aha is an Indian subscription video on-demand and

over-the-top An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

streaming service which offers Telugu and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language content. It is owned by Arha Media & Broadcasting Private Limited, a joint venture by

Geetha Arts Geetha Arts is an Indian film production and distribution company known for its works in Telugu cinema. It is established in 1972 by Allu Aravind. The company is based out of Hyderabad. It has produced around 60 films majority of them in Tel ...

and My Home Group. The service was soft launched on 25 January 2020 and launched officially on 25 March 2020, coinciding with Telugu New Year (Ugadi).

History

Allu Aravind Allu Aravind (born 10 January 1949) is an Indian film producer and distributor in Telugu cinema under his banner Geetha Arts. He co-owns the Indian Super League club ''Kerala Blasters FC''. A part of the Allu–Konidela family, Aravind is t ...

revealed that he was enamoured with the digital environment and developed a habit of binge-watching. Soon he came up with the idea of starting a

streaming platform An over-the-top media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of s ...

for hosting solely Telugu content. He then discussed the idea with his family, who encouraged him and which led to talks with

Rameswar Rao Jupally Jupally Rameswar Rao (born 16 September 1955) is an Indian businessman. He is the founder-chairman of My Home Group, a Hyderabad-based company with a presence in realty estate, cement, and power sectors. One of the brands of his company, Maha Ce ...

, who joined as a partner in the venture. Ajit Thakur heads the platform.

Market and expansion

After opting for a soft launch on 8 February 2020 an event named ''aha Preview'' was conducted where all the film makers who worked on ''aha Originals'' attended and presented their work. In November 2020, aha announced actor

Allu Arjun Allu Arjun (born 8 April 1982) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. One of the highest paid actors in India, Arjun is also known for his extraordinary dancing skills. He is a recipient of several awards, including six Filmfare Award ...

as its brand ambassador. The platform has acquired one million subscribers within a year of its launch, and by July 2021, it has over 1.5-million paid subscribers and 40-million-plus users, catering predominantly to the markets of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...

states. In August 2021, aha launched aha kids, a sub-brand focusing on children's programming. It is scheduled to launch on 10 September, coinciding with Vinayaka Chavithi. aha 2.0 was launched in November 2021 on a cloud-native platform from Firstlight Media. The

language version of Aha was launched in February 2022.

Original programming

The service began its operation by acquiring digital rights of films such as '' Arjun Suravaram,

Kaithi Kaithi (), also called Kayathi () or Kayasthi (), is a historical Brahmic script that was used widely in parts of Northern and Eastern India, primarily in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In particular, it was us ...

'' (Telugu dubbed version) and '' Choosi Choodangaane''.

Original shows and series

The original scripted content which debuted on the service during the soft launch was ''Kotha Poradu'', ''Shithappens '' and ''Geetha Subhramanyam 2020''. '' Masti's'' created by Krish debuted on 8 February 2020. For the first year, the scripted original content included 25 original shows. Talk show '' Sam Jam'' with Samantha Akkineni as its host premiered on aha on 13 November 2020. Aha has planning to offer over 50 original shows for the year 2021. Aha Talk show Unstoppable With NBK with

Nandamuri Balakrishna Nandamuri Balakrishna (born 10 June 1960), simply known as Balakrishna or Balayya or NBK, is an Indian actor, producer and politician. He appeared in more than 100 Telugu films over forty years in a variety of roles and established himself as ...

ranked 5th on IMDB among the top 10 reality shows.

Series List

Original Films

The following original films debuted on the service during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

; most films which had scheduled theatrical releases have been shifted to online release. Aha have acquired many films to be presented as aha original films.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aha, OTT Indian entertainment websites Subscription video on demand services Internet television streaming services Self-censorship Internet properties established in 2020