Telugu OTT Aha now also streaming Tamil content; plans to expand into Malayalam titles

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Starting with only Telugu-language content in 2020, streaming platform Aha has now expanded into Tamil titles with a plan to launch a mix of 52 originals, films, series, reality shows, among others in the next 12 months.

With 50 percent originals in the Tamil content slate, Aha will be investing more than what the platform spent on bringing Telugu content on the platform, as the market for Tamil-language content is more competitive, said the over the top (OTT) platform's top official.

The platform's Tamil content slate includes director Vetrimaaran’s Pettakaalai along with originals such as Bhamakalaapam featuring Priyamani, Ammuchi 2, Ramany vs Ramany 3. Aha will also offer theatrical films including Selfie featuring GV Prakash Kumar and Gautam Menon, Sardaar featuring Karthi, Venkat Prabhu’s Manmadha Leelai starring Ashok Selvan, among others.

"The internet connection in Tamil Nadu is the highest in the country so base (of subscriber) is huge. We are touching 2 million organic subscribers without bundling and 10 million monthly active users. We should see same level of growth in Tamil as Telugu. Our base should double in a year's time after the launch of Tamil content," Ajit Thakur, CEO, Aha, told Moneycontrol.

The platform, which so far was mainly catering to the viewers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, got on board one million subscribers in a year of its launch and currently has 1.8 million paid users.

In addition to Telugu and Tamil content, Thakur said that the platform is planning to expand into Malayalam-language content in the next six months.

According to an EY-FICCI 2022 report, OTT platforms that are targeting national reach will require to focus on at least eight to nine languages, and each language will require at least eight to ten pieces of content across film and series every year.

Most large streaming platforms have adopted a strategy of eight languages including Hindi, four southern languages, Bengali, Marathi, English). Also, the share of regional languages is expected to increase to 54 percent of total content produced as regional OTTs flourish and scale on the back of dubbing and subtitling. And this could also lead to increased costs for regional content production.

Last year, 47 percent of OTT originals and 69 percent of films released on OTT platforms were not in Hindi. OTT players note that while the majority of viewership is in the top seven Indian languages including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, content consumption is inching up in 18 other languages such as Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese, among others.