Elif, the daily drama series from Turkish producer Green Yapim has now scored 22 international sales. Broadcasters in Mexico, Paraguay, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Pakistan and Honduras are the latest to snap up the must-have daily.
The most successful show ever on Turkey’s Kanal 7, the series first found international fame in 2015 when it dominated news headlines in Indonesia with record-breaking ratings that made huge stars of the Turkish cast. A local remake was later commissioned. In the Balkans and later Baltic states the series has proven hugely popular, and its latest success has come in Latin America. Since debuting in August 2016 on Caracol in Colombia, the series has enjoyed a 30% share of the viewing public, while Chilean state broadcaster TVN reports an increase in rating from 4% up to 11% during broadcasts of the family drama. In Peru, Latina have already ordered seasons 2 and 3 having also seen impressive ratings during the first season.
“Elif is a remarkable story and its success shows no signs of slowing down. Our clients are constantly telling me how thrilled they are with the series, generating ratings and share regularly 2 or 3 times their averages,” says Handan Özkubat, Head of international distributor Eccho Rights’ Istanbul Office. “It is a lower budget series but this has no effect on the quality of the story telling, which hits home with audiences in every territory it has aired.”
In Turkey, Elif celebrated its 500th episode on Monday, with Eccho Rights estimating a total of 650 commercial hours available by the end of the current run this summer. Elif tells the story of a young girl who is sent away to live on a farm by her mother. Elif’s father owns the farm, but neither father nor daughter knows that they are related. As time goes by, tensions rise and Elif finds herself in the middle of a family power struggle.