Saner Ayar

Saner Ayar isn’t just another name in the Turkish media scene—this guy basically helped shape it. Kicked things off in his twenties, hustling his way through the radio world and setting up over 30 stations back in the wild ’90s, which is nuts. Didn’t just stop there, though. He jumped into TV and ended up running Show TV, turning it into this powerhouse channel everyone in Turkey was glued to. Not satisfied with just one success, he brought CNBC and NatGeo to Turkish screens too, and then took over as Show TV’s general manager. Now, the shows he pushed forward? Absolute game-changers. Stuff like The Valley of Wolves (Kurtlar Vadisi), Ezel, Deal or No Deal? (Var misin? Yok musun?), and Magnificent Century (Muhtesem Yüzyil)—people still talk about those. Mid-2010s roll around, and he’s off to the production side, teaming up with MBC Group to launch O3 Media. Over eight years, he cranked out eight films and a wild 26 shows, which ran up a staggering 1,200+ hours of content. That’s not nothing. O3 Medya, under his watch, even made the debut shows for both Netflix and Disney+ in Turkey. Saner’s got this knack for balancing sharp, sensitive storytelling with the kind of commercial punch that actually gets audiences tuning in. Honestly, if you’re into Turkish TV, you’ve definitely felt his influence—whether you realize it or not.