Kurdish ads come alive
Güncelleme Tarihi:
ISTANBUL - The recently launched Kurdish language TV channel by the state broadcaster, TRT 6, also known as "TRT Şeş," has begun airing commercials in Kurdish.
One of the first commercials to be aired was for the daily Radikal with the motto "Language is needed to tell the truth and a heart is needed to understand it." The other commercial was for the movie "Umut."
The highest priced commercial slot on TRT 6 costs 18 - 26 Turkish liras per second. For TRT1, the flagship of the state broadcaster, the most expensive commercial slot sells at 225 liras per second. TRT usually offers agency discounts and an extra discount for advance payments.
As for the advertising sector, it is not hopeful about the ethnic market in the short term, as its members believe the foundation is not solid enough yet. Aytül Özkan, vice president of the Turkish Association of Advertising Agencies and country head at Ogilvy Türkiye, said ethno-marketing in the United States is rising rapidly, especially marketing aimed at the Hispanic community. "It would not be right to expect such a rapid rise in our country. I do not believe a stable base of that kind is formed here," he said.
Officials from agencies Pars McCann, Yorum Publicis and Rafineri also said there was no demand from their customers in that direction. Local agencies too, said it was hard to target commercials at a certain group at a time when the market is contracting. Mustafa Öncül, a partner at Öncül/Sefa Communication Services, said, "We will wait and see. The advertising market has fallen by 30 percent. Even if the market were fine, time is needed for Kurdish ads to form a market (of their own)."