Dori Media Group, international content distributor, has signed a contract with RTL Hungary, and Wirtualna Polska for the broadcasting rights to NTV Russia's hit series Shepherd (aka The Dog). In Poland the series launched on Telewizja WP, free digital television channel.

Nadav Palti, CEO & President of Dori Media Group commented: “Shepherd was a tremendous hit in Russia and we expect its success to repeat across multiple territories given the format’s flexibility and appeal as a crime drama that has multiple strands running through its plot. We are pleased that two new territories have committed to its broadcast and we anticipate more to come as the show grows in popularity and as broadcasters look to fill increasingly interrupted schedules due to the impact of Covid-19”.

Timur Weinstein, NTV channel General Producer: “We have worked together with Dori Media for several years now, and I'm happy that the international distribution of our super successful prime-time series Shepherd is handled by them of all others. For 4 seasons now Shepherd has simply thrashed content on other channels, to the extent that nobody risks to pitting any expensive primetime premiere product against it. Moreover, Shepherd achieves great ratings not only for the first time on air but also in reruns. I think that the series’ success lies in a solid script, detailed character types, and in genre combination, making a crime story family friendly. And, of course, the language of man and dog communication is easy to understand in any country’s audience. Season 5 is in production now and will go on air soon”.

Dori Media Group acquired the international broadcasting and digital rights for action-packed crime series Shepherd in Spring 2019. This is the second deal between the two companies. In 2017 Dori Media Group took up the distribution of NTV's large-scale period drama The Road to Calvary. Since then, the series had a successful run on ERT3 in Greece, and was made available on Netflix. Now the series is set to air in Thailand.

'Shepherd' is the most popular series in Russia. This fact is confirmed not only by the series ratings but also by a survey held by VCIOM, the largest polling company in Russia. While on air the series became an absolute hit topping the prime-time slot many times with maximum share reaching 20.5%. On NTV’s YouTube channel and official site Shepherd gained almost 330 million views.

The series aired successfully on KTK channel in Kazakhstan with its share reaching 17.8%.