Streaming service Aha to deploy Rs 1,000 Cr investment over 3 years

Streaming platform Aha is planning to spend Rs 1,000 crore over the next three years to introduce Malayalam and Kannada content, and expand into gaming and news.

The Hyderabad-based platform has already raised about 50% of the Rs 1,000 crore investment target from promoters. The firm is open to external investors as well.

"Aha came in and catered to a gap in the OTT (over-the-top) space by offering 100% local content. Three years later, we are successful in Telugu, we are growing fast in Tamil, and I believe the time has come for us to grow further into more languages," Allu Aravind, Promoter at Aha, said at an event held in Mumbai.

Launched in February 2020 by Arha Media and Broadcasting—a joint venture between My Home Group and Aravind's Geetha Arts—Aha is a streaming platform operating in the Telugu content space. So far, the platform has produced about 50 shows and movies.

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"Within our current markets, we have a lot more to offer beyond films and original series. We are committed to making aha a super app for our local audiences, and over the next three years we will offer gaming, news, K-dramas, short form, interactive content, and a host of other features on our platform," CEO Ajit Thakur said.

While expanding more languages, Aha would also focus on producing movies in collaboration with local studios. "We have already announced about four films to be produced by us," he added.

The streaming platform has also set up Aha Studios, its motion pictures division, which is going to produce a bi-lingual biopic with Applause Entertainment on the life of PV Narasimha Rao, India's former prime minister.

Ajit noted the development comes at a time when acquiring content made by other studios has become more expensive.

Aha has also entered the hyper-casual gaming space with about 20 games. "Going forward we could create games, which would be in local languages and have local characters," said Ajit.