Launched last May, tabii is the streaming platform of Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), with which it addresses the company’s digital purposes both nationally and internationally. The service debuted with Turkish content in English, Spanish, Urdu and Arabic, 30 new productions, nad more than 15,000 hours of content.
‘It was a logical move that we had on the agenda for a while. Although our catch-up platform is already a success in Turkey, we wanted to have an even greater expansion and offer content from our linear signal, from third parties and also exclusive originals,’ Elif Tatoğlu, director of brand & marketing at tabii, told Prensario at the recent edition of MIPCOM.
One of the differentials that tabii proposes is to offer content beyond the ‘common’ in Turkey, which covers other communities and social realities. ‘It was one of the things that motivated us. We believe that there is a language and content gap in Türkiye. Either they have foreign content or you have mainstream content. That is why we are adding content that represents those communities and those voices that do not usually have a presence in the current TV landscape’.
Now, almost 6 months after its launch, the service already has three million subscribers and they are already planning an international roll-out, so they are already preparing to add 5,000 hours of content before reaching its first year.
For this expansion, they plan several strategies, including alliances with telcos, TV manufacturers and service companies adjacent to TV, local OTTs, aggregation players, among others, which will serve as a link with their potential subscribers. ‘We are open to alliances with everyone. We do not see other services as competition, as we believe that we offer a very differentiating proposal that will protect the businesses of both parties’, highlights Tatoğlu.
The goal of the service is to add at least 15 original and exclusive tabii productions per year. The genres in focus will be documentaries, entertainment shows, feature films, while its fictions and dramas will still come from its linear subsidiary TRT.
In Turkey, the service operates under AVOD model, but they are studying and exploring new packaging and monetization options. ‘For now we are just starting and we want to start being known. We recognize that there is very strong competition that brings together an audience that is willing to pay. And in addition to this, we plan to reach emerging markets where consumers do not usually adopt new players, so we are testing how to reach and offer a differential. Maybe some package or an ad-supported, Premium subscription-based model’.
The executive was very emphatic regarding foreign services and tabii‘s commitment to empowering local creators and producers. ‘We are attending markets to meet with filmmakers, distributors and all Turkish audiovisual professionals who want to publicize their project. We want to promote it and give it the place it deserves in its country of origin and thus help its international reach and not have a foreign platform block its content exclusively for itself’.
Today, tabii is available in Turkey through its native application or website. For global audiences, it is only available through third parties such as YouTube and Roku, at a very affordable rate and in multiple languages. As for localization options are the Arabic, Spanish, English and Urdu, but they plan to add more languages as they continue their expansion, which initially targets countries in the MENA region.
Among the content that can be found on tabii are its originals that cover narratives from historical figures, superhero fights, and global disasters. Action content, dystopian dramas, animations, and youth entertainment. In addition to all seasons of TRT linear titles.
