Turkey
A landscape dominated by Turkish media conglomerates
Public broadcasting started in the late 1920s in Turkey and was seen as a means for the government to promote modernisation and nationalism in the young Republic. The government created the current public broadcaster, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) in 1964, with the objective of expanding radio facilities and developing public television.
Following the emergence of a number of private broadcasters operating without legal mandates, TRT’s monopoly was broken in 1993, with the constitution being amended to allow broadcasting of private radio and television. During this particularly chaotic period, the government established the regulatory body the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) with a mandate to grant licences, allocate channel and frequency bands, licence the construction and operation of telecommunications facilities, monitor broadcasters’ compliance with regard to national and international legislation and apply appropriate sanctions in the case of any breach.
TRT currently operates four national radio stations – Radyo 1, TRT FM (formerly Radyo 2), Radyo 3 and Radyo 4, alongside eight regional stations –Trabzon Radio (Black Sea region), Erzurum Radio (eastern Anatolia region), GAP Diyarbakir Radio (southeastern Anatolia region), Çukurova Radio (Mersin) and Antalya Radio (Mediterranean region), and the local TRT Hatay FM (Hatay Province). In 2009, TNT launched Radyo 6, broadcasting for Kurds in Turkey. TRT also broadcasts TRT Nagme (Turkish classical music), TRT Türkü (Turkish folk music) and Voice of Turkey internationally in 26 languages. Public broadcasting is financed by taxation (“banderols”, TV set registration fees), government funding and advertising, with Reksan Reklam amongst the organisations handling media sales and some sales carried out by TRT stations themselves.
The private sector has proliferated since the early 1990s, and by June 2009 Turkey boasted 1090 radio enterprises, including 36 national, 102 regional and 952 local channels. The law limiting foreign ownership to a maximum 25 percent ownership of Turkish organisations has long stifled foreign interest in the country, and a few large Turkish media conglomerates therefore dominate the market.
Doğan Holding, in which Germany’s Axel Springer holds a stake, operates the stations Radyo D, Slow Türk, CNN Türk and Radyo Moda. Doğuş Group operates the leading station Kral FM (with over 15% audience share), Virgin Radio, Radio N101, Radio Eksen, Billboard Radio and the newly-launched Radio Voyage. Other important players on the market include Cine Muzic (Show Radyo, Radyo Viva), TurkMedya (Alem FM, the sports station Lig Radyo), Vakko-Power Group (Power Turk, Power FM) and Saran Holding (Tatlises FM). It should be noted that Cine Muzic has now passed into government control for financial reasons. One foreign entrant to Turkey was Canada’s CanWest Global Communications Corp., which acquired stakes in the leading stations Super FM, Metro FM, Joy Turk and Joy FM in 2005/2006. However, following financial difficulties, CanWest exited the Turkish radio market in 2009, selling its assets to the Turkish group Spectrum Medya for a reported $65 million. Media sales are handled in-house by each of these organisations, however it should be noted that sales are negotiated in Turkey by a number of agencies, and that the nature of sales houses differs from other European countries.
In April 2010, after four years of preparation, a draft bill reforming media legislation started its passage through parliament. Drafted in line with the provisions of the European AVMS Directive (to which Turkey is not bound), the goals of the bill include increasing competition among media institutions as well as allowing greater foreign investment by raising the foreign media ownership ceiling to 50 percent, with 25 percent ownership allowed in second and third companies (previously foreign ownership of any shares in more than one media organisation was prohibited). The bill faces criticism from opposition parties who accuse the government of trying to increase their control over the media, a charge the government denies.
Listening stable, a growing advertising market
Radio listening, measured by in Turkey has remained quite stable since 2006, and this is the case also for young listeners. Listening is benefitting from the increasing importance of Internet streamed radio, however it should be noted that digital radio has yet to make any significant progress in the market. Turkey is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of satellite communication, with four satellites now in service, and there are two operators of satellite radio platforms.
Over recent years the advertising industry in Turkey had been developing rapidly, with a young, increasingly well-educated and consumption-oriented population driving increasing advertising volumes. The market experienced double-digit growth between 2001/2002 and 2008, thanks largely to strong growth in the Internet and TV sectors, and had reached €1.8 billion in net investment in 2007 according to the Turkish Advertising Association (RDV, www.rd.org.tr). Major international brands have been increasing their presence in the market in recent years, including P&G, Danone and Frito Lay, however national brands such as the food producer Ulker are still performing strongly. Turkish content, themes and celebrities seem to be particularly successful in the implementation of campaigns. Radio has consistently attracted a little less than 3.5% of total advertising investments over the past few years.
The economic downturn of 2008/2009 saw a drop of roughly 15% in advertising spend for all media, however the RDV in March 2010 predicted that the year would see 15% growth to return to 2007 levels. Turkey is expected to feature strong growth in coming years along with the so-called BRICS countries (Brasil, Russia, India and China) and other emerging markets.
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