Do You Know Tabii, TRT's Global Streaming Platform?
Why did TRT choose the D2C route.
Hey streamers 👋
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Today’s program
Today, I’m checking out for you Tabii: the global platform of TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) that launched a little bit more than 1 year ago.
The team behind Tabii
Content & platform overview
So what?
And… Action!
The team behind Tabii
Tabii is TRT's international digital platform launched in May 2023, offering access to its content worldwide.
Starting with its first radio broadcast in 1927, TRT now reaches across all continents in 41 languages and dialects, as Turkey's first and only public broadcaster, sharing the country's values, history, culture, strength, and voice with the world.
TRT's co-productions and films regularly win awards at major international film festivals. Productions like "Off the Grid: Ukrainian War Diaries" from TRT World have won key awards, including International Emmy Awards.
Here are the main media properties of TRT:
National Television
International Television
National Radio
International Radio
Local Radio
National Digital Publications
International Digital Publications
Printed Publications
Let’s now focus onTabii ↓
Content & platform overview
Tabii launched on May 2023 with one objective: “become the leader of Türkiye's digital streaming sector which projects a substantial increase in TV series exports”.
The service doesn’t start from scratch: Turkish productions have already captivated over 800 million viewers across 146 countries, including Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and America, with more than 150 TV series.
Users can access Tabii on mobile and smart TV Apps in 46 countries: Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Türkiye, United Kingdom.
I’m accessing Tabii from the United Arab Emirates, so I assume there are more countries available than the ones mentioned on Tabii’s FAQ.
Tabii is an Ad-Supported SVOD service, with 2 main packages:
“Basic” at 12.99 AED/month, including ads (129.99 AED/ Year).
“Premium” at 19.99 AED/month without ads, and the offline watching feature (199.99 AED/ Year).
Let’s now have a look at the content available: Tabii initially launched with 15.000 hours of content that will include new exclusive original series in different genres, licensed productions and popular TRT content from its extensive library. Today, the volume of content should be above 20,000 hours.
As you can see on the homepage, Tabii offers 4 main content sections: Series, Movies, Documentaries and Kids.
The content is a mix of On Demand movies and series, but also local and international TV channels from TRT:
Tabii started with more than 30 original, family-friendly and high-quality productions, exclusively produced for the streaming service:
The beloved Rumi which highlights the life of the scholar, poet and teacher
Free Sky shares the action-packed stories of the Turkish Air Force and fighter jets
TRT's popular production Little Archer: Iskender returns with its brand new adventures
Say No More with a dose of humour and an entertaining cast
The Last Day which brings together famous actors in the psychological thriller
Altay the first project of the new superhero universe.c
Finally, let’s focus on the platform.
Users can select from 5 main languages on the platform: English, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic, and Spanish. Most of the content is also available with multiple audio options and subtitles.
They can set the content age range, choosing from General Audience, 7+, 13+, 16+, and 18+ (No Restrictions).
Tabii features a Kids section, which is directly accessible from adult profiles. Additionally, users can also create a Kids profile (Çocuk). What I can see is that an account can't have more than 2 individual profiles.
Do you have more questions about Tabii? Reply to this email and let me know!
So what?
One question I’d like to address today: Why did TRT decide to go the direct-to-consumer (D2C) route?
As most of you know, almost all Hollywood studios launched their own services but didn’t achieve the same success. Take Disney, for instance, which decided to shut down its lucrative distribution business to launch Disney+.
Many would agree on one thing: switching from a distribution model to a pure D2C model is not easy and requires a lot of cash to reach the necessary scale to make it viable.
However, I still believe TRT made a good decision for several reasons:
Turkish content is a highly successful niche that already exports well globally.
Tabii will help TRT identify new countries with high demand for Turkish drama.
Tabii originals is a great way to attract subscribers to the platform.
TRT library is already full of successful movies and dramas.
TRT reached 5 million subscribers in just over a year. Not bad for an initial testing phase in selected countries ;)
What’s next for Tabii?
Here are a few things I think Tabii will focus on before the end of the year:
Expand to more countries and increase the international subscriber base.
Partner with more telecom companies, airlines, and others will be crucial for increasing reach.
Add sports to its content mix: live UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League matches are already available on Tabii in Turkey.
Sign with local advertising resellers to generate revenues in all countries. (I don't see any ads on Tabii UAE at the moment).
Do you see anything else?
Let's wrap up this article with a quick poll. I'm curious to know how many of you are already familiar with Tabii. I’ll share the results in my newsletter next Monday.
That’s all for today, a first overview of Tabii, the Ad-Supported SVOD platform of TRT. If you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues!
I hope everyone has a great week, see you online next Monday. Until then, enjoy Exploding Kittens on Netflix MENA: An eternal conflict reaches epic proportions when both God and the Devil are sent to Earth in the bodies of chunky house cats.
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