Turkey

Economy & income

Currency

• Turkish lira (TRY, ₺)
• ~47.0 ₺ per USD (Jul 14, 2026; lira down ~17% YoY)

GDP per capita

• ~$18,200 nominal (2025, IMF WEO Oct 2025)
• ~$43,800 PPP (2025, IMF WEO)

Average salary

• ~$1,070 net/mo (Numbeo, Jul 2026, ₺50,246)
• self-reported avg skews high — ~46.7% of wage-earners actually cluster at/around the minimum wage (DISK, 2025)

Median salary

• ~$620-660/mo (est. ~₺30,000-33,000 net) — no clean 2025 official median
• DISK (2025) finds ~46.7% of employees earn at/around the minimum wage, so median sits just above it

Minimum wage

• ₺28,075 net/mo & ₺33,030 gross from Jan 1, 2026 (+27% YoY) → ~$600 net at Jul 2026 rate (~$655 at Jan-2026 set date)
• single national rate, exempt from income & stamp tax

Cost of living

• Low-Medium — Numbeo: ~40.6% cheaper than Germany
• single person ~₺31,164/mo excl. rent (~$663, Jul 2026)
• chronic ~30-35% inflation steadily erodes lira purchasing power

Digital landscape

Population

87.6 million (Jan 2025, DataReportal; TÜİK ~86.1M end-2025)

Internet users

88.3% (~77.3 million users; TÜİK ICT survey 2025 puts household internet use at 90.9%)

Social media users

66.7% (~58.5 million identities; 85.5% of adults 18+)

Mobile connections

80.7 million cellular connections = 92.1% of population

Devices

mobile ~72.3% / desktop ~27.2% / tablet ~0.4% (StatCounter, Jun 2026)

Ad spend

• Total media & ad investments ₺253.6bn in 2024 (IAB TR/Deloitte, Apr 2025)
• digital ₺158.0bn = 74.2% of total (up from ₺86.5bn in 2023), ~79% on mobile, social ~47% of digital, influencer/content ₺6.75bn
• Statista forecasts total ad market ~$3.11B (2025)
• Europe's fastest-growing digital ad market for 4+ years

Top social platforms

Instagram ~58.5M ad reach, 66.7% — #1 by reach

YouTube ~57.5M, 65.7%

TikTok ~40.2M aged 18+, 61.6% of adults

Facebook ~34.8M, 39.7%

X/Twitter ~19.7M, 22.5%

LinkedIn ~19.0M, 21.7%

Snapchat ~15.7M, 18.0%

Messengers

• WhatsApp (dominant everyday app — 88.6% use, TurkStat 2025)
• Telegram (widely used, strong for news/betting channels)
• BiP (Turkcell's local app, ~53M global users)
• Facebook Messenger (~13.4M)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Credit/debit cards (~65% of online payments; credit ~47%) — installments 'taksit' (3-12 mo) drive a huge share
• Cash on delivery 'kapıda ödeme' (~15-20% of orders)
• Bank transfer / EFT & FAST (~11-14%)
• Local e-wallets (Papara, Paycell, Tosla, BKM Express, Trendyol Cüzdan)
• BNPL / merchant installments (taksit is culturally central)

E-wallets

• Papara (leading domestic wallet)
• Paycell (Turkcell)
• BKM Express (interbank)
• Tosla (Akbank)
• Trendyol Cüzdan / Trendyol Pay
• PayTR Wallet

Cash on delivery

Moderate-high — cash-on-delivery (kapıda ödeme) still ~15-20% of e-commerce orders, though prepaid card/installment share is rising

E-commerce

• High and fast-growing
• retail e-commerce ~₺4.57 trillion in 2025
• Trendyol dominates with ~40-45% value share

Notes

• Card-heavy market where interest-free installments (taksit) are the norm and a key conversion lever
• Trendyol operates a closed-loop super-app (Trendyol Pay/Cüzdan, Go, Express)
• 2024 data rules opened the wallet market to international providers

Audience & culture

Languages

• Turkish (official; near-universal)
• Kurdish (Kurmanji/Zazaki — Kurds ~19% of population, mainly the southeast)
• Arabic (southeast & Syrian-refugee communities)
• English (business & urban youth; limited overall)

Religion

• ~95-99% Muslim (Pew 2025: 95% self-identify Muslim) — Sunni ~85-90%, Alevi/Shia up to ~10%
• small Christian & Jewish minorities (<0.2%)
• constitutionally secular state

Median age

~34.4-34.9 years (TÜİK, 2024-2025)

Key seasons

• Ramadan & Ramazan Bayramı / Eid al-Fitr (moving dates — evening iftar consumption, food & charity)
• Kurban Bayramı / Eid al-Adha (moving dates — travel & spending)
• Yılbaşı / New Year (Dec 31 — main gift-giving & shopping)
• Efsane Cuma / Black Friday & 11.11 (e-commerce peaks)
• Republic Day (29 Oct) & national holidays
• Back-to-school (Sep) and summer holidays (Jul-Aug)
• Sevgililer Günü / Valentine's (14 Feb)

Cultural notes

• Mobile-first and highly price-sensitive due to persistent inflation
• interest-free installments (taksit) are decisive in purchase decisions
• football-obsessed (Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş) which drives betting demand
• strong national pride and Islamic values across an urban-secular to conservative spectrum
• heavy social commerce via Instagram/TikTok and Trendyol
• Ramadan shifts activity to late evenings

Where to find creators

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• X/Twitter

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Burak Özdemir (CZN Burak) ~51M Instagram / ~18M YouTube

Instagram/YouTubesmiling giant-portion Turkish cooking; global food/FMCG & restaurant brand relevance

E

Enes Batur ~18M YouTube

YouTubegaming/entertainment & films; top youth/gaming reach

O

Orkun Işıtmak ~12M YouTube

YouTubeentertainment, challenges & vlogs; broad youth/FMCG appeal

Ruhi Çenet ~9M YouTube

YouTubescience, exploration & documentary; premium, brand-safe content

Reynmen (Yusuf Aktaş) ~5.5M YouTube / ~4M Instagram

YouTube/Instagrammusic & lifestyle vlogs; fashion/streetwear crossover

D

Danla Bilic ~7.8M Instagram / ~2M YouTube

Instagram/YouTubebeauty, makeup & lifestyle; strong female audience for cosmetics/FMCG

B

Barış Özcan ~3M YouTube

YouTubedesign, tech & ideas; premium/tech brand tie-ins

Celebrities

Nusret Gökçe (Salt Bae) ~50.5M Instagram

celebrity chef & Nusr-Et steakhouse founder; global 'Salt Bae' meme

Hande Erçel ~32M Instagram

actress & model — top Turkish 'dizi' (TV drama) star

Burak Özçivit ~24.7M Instagram

actor & model — leading dizi star (Kuruluş: Osman)

Arda Güler ~18M Instagram

footballer — Real Madrid & Turkey national team

Demet Özdemir ~17M Instagram

actress & dancer — popular dizi star

Hadise ~13.9M Instagram

pop singer & TV personality (Eurovision 2009)

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• iGaming & sports betting (grey — huge demand despite state monopoly)
• Nutra (weight-loss, beauty, potency — COD)
• E-commerce / COD physical goods
• Finance (loans, cards, crypto trading)
• Dating (grey — apps intermittently blocked)
• Mobile apps & games

Active networks

• Trendyol & Hepsiburada affiliate programs (Gelir Ortaklığı)
• Admitad
• Reklamstore
• Mostbet / 1xBet Partners (grey iGaming)
• Dr.Cash / LeadBit (nutra & finance COD)
• RichAds / PropellerAds (traffic + offers)

Payouts

• iGaming CPA ~$25-80 per FTD (grey)
• nutra COD ~$8-18 per approved order
• finance/loan CPL ~$2-8
• dating CPL ~$1-3
• e-commerce CPS on % basis — deals often pegged to USD to hedge lira risk

Competition

• Moderate-high — a large 87M mobile-first market with cheap CPMs vs Tier-1, but lira volatility and ~30-35% inflation complicate USD payouts and pricing
• grey verticals (betting, dating) are heavily targeted despite BTK blocking

Seasonality

Peaks around Ramadan/Bayram, Yılbaşı (New Year), Efsane Cuma/Black Friday & 11.11, and the football season (Süper Lig/Champions League) for betting

Traffic sources

• Facebook / Instagram Ads
• TikTok Ads & creator collabs
• Google (Search, UAC, YouTube)
• Push & popunder (RichAds/PropellerAds)
• Telegram channels
• Influencer & dizi (TV-drama) tie-ins

Good to know

Capital

Ankara

Major cities

• Istanbul
• Ankara
• Izmir
• Bursa
• Antalya
• Adana
• Konya
• Gaziantep

Time zones

• Single zone — Türkiye Time (TRT), UTC+3 year-round
• no daylight saving since Sept 2016 (permanent summer time)

Android vs iOS

76% 24%

Android 76% iOS 24%

Phone brands

• Apple (~24%)
• Samsung (~7%)
• Xiaomi (~6%)
• Oppo (~1%)
• Google (~1%)

Top e-commerce

• Trendyol (~40-45%)
• Hepsiburada (~16%)
• n11 (~10-12%)
• Amazon Türkiye
• Çiçeksepeti
• Pazarama
• Getir
• Migros Sanal Market

Peak activity

Evenings ~20:00-24:00 local (UTC+3) are strongest; lunch 12:00-14:00 secondary; during Ramadan activity shifts to the late post-iftar hours

Creative taboos

• Politics & criticism of the President/government (insult laws — legally risky), the Kurdish issue/PKK, Armenian genocide, mocking Atatürk (illegal under Law 5816), religion-vs-secularism tensions, LGBTQ themes (socially conservative — avoid)
• alcohol/tobacco ad-banned

Also worth knowing

• Large, young, mobile-first market (~87M) and Europe's fastest-growing digital ad sector — but chronic lira depreciation & ~30-35% inflation make USD payouts and local pricing volatile (peg deals to USD)
• Installment culture (taksit) and Trendyol's super-app ecosystem dominate commerce; COD is still meaningful at ~15-20% of orders
• Betting/gambling and many dating apps are officially banned/blocked (state monopoly IDDAA & Milli Piyango), yet grey-market affiliate demand is enormous — enforcement is tightening hard in 2025-2026