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Exclusive
Interview with Nadav Palti
Chairman
of Mapal Communications, mother
company of Dori Media Group Ltd,
where he is President and CEO. Mapal
Communications is a leader group
in media and advertising in Israel,
through Dori Media Group.
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Israel
Willing to become
a great telenovela producer
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strategy is to create a net of telenovela
channels in suitable markets around the
world |
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Although
the first telenovela emitted in this
country was Los ricos también
lloran, the passion for the genre
came together with Argentinean productions
imported by Yair Dori.
Today, purchases have extended to all
Latin American countries, and they have
already started producing locally with
excellent results.
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ost Israeli viewers like
classic telenovelas, but there is an audience
that prefers stories that break paradigms such
as Betty la fea and Rodrigo Leal.
Older audiences choose Brazilian telenovelas
like Terra nostra and El clon,
which have been the most successful. Telenovelas
in Israel are not dubbed but subtitled, and
young viewers tend to choose them in Spanish
(Rebelde Way and Floricienta)
rather than telenovelas in Portuguese. Another
important detail is that they pick modern stories
compared to period ones.
Nadav Palti is Chairman of
Mapal Communications, mother
company of Dori Media Group Ltd,
where he is President and CEO. Mapal Communications
is a leader group in media and advertising
in Israel, through Dori Media Group is specifically
in charge of the marketing and positioning of
telenovelas and TV series coming from Latin
America. Besides, they commercially exploit
licenses, CDs, DVDs, live shows and Internet
and cellular phone applications. In an interview
with Only Telenovelas
Fiction & Formats, Palti
gave details about the reality of the telenovela
industry in this market.
How many channels specialize in telenovelas?
“In the country, there are two channels
that fully deal with that genre, Viva
and Viva Platina. Channel
3 also includes telenovelas in their
programming schedule, so together with Viva,
they are the most successful ones in the matter.
Besides, there are other channels such as Channel
2, Channel 1, Channel
10, Children’s Channel, Fox
Kids (Jetix) and Yes Plus.”
How many telenovelas are broadcasted
daily?
“At the moment, the number of teleno-velas
on screen reaches 17 in Israel. Since 1990 this
country has aired between 180 and 200 telenovelas,
most of them on Viva and Viva Platina, where
Antonella, Muñeca brava
and Betty la fea were very successful
among the older audience and Rebelde way,
Muñeca brava and Chiquititas
among the young and teenage people,” answered
the businessman.
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Telenovela
Inc., a locally-produced
telenovela that
conquered the audience. |
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Purchases
in Latin America
What do you think is the secret for
such high ratings of telenovelas in your country?
“I would like to evaluate the factors
that take productions to success with accuracy,
but in fact it is not possible. I think that
it is the combination of stars, scripts and
humor, plus that magic component that is so
difficult to explain or predict,” says
Palti.
It is said that Argentinean telenovelas
are the most successful ones in Israel. Is this
true?
“The first telenovela broadcasted in Israel
was the Mexican Los ricos también
lloran. Later on, Argentinean productions
invaded our screens, as Yair Dori imported them
from that country. But presently, and due to
the success that the genre has reached, we are
buying from Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Venezuela,
Colombia and Argentina. Nowadays, Argentinean
telenovelas are not a majority. Of course, there
is a special attitude towards Argentinean actors
and telenovelas, even more in the case of the
ones that we produce, like Rebelde way,
Floricienta or Padre Coraje.”
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Michaela
is one of the most successful
local productions in Israel, causing
an audience phenomenon.. |
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Local
production
Dori Media Group is the main local producer
of tele-novelas with more than 700 hours of
productions. Since their first one in the year
2000, they have made a total of eight telenovelas
and telecomedies: To touch happiness, The
game of life, Cheers to love, Michaela, Ugly
Esty, The court, Telenovelas Inc. and
Elvis.
At the moment, they are pre-producing a new
telenovela for Channel 3. It is important to
highlight that only two teleno-velas have been
produced by other companies: Love around
the corner and Our song. And it
is also worth pointing out that Dori Media Group
works towards selling Israeli productions in
the world markets. “Israeli telenovelas
or series have not reached the international
markets yet,” expresses Palti, “but
we are preparing them for that purpose and we
hope to sell them in the whole world.”
The executive makes it clear that the telenovela
industry in Israel is new and that each production
is an improvement of the previous one.
What have the results of ratings been?
“It depends on each channel. In Channel
2 –the most successful private channel–
our productions have had one of the highest
ratings in drama series on prime time. They
have reached 34 points. And on cable Channel
3, ratings have always been high in the slots
where they showed our series.”
Where do you get the stories from?
“Except for To touch happiness,
where the story was adapted from an Argentinean
telenovela, all of them are original and written
by local writers.”
What is your opinion on the current
business and the future of telenovelas?
“It is a growing market. Even today it
is a lot better than three years ago and I think
that if activities continue to improve in the
already existing markets, it will be possible
to enter markets that traditionally have not
been suitable for telenovelas. In a few years
almost all countries will regularly include
telenovelas in their schedules and there will
be more channels dedicated to telenovelas, like
Viva,” asserts convinced the businessman.
Besides, he assures that the development of
multi-channel platforms and their digitalization
make it possible to create a new channel niche,
and that telenovelas are especially suitable
for this. “Our strategy is to form a net
of telenovela channels in the appropriate
markets around the world,” concludes Palti.
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