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A Turkish prime-time television drama, "Ayni Yagmur Altinda" (Under the Same Rain), a newly launched series broadcast on the national channel ATV, has suffered a sharp decline in ratings after a controversial dinner scene involving pork sparked widespread online backlash.
The series, which features some of Türkiye’s best-known television actors, drew attention last week when a storyline showed pork being served to a conservative Muslim. A controversy that quickly carried over into viewing figures.
The debate centered on a dinner sequence in the show’s second episode, in which the character Tulin, played by Mine Cayiroglu, serves a dish described as “Roasted pork with carottes” to a Muslim family.
Because pork consumption is religiously prohibited in Islam, the scene sparked criticism across social media platforms.
Viewers reportedly described the moment as “provocative” and “detached from reality,” arguing that it created unnecessary polarization. As online reactions grew, attention turned to whether the backlash would translate into measurable audience losses.
The answer came with the broadcast of the third episode.
According to the released data, the series’s rating dropped to 1.7, representing a 35% weekly decline following the controversial scene. Audience figures show a steady downward trend across its first three episodes.
The premiere episode attracted about 2.5 million viewers, while the second episode drew 2.1 million. After the disputed dinner storyline aired, the third episode was watched by only 1.3 million viewers, marking the show’s lowest performance so far.
The series reportedly ranked last among programs in all three categories on its latest broadcast day.
Following the sharp ratings decline, channel management moved quickly to adjust the broadcast strategy.
The drama had originally aired on Monday evenings but struggled to compete against rival programs in the same time slot.
An official announcement confirmed that starting from its fourth episode, "Ayni Yagmur Altinda" will shift to Sunday nights in an effort to regain momentum and reach a wider audience.
The production, starring well-known Turkish actors Hulya Avsar, Deniz Ugur, Levent Ulgen and Fikret Kuskan, now faces a critical period as it attempts to recover from the audience losses that followed the controversy.
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