It is working very well locally and also in the international market. In Latin America, it is on the air in Chile and has just ended in Peru’s Latina. In both performed very well. The title is doing very well in the Middle East. We also just closed some other deals in Latin America; I can’t announce them yet, but I can say that it has been licensed to more than 15 countries in the region and will start airing in the big countries very soon.

What do you expect from MipCancun?
Usually at Mipcom we don’t have as many meetings for Latin America, but this year we had a very busy agenda, with many Latin American buyers. At MipCancún we hope to have very productive meetings as well. In Cancun we can reach small buyers who, due to budget, cannot travel to Mipcom or Natpe. For all this, MipCancun is one of the most important markets for us.