Turkish series’ Urdu YouTube channel tops 10M followers

By Seda Sevencan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish television series Resurrection: Ertugrul has passed 10 million subscribers on its Urdu YouTube channel, the TRT World news channel’s director of digital strategy and content said Monday.

“We've passed 10 million subscribers on our Urdu Ertugrul channel on @YouTube - Thanks to all the fans around the world and to everyone who has contributed to the success. We're just getting started,” Riyaad Minty said on Twitter.

Ertugrul has around 15 million subscribers globally across all languages, with over 3 billion views, Minty noted.

TRT is working with state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) to translate and dub the series and make it available to the Urdu-speaking audience in Pakistan and abroad for free.

​​​​​​​TRT is focused on ensuring that the dubbed version of the series is uploaded on YouTube so that the show can be viewed internationally by Urdu-speaking audiences around the world.

PTV dubbed the series in Urdu after Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Turkey last year and was informed about the importance of the series.

On April 25, coinciding with the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, PTV aired the first episode of the popular Turkish TV series, which highlights the history of Muslims during the 13th century.

Shortly after the 45-minute long first episode was broadcast, #ErtugrulUrduPTV was trending with viewers welcoming the series as they shared some scenes from the first episode on social media.

Often described as the Turkish Game of Thrones, the series is woven around 13th century Anatolia and tells the story prior to the establishment of the Ottoman Empire. It illustrates the struggle of Ertugrul Gazi, father of the empire's founder.

Other Turkish TV series have also become hugely popular in Pakistan.

Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia agreed in September 2019 to fight the rising global trend of Islamophobia, mainly in the West.

The trio of nations decided to launch a television channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and to produce films on Muslim heroes.