Competition between Latin American and Turkish distributors in Africa is heating up as both look to capitalise on the popularity of telenovelas. Nico Franks reports.

It could be a storyline taken straight from a telenovela: a passionate romance thrown into question when a new love interest comes on to the scene. But to what extent should Latin American distributors feel threatened by the influx of rival Turkish drama into Africa?

Latin American firms have certainly been making hay while the sun shines over the past decade or so, benefiting from a relatively immature local production scene compared with other parts of the world. 2015 saw the launch of a flurry of pay TV channels dedicated to the genre, deriving their content primarily from the distribution arms of Lat Am networks.

But according to Russell Southwood, CEO of Balancing Act, a UK-based consultancy specialising in African TV, the difference in price point between series from Latin America and Turkey could hinder sales of the latter’s drama. “Telenovelas are a compelling format but don’t necessarily have high production values, whereas with Turkish drama you can see where the money went. But that also makes them more expensive,” says Southwood.

“Turkish series are going for a higher price than Latin dramas, maybe two or three times higher,” adds José Escalante, CEO of Miami-based independent distributor Latin Media Corp (LMC), who also believes this could be a barrier to entry for Turkish distributors, “as it has been for them in Latin America.”

LMC has a diverse slate of telenovelas from around the world, including South Korea and Turkey, and Escalante recently sold his first Turkish drama, Little Bride, to an African broadcaster, although he declines to name it.

There is also the cost of dubbing telenovelas into languages such as French and English to consider, as this often has to be shouldered by the distributor. It means Escalante considers a sale into Africa as more of a long-term investment than a quick buck.

Meanwhile, some broadcasters in Africa have developed a reputation for being unable, or unwilling, to pay substantial amounts for foreign programming. But things are changing, says Southwood.

“Over the past two years discussions with buyers have always started with money in the low hundreds of dollars [per episode]. That doesn’t sound like much of an improvement but actually it is, because it means broadcasters are beginning to make allocations for buying certain kinds of programming,” he says.

Fredrik af Malmborg, MD of Swedish distributor Eccho Rights, acknowledges that although fees may be relatively “modest,” they are growing. The company has sold its globetrotting Turkish drama Ezel to Cool TV in Nigeria, Bukedde TV in Uganda and Viasat in Tanzania, while Cherry Season has been picked up by Fox for its channels in Mozambique.

Malmborg is intrigued by the prospect of channels dedicated to Turkish drama launching in Africa and believes that for many Turkish distributors it would be “easy to take that step” if their catalogues continue to grow.

Turkish broadcaster and distributor Kanal D has one of the biggest libraries in the country and made its first deal in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015. Pay TV platform Star Times aired Turkish dramas Love and Secrets on its Star Novela E and Star Series E channels in primetime with English dubbing.

Certainly, the entry of Turkish dramas into the African market hasn’t gone unnoticed by companies that recently set up telenovela channels in Africa. Mexican network TV Azteca and Miami-based Cisneros Media Distribution (CMD) partnered with digital distributor AfricaXP to launch a novela network targeting English-speakers in Africa in 2015. Romanza+Africa offers more than 3,000 hours of classic and contemporary titles from CMD and Azteca’s libraries in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa through AfricaXP’s digital distribution platforms run in partnership with local pay TV providers such as Zuku, StarTimes and MultiChoice.

“There’s talk in the market that Turkish novelas are set to make an impact,” says Craig Kelly, founder and CEO of AfricaXP. “My perspective is that it’s a little overblown. The Turks are pricing their novelas way, way more than the Latin ones. I don’t think there’s any justifiable reason for them to do so.”

Kelly says he sees no sign of African audiences’ passion for telenovelas abating and that more platforms offering the genre are “launching all the time” as the shift to digital terrestrial television takes hold.

“The number of broadcasters wanting telenovelas is growing, but Africa has a structural challenge in that the size of the whole continent’s economy is smaller than the UK’s,” says Kelly. But the exec sees promise in going OTT. “There’s sufficient bandwidth and penetration of smartphones in the market for people to use an IPTV or VoD platform on a mobile device.”

Kelly adds that the company is “actively developing” another novela channel that would air first-run titles sourced from around the world, including Turkey. “There are Malaysian novelas, Indian melodramas, Filipino telenovelas and dramas from Kazakhstan that all look interesting. But the price has to be right,” Kelly warns. “No one country’s product is going to get away with charging three times more than anyone else.

“Telenovelas have usurped local content in key markets but I don’t see that being the case forever. There is value in having African relevance.” Kelly points to series such as Direct Flight, which airs on OnTV in Nigeria and is produced in Angola and Portugal.

This is factoring into AfricaXP’s plans for original content in the future. “Instead of just dubbing shows, we want to work with Cisneros on scripts and bring them to Africa to remake within a different context,” says Kelly.

Other channel operators with a presence in Africa are also open to diversifying the drama on their telenovela-themed networks.

AMC Networks International launched Eva, a 24-hour channel targeting viewers in Sub-Saharan Africa with Latin telenovelas, in March 2015. The net airs series such as Amor Secreto and Somos Familia that it has itself dubbed into English and Portuguese.

“We don’t have a specific content partner; we’re buying across the Latin American region and the content is new to the territory,” explains Louise Cottrell, VP of affiliate sales for Africa at AMC Networks International. “Our priority has been to get fresh titles with strong storytelling and high production values.

“We don’t currently foresee the need for Turkish telenovelas on Eva, but we wouldn’t exclude other novelas from our line-up if the audience or our partner in the territory demanded it.”

Meanwhile, others are considering going all the way and launching networks to cater for the growing demand for Turkish drama in Africa. Canal+ Group-owned Thema operates Nollywood TV, Gospel Music TV and Novelas TV in French-speaking Africa, with the latter net airing a mix of classic and contemporary telenovelas acquired from distributors such as Telemundo, Televisa and TV Azteca.

Clémentine Tugendhat, senior VP of content at Thema, says that although “nothing is signed,” the company is considering adding a new channel focusing on Turkish content to its roster in 2017.

“Turkish dramas are more conservative than telenovelas. They’re very well produced, the scenarios are really good and they appeal to women. If you have TV series where the hero of the story is always a woman then, of course, you’re going to attract women,” says Tugendhat.

If Thema decides not to push forward with a new telenovela channel, Tugendhat says she is open to putting Turkish series side by side with Latin hits such as Terre De Passion.

“People are always looking for new kinds of dramas and you can always have both, either on the same channel or two different platforms. Of course, the number of viewers doesn’t increase with the number of channels. But as long as the channels are edited by us, then it’s not an issue,” says Tugendhat.

Clearly, African TV audiences’ passion for telenovelas shows no sign of cooling off. However, the possibility of Latin American companies seeing their relationship with Africa become a ménage à trois involving their Turkish rivals promises a fascinating plot twist.