{"id":252314,"date":"2026-08-17T08:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T08:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/252314\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T08:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T08:11:09","slug":"behind-israels-tv-success-producers-warn-of-a-growing-industry-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/252314\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Israel\u2019s TV success, producers warn of a growing industry crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

But industry insiders warn that appearances can be deceiving, and that behind the scenes, Israeli television is struggling in ways not yet apparent to audiences but which may hurt the industry in a few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn industry being healthy and viewers being happy are not the same thing. I wouldn\u2019t say the industry is healthy. It\u2019s extremely challenged,\u201d said Danna Stern, one of Israel\u2019s leading television producers.<\/p>\n

Stern was managing director at Yes Studios when it created Fauda and other series that were distributed or remade internationally, including On the Spectrum and Your Honor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now an independent producer, Stern recently completed the documentary Noga, about a challenging period personally and professionally in singer Noga Erez\u2019s<\/a> life. It premiered this year at the Tribeca Festival and will be shown in Israel on Yes later this year.<\/p>\n

Stern and others in the industry said that while it may be a wonderful time to be a television viewer in Israel, there are clouds on the horizon both at home, where government policies threaten to reduce public and regulatory support for local production, and abroad, where some television producers and streaming giants have become reluctant to partner with Israeli creators.<\/p>\n

Stern noted: \u201cEveryone I speak to is reporting that commissioning is down by roughly 30 to 40%. The reason viewers don\u2019t feel it yet is that we\u2019re still watching shows that entered development four or five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meni Aviram, a producer whose credits include Bloody Murray, echoed this, saying, \u201cThe industry here is contracting,\u201d although both placed it in the context of a broader international trend.<\/p>\n

Internationally, streaming services<\/a> and television networks have cut commissioning as they seek profitability and rely more heavily on established franchises and in-house productions.<\/p>\n

From the viewer\u2019s perspective, however, Israeli television has rarely seemed more vibrant.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe popular \u2018Checkout\u2019 series stars (l-r) Yaniv Swissa, Keren Mor, and Daniel Styopin. (credit: KAN 11)Hits keep coming<\/p>\n

Fauda, the iconic Yes series about an Israeli counter-terrorism unit, has reached Netflix\u2019s Top 10 in many countries, and the Netflix premiere date for its fifth season will be announced soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This season, which has already aired in Israel on Yes, focuses on the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas, and includes harrowing episodes that depict the attack.<\/p>\n

The third season of Tehran, which follows a Mossad agent\u2019s mission to derail the Iranian nuclear program, aired on KAN 11 in Israel and on Apple TV internationally.<\/p>\n

The series, which won an International Emmy for Best Drama, has acquired renewed relevance amid Israel\u2019s continuing confrontation with Iran.<\/p>\n

Checkout <\/a>(Kupa Rashit), a wildly popular comedy on KAN about a quirky staff and customers of a small-town supermarket, is also available on Netflix. It was recently spun off into a feature film, a sign of the strength of its fan base.<\/p>\n

Despite mounting anti-Israel sentiment and cultural-boycott pressure abroad, several recent Israeli series have found international homes:<\/p>\n

Bad Boy, a Hot drama about a troubled teenager who becomes a stand-up comedian while incarcerated in a juvenile detention center, was released internationally on Netflix last year.<\/p>\n

Unconditional, a psychological thriller about a mother who discovers that her daughter may have been involved in international espionage, aired in Israel on Keshet and was released internationally on Apple TV in 2026.<\/p>\n

Many quintessentially Israeli series have been domestic hits over the last few years. These include KAN\u2019s Finders Keepers, a black comedy about adult siblings coping when their father dies and leaves most of his fortune to a sex worker, and Hooligans, a gritty drama about the violent world of soccer super-fans.<\/p>\n

Keshet has created several new series, such as Save the Date, a rom-com about a young woman who suddenly finds herself courted by four very different men, and Nutuk, a crime drama with supernatural themes about a Druze boy.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Bad\u2018Bad Boy\u2019 tells the story of an incarcerated teen (Guy Manster) who becomes a stand-up comic. (credit: Courtesy of HOT, Next TV, SIPUR, and Tedy Productions)<\/p>\n

Yes has released many successful new series, including Bloody Murray, a comedy about the misadventures of two female friends; The German, a thriller about a kibbutznik and Holocaust survivor who is tapped to help track down Josef Mengele; and Brewing Trouble, about a father and son who try to settle a debt by selling potent homemade arak.<\/p>\n

The variety and creativity on display in these series and many others is dazzling, and they have connected with Israeli audiences.<\/p>\n

While gauging audiences is increasingly complex in an era of broadcast, catch-up, and digital viewing, these series have collectively generated millions of episode views across multiple platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say that about 70% of all the Israeli shows are better than just about everything from abroad available across all the platforms. Israeli creators know how to do a lot with very few resources. And Israeli audiences respond to that,\u201d said Aviram.<\/p>\n

Behind the success<\/p>\n

While many of these shows might once have been acquired by international streaming platforms or remade abroad, Aviram stressed that a healthy domestic industry remains important.<\/p>\n

The success of these series, he noted, means that large numbers of actors, directors, and crew members can make a living through their television work.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if a series isn\u2019t exported, everybody wins when it is produced and becomes a hit here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The contraction is likely to have especially serious consequences for publicly funded KAN, one of the country\u2019s most active commissioners of original drama and comedy.<\/p>\n

\"RotemRotem Sela (left) and Naomi Levov play very different friends in \u2018Bloody Murray.\u2019 (credit: Courtesy of Yes Studios\/Credit: Ohad Romano)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that production costs have risen dramatically. Inflation has increased costs across the board, new labor agreements have raised production expenses, and KAN\u2019s budget hasn\u2019t kept pace. So even though KAN continues investing heavily in drama, every production now costs much more,\u201d Stern said.<\/p>\n

The broader regulatory system is also changing.<\/p>\n

The major commercial broadcasters have been required to invest 15% of their qualifying income in high-quality Israeli drama, documentary, and special programming, while HOT and Yes have generally been required to devote at least 8% of subscription income to local productions.<\/p>\n

KAN has a separate legal obligation to invest NIS 210 million annually, indexed to inflation.<\/p>\n

A new broadcasting law passed in July is intended to replace the old system with a phased framework under which major content providers would ultimately face a 6.5% local-production obligation, although important provisions remain subject to transitional arrangements and legal challenges.<\/p>\n

An uncertain future<\/p>\n

But perhaps the greatest danger to KAN comes from the current government\u2019s repeated efforts to weaken, privatize, or close the public broadcaster.<\/p>\n

The July 2026 broadcasting law would also shift roughly NIS 50 million in regulatory and transmission costs onto KAN, though those provisions face legal challenges.<\/p>\n

Budget reductions or prolonged uncertainty could leave KAN able to commission fewer series, while the programs it does commission could face lower budgets, shorter shooting schedules, or reduced production scope.<\/p>\n

Commercial channels might absorb a handful of highly marketable projects originally commissioned for KAN, but many less obviously commercial projects could struggle to find another home.<\/p>\n

Stern and Aviram said they hoped that, if the October 27 election leads to a change of government, the next coalition would recommit to KAN\u2019s independence and funding.<\/p>\n

Several other producers expressed the same hope but requested anonymity because they feared professional repercussions for criticizing government media policy.<\/p>\n

Until then, decisions about commissioning and developing new shows are being made under a cloud of political and financial uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are amazing creators and very strong producers here. The concern is that there may be fewer opportunities for them to bring those ideas to the screen. When the market contracts, what you\u2019re really contracting is creativity,\u201d said Stern.\u25a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But industry insiders warn that appearances can be deceiving, and that behind the scenes, Israeli television is struggling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2492,10238,37,29388,69851,69852,11162,12623,3740],"class_list":["post-252314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism","tag-fauda","tag-israel","tag-israel-boycott","tag-israeli-actors","tag-israeli-actress","tag-israeli-tv","tag-jerusalem-report","tag-kan"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117109842670908376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}