Did Sevdan Bir Ateş really break records with its first episode? What do the ratings and social media numbers say?

15 September 2026 — In a report published on 13 September, Show TV announced that the first episode of Sevdan Bir Ateş was "racing to records on social media" and gave three figures: more than 50 million total views, 41.9 million Instagram reach and more than 822,000 content interactions. According to the report, the hashtag #SevdanBirAteş and the names of Özge Özacar and Murat Ünalmış stayed on the trending list through the night of 9 September. The source of these figures is the account analytics of the channel and the producer CNP Film; reach and interaction counts cannot be verified from outside, and the X trending list cannot be checked retrospectively. This page therefore did two things: it reported the channel's figures as stated and with their source, and it measured the verifiable numbers itself.

What did the ratings say?

According to Habertürk, citing TİAK data, the first episode broadcast on Wednesday evening 9 September scored a 3.54 rating and an 11.94 percent share in the Total category, 2.85 and 9.82 percent in 20+ABC1, and 2.24 and 8.59 percent in AB, making it "the most-watched series of the night". In Ensonhaber's overall ranking from the same data the series was second; first place went to the Sporting Lisbon–Galatasaray Champions League match. Aşk ve Taht, which premiered on atv the same night, ranked sixth. The Elazığ press called the result "the first record of the season"; what was measured is a one-night ranking, and there is no season-long comparison yet.

What do the social media numbers measure?

"Total views" is a sum across several platforms, and which content was counted has not been disclosed. Instagram reach is an analytic visible only to the account owner; it cannot be measured from outside. The same goes for interactions. The only verifiable channel is YouTube. The full episode on the official "Sevdan Bir Ateş" channel was uploaded on 9 September; TGRT Haber wrote on 10 September that it "passed 1 million in 13 hours", and the production's official account, as relayed by Elazığ Online, announced that it had "reached 10,000,000 views". This page read the same video directly at 17:45 on 15 September: 11,847,144 views. At the same time the clip "1. Bölüm Finali | Ayrılık" on the CNP Film channel stood at 78,724 views and "Yıllar Sonra İlk Kez" at 17,332. So at least a fifth of the channel's 50 million total comes from a single YouTube video; the rest must be spread across Instagram, TikTok and X, but this page does not write a number it has not seen.

What is the series about, and who is in it?

According to Show TV's synopsis, the wedding of Mirza (Murat Ünalmış) and Leyla (Özge Özacar) is left unfinished when Leyla disappears hours before the ceremony; nothing is heard from her for seven years. On the day Mirza is to marry Destan, his seven-month-old nephew Kerem is abducted, he travels to Aleppo and there finds Leyla held by Nasim. The first episode closes with a reunion at a train station years later and the song "Ayrılık"; the music features the voices of Selda Bağcan and Zara. This site's cast record lists, alongside Mirza Kozaklı and Leyla Kızılırmak, Hüma (Beyza Karabacak), Mihre Kozaklı (Gökçe Eyüboğlu) and Miray Kozaklı (Hande Canpolat); the Elazığ press also names Sitare Akbaş. The story runs from Aleppo to Cappadocia, where filming took place.

Who made it?

The production is by CNP Film; according to TGRT Haber and the Elazığ press the producers are Mehmet Canpolat and Sadi Canpolat, both from Elazığ. The director is Murat Saraçoğlu and the writers are Eda Tezcan and Selda Akın. The series airs on Show TV in the Wednesday 20:00 slot, where atv's Aşk ve Taht launched the same night, making these two the season's first head-to-head Wednesday rivalry. This site opened its Sevdan Bir Ateş page two days before the premiere, on 7 September; the Arabic page runs under the title used by the Arab press ("حبك نار"), and since there is no official English distribution title yet, the English page carries the Turkish name.

What did viewers say?

The social media comments relayed by Show TV and TGRT Haber focus on cinematography and production quality: "film quality", "very beautiful shots", "a candidate for the best series of the year". Özge Özacar's performance was the leading theme; TGRT wrote that she "put her name on the night". According to Mynet, Özacar's black wedding dress in the first promo had already made headlines weeks before the premiere, and the second-episode trailer, in Mynet's words, "was flooded with comments". These are selected comments, not a representative measurement; no source gives any data on the share of negative comments.

A record, or a premiere effect?

In Turkish television, first episodes can post the year's highest ratings and then fall in the following weeks; the promotional campaign, curiosity and the state of the competition that night inflate the first number. On Sevdan Bir Ateş's first night the strongest rival was a Champions League match, and the series still finished first among dramas, which adds to the value of the number. But the word "record" requires a comparison, and the channel did not say which previous value was surpassed. The real indicator will be the ratio of the second episode's Total and AB ratings on 16 September to the first; a drop of less than 20 percent counts as retention in Turkish series. This site's episode list shows episodes 2 and 3 on 16 and 23 September.

Known and unknown

As of 15 September 2026, known: according to TİAK the first episode was the most-watched series of the night (Total 3.54 / 11.94 percent), second overall behind the match; the full episode on YouTube has 11.85 million views (this page's measurement); the channel reports 50 million total views, 41.9 million Instagram reach and 822,000 interactions. Unknown: the platform breakdown and counting method behind the social media total, what the "record" is compared with, the second episode's rating, and the channel's target for the season. This page relies only on public sources and its own YouTube measurement, and will be updated when the second episode's rating is published on 17 September.