Telugu OTT platform Aha reaches 1 mn direct paid subs within a year of launch
Buoyed by its success in the Telugu market, the platform is planning to venture into the Tamil market this year
Arha Media & Broadcasting-owned Telugu SVOD platform Aha has crossed 1 million paid subscribers within one year of operations. What is significant is that these are direct subscribers as the platform doesn’t have a distribution with any telecom operator. Buoyed by the success in the Telugu market, it is planning to venture into the Tamil market this year.
The proposition will be the same that is offering customised local content. Having made its debut on 8th February 2020, aha was launched with the proposition of offering original Telugu content every week. However, the platform’s content strategy got derailed due to the pandemic. In 2021, aha will offer original content including web series and movies every week. It plans to launch 30 original shows and 22 movie premieres.
Speaking about the one-year journey, Aha CEO Ajit Thakur said that the pandemic has been a blessing as well as a challenge for OTT platforms. “The pandemic both helped and harmed. It helped as people were at home and spent more time watching entertainment content but it harmed as we couldn't create content as production had stopped and there were lots of limitations in marketing in terms of which medium to choose and we were just starting out,” Thakur noted.
He added that the promoters didn’t expect the numbers that Aha has achieved so far. The platform has 55 million streaming users and 25 million unique users.
“As of 8th February, we have crossed 1 million paid subscribers and these are direct subscribers and don't include any partnerships. 70% of the subscribers have taken annual subscriptions and 30% have opted for quarterly subscriptions. Our original plan was less than 5 lakh subscribers but we have exceeded that number with 1.5 months still left. We are adding 10-15% every month on the base of both users as well as subscribers,” he revealed.
Aha has two subscription plans – Rs 199 for three months and Rs 365 for a year. According to Thakur, people are willing to pay for content as long as they see value in it. “With the right proposition and well-directed content, local markets are willing to pay for the content provided the frequency of content is high.”
On Tamil market launch, he said, “We will launch in Tamil sometime this year and we will grow language by language. We are also exploring other languages as well.” Thakur also stated that the platform has consciously reached out to internet users outside the metro cities. “We have gone to Tier-2 and 3 cities apart from Hyderabad and Vizag. We are going to anyone who has an internet connection or smartphone or a smart TV. We ensure that our distribution is aggressive and we back that up with local content and local positioning.”
Being a cinema crazy market, films have been a key part of Aha’s content strategy. It has so far acquired 250 films. Recently, it acquired Ravi Teja starrer Krack.
“We are looking at scaling up our film acquisition agenda also but we are back to originals. We will end the year with 30 original series and at least 22 films. Most of the movies are exclusive and sometimes we premiere them even before theatres,” he stated.
Aha will continue to focus on offering a clutter-free experience by being ad-free. Apart from subscription, it is looking at other revenue streams like branded content and syndication. “We will not go AVOD, at least, not in the near future. We are open to the TVOD model in the future,” he asserted. After India, the US is the biggest market for Aha followed by Australia, Canada, and the UK. Aha launched simultaneously in 90+ markets.
