Industry

Turning Red Mediaworks (TRM), a YouTube multi-channel network, has announced that it has secured multi-language YouTube distribution rights for the Turkish drama series Arafta. The company previously achieved strong international traction by launching another Turkish title, Kuma, across multiple language markets on the platform.

TRM currently manages the original Turkish-language Arafta YouTube channel, which has rapidly scaled under its supervision—surpassing 600 million views, 1.5 million subscribers, and 100 million watch hours within just four months of launch. Notably, a significant share of this audience originates from non-Turkish-speaking territories, reinforcing the strategic rationale for a multi-language rollout.
Building on this performance, TRM will dub Arafta into Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish, launching dedicated YouTube channels for each language. Additional language versions will be commissioned based on performance metrics from the initial rollout phase.

The deal reflects YouTube’s evolving position within the global media ecosystem. In 2025, the platform generated $62.3 billion in revenue—surpassing Disney’s media business, according to MoffettNathanson. Over the past four years, YouTube has paid more than $100 billion to creators and media companies. Nielsen data further indicates that YouTube has ranked as the leading media distributor by audience time for eleven consecutive months, with over half of its viewership now occurring on connected TV screens.

“YouTube is now larger than Disney in terms of revenue. For any content company with a catalogue, that’s impossible to ignore,” said Smita Agrawal, Founder and CEO of TRM. “We’ve spent years understanding how the platform works—particularly how its recommendation systems determine visibility. That expertise drove the success of Kuma, and it underpins our strategy for Arafta.”
TRM is adopting a phased approach to multi-language distribution. Rather than launching all dubbed versions simultaneously, the company rolls out content in stages, using performance data from each phase to inform subsequent language expansion.
“Many content owners recognise the global potential of their titles, but lack the expertise to effectively reach those audiences on YouTube,” Agrawal added.

Rinku Basu, Co-founder and COO of TRM, confirmed that production is currently underway for the first batch of dubbed versions.