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 With every episode, another country falls in the web of appreciators of Brazilian audiovisual production. With growth of 70% in program hours exported in the last five years, Globo TV, the television channel with the largest number of spectators in Brazil, has much to commemorate on the foreign market.
Every year, the company exports around 24,000 hours of programs. Of course such volumes of hours are due to the sale of soap operas.
At the end of 2004, for example, products made by the television channel were aired in over 50 countries.
Globo's international story started in 1973, when the channel sold O Bem Amado (The Beloved One), a soap opera that showed the daily life in the interior of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia in a comic way, to Mexico and Uruguay. From that year to date, over 300 TV programs have been sold in over 130 countries.
The influence of Brazilian soap operas on the foreign market surprises those travelling through such places.
After living in Brazil for three years, and watching soap opera O Clone (The Clone), North American Karen Keller was surprised to discover that the translator she met during a trip through Yugoslavia had a copy of the soap opera soundtrack.
Globo soaps are transmitted regularly in countries like Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Albania and Honduras.
Among the soaps most sold by the company are: Terra Nostra (Our Land - exhibition rights sold in 84 countries), Escrava Isaura (Slave Isaura - exhibition rights sold to 79 countries), Laços de Família (Family Ties - sale to 66 countries), O Clone (The Clone) and Sinhá Moça (Miss - 62 countries).
Terra Nostra tells the story of Italian immigrants who arrived in Brazil to work on coffee plantations, Escrava Isaura is about an educated white slave, the victim of a cruel master, and Laços de Família shows the daily life of modern families in Rio de Janeiro, in southeastern Brazil.
In soap opera O Clone a family of Arabs is constantly travelling between Rio and Morocco while business, love stories and cloning take place in the background.
Sinhá Moça, like Escrava Isaura, is one of the oldest soap operas and shows a forbidden romance during the period of slavery.
Globo Worldwide
Globo was created on April 26, 1965, and reaches 5.441 Brazilian cities, via 11 broadcasting stations, with a total of around 178 million spectators. Ever since the 1970's, the channel has led in all time slots.
Some curious factors also involve Globo productions on the foreign market. In Cuba, the government cancelled the electric energy rationing so that people could watch Escrava Isaura.
In Portugal, during the transmission of Roque Santeiro, various children were baptized Porcina, the name of one of the main characters in the soap opera, played by actress Regina Duarte. Before that, the name had never been used in that region.
The North Americans were also inspired on soap operas by the channel and, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal in January 2002, there was an increase in the number of children baptized Jade when O Clone, a soap opera in which one of the main characters went by that name, was exhibited in the country.
In Romania, the soap opera was so successful that, having originally been scheduled for airing on Saturdays and Sundays, it was transferred to all days of the week.
On Arab Screens
Losing only to the growth in sales of company programs to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia are markets with great potential for Globo programs.
The Marketing and Sales manager of the International Business division of the television station, Helena Bernardi, stated that the rhythm of sales by Globo to the region accompanies the growth of Brazilian exports to the Middle East.
The company currently trades its products to around 100 countries. In the catalogue made available to clients, the department has soap operas, mini-series, series and specials, a category that includes, for example, the Carnaval samba school parades in Rio de Janeiro.
The company started operating in the Middle East in the 1980's, but there is no registration of what the first buyer was and what was the product exhibited.
Soap opera Terra Nostra is currently being exhibited in Lebanon. Outside the Arab world, but within the Middle East, soap operas Mulheres Apaixonadas (Women in Love) and Esperança (Hope) are being exhibited in Israel, and Laços de Família in Turkey.
Soap Operas
Terra Nostra was aired in Brazil between 1999 and 2000. The program was written by Benedito Ruy Barbosa and the great highlight in the production was actress Ana Paula Arósio, who interpreted young Italian immigrant Giulianna.
The program tells the story of events and mishaps in the life of the young woman, in Brazil, with the also Italian Matteo, played by actor Thiago Lacerda, at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Production O Clone, written recently by Glória Perez, which brings a large number of Arab and Muslim characters, was included in the programming of television channels from various countries in the region, among them Morocco, where part of the filming took place. Globo commemorates the success of the story in the region.
In Brazil, the soap opera was aired between 2001 and 2002 and told the story of a man and his clone, who was twenty years younger than him. The story also includes love and different customs living together.
The story aroused great interest in Brazil. The influence was so great that scenes from the soap were used to show and describe Muslim and Arab customs in the Arab culture course at the University of São Paulo (USP).
Coincidence or not, among the national productions sold to the region, Esperança, Terra Nostra and O Clone included strong presence of migratory groups.
When mixing love stories and past and present conflicts, the formula has shown itself competent in generating interest in foreign spectators.
The largest market for the channel is Portugal, followed by Latin America. Programs produced by Globo are transmitted in Portugal almost simultaneously.
ANBA – Brazil-Arab News Agency
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