Mumbai: Picture the ever-evolving digital terrain of regional content, marked by innovation, unwavering dedication, and that ever-enticing element of unpredictability. aha, the acclaimed 100% regional entertainment platform, has set sail on an extraordinary voyage, redefining the conventions of the AVOD (Advertising Video on Demand) platform in a truly revolutionary manner.
Launched in 2020, aha is an Indian video-on-demand streaming service that provides 100% local entertainment. It started out with a 100% Telugu OTT and witnessed great success across the world with its extensive content slate that includes original programming of web series and movies, with a new release every Friday. Fulfilling its promise of 100% Local entertainment, aha has launched aha Tamil in 2022. aha is a joint venture by My Home Group and Allu Aravind (Geetha Arts).
Let's fast forward to the present, where aha has undergone a remarkable transformation, going from zero revenue to a staggering 50 crores in just two years, boldly defying conventional norms and expectations. This incredible journey extends far beyond the digital realm, venturing into on-ground IPs where aha breathes life into its captivating shows and births lucrative IPs. Notably, the uproarious comedy tours spanning six cities and sponsored movie screening events have struck a chord with audiences nationwide. With ambitions as vast as the horizon, aha is now setting its sights on new horizons by entering the realms of music, talent hunts, and film festivals, further enriching its array of offerings.
But this journey wouldn't be complete without acknowledging the importance of brand collaborations and sponsorships. High-profile annual deals, such as the ongoing partnership with Sprite under the captivating "screentime campaign," have redefined the digital landscape and expanded the horizons of last-mile consumer engagement and brand recognition. Prominent brands like Realme, choosing aha as their launch platform for new handsets, have notably driven increased sales. It's worth mentioning that Andhra Pradesh and Telangana now rank among the top contributors to Realme's market share.
Nitin Burman holds the position of Vice President - Head of Non-Subscription Business at Arha Media and Broadcasting Pvt Ltd (aha), a prominent OTT platform in India. He is responsible for overseeing strategy and business operations at aha, and he has been a valuable part of the team for almost 3 years. In his current role, NB is tasked with formulating strategies to drive revenue from all sources other than subscriptions. NB has successfully launched this vertical from ZERO and is now contributing to close to 30% of overall company’s revenue.
With an accomplished track record spanning more than 12 years across diverse sectors and geographies including Media & Entertainment, Telecom, and Banking, NB excels in steering business objectives through effective P&L management, creating new avenues for revenue and fostering high-performing teams.
Indiantelevisio.com in an email interaction with Nitin Burman – Vice President, Head – Non-Subscription Revenue, aha on their strategy to move to a hybrid platform, and achieving a tremendous growth and much more…
Edited excerpts
On aha's transition from a subscription model to a hybrid platform is a significant shift
The first big hurdle was to change the mindsets. Everyone internally was tuned to run this app ad-free, and we did that for a year successfully. After one year of operations, we started the Non-Subs revenue and within the first 8 months, we contributed significant revenue that resulted in rethinking the strategy of app operations. Every start-up wants to hit break even at the earliest and with Non-Subs contribution, we could now see that goal closer.
On achieving revenue growth from zero to 50 crores in just two years
We as a brand were completely unknown. We had a very clear vision of reaching out to all clients and agencies who are advertising in the AP&TG area and introducing them to the world of aha. We had set up our direct sales team in all major cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad & Chennai. The entire team from top to bottom had just one task covering maximum ground and ensuring that aha was established as the choice platform for all advertisers who want to advertise to Telugu audience.
On the rise of global streaming giants and aha positioning itself to cater to the preferences of regional audiences
We are very clear in our positioning. We want to be a one-stop entertainment digital platform for the Telugu audience and want to be present in every Telugu household. We have been working on that by having a very robust content lineup. We are not just releasing movies on our platform but are also releasing fiction series & daily episodic series. We have the strongest line-up of OTT-exclusive non-fiction shows and have also started live news on our platforms. We are targeting consumers who want high-quality standards by providing our content in 4k with Dolby audio and an ad-free experience through our gold plan and are also simultaneously reaching out to budget consumers by giving them access to our entire library with limited ads at entry-level price points.
On the insights into the challenges and opportunities in managing brand collaborations and sponsorships
We have our in-house creative team which takes the brand briefs from our sales team and writes integrations along with our content team to create seamless brand integrations. We have done integrations in our fiction shows, aha original movies and non-fiction shows. Apart from this, we have also now started creating white-label products like brand films and music videos based on brand requirements. We have created a rap music video for ITC Bingo with our Indian idol singers & roll ride. We created a Ganesha song for a retail brand – Tenali Double Horse. With Sprite we created a campaign – Sprite screentime where we wanted to establish Sprite as the go-to beverage while watching content on aha.
On the expansion into on-ground IPs and unique events and the long-term potential of these initiatives in terms of audience engagement and revenue generation
It serves 2 purposes for
It helps us to take the aha brand to the audiences and create much deeper engagement, and
It helps us to generate revenue and cut our existing marketing expenses as the brand helps to fund our on-ground IPs.
We rolled out this vertical 3 months back and launched aha comedy nights – a 6 city standup comedy tour where we started in Hyderabad with Zakir Khan and then took 2 Telugu comedians to 4 cities of AP & TG and will be ending the tour on 27th Oct with Atul Khatri. We have had a tremendous response in the first 5 cities and have engaged with close to 10k audiences. We have also done aha screen time where we screened our movies for the audiences in a cool evening outing avatar. Our upcoming events range from talent hunts to film festivals to music concerts.
On the AVOD model playing a significant role in aha's growth
We started AVOD inventory last year on mobile and web for Telugu. Now, we have added inventory on both Telugu and Tamil – mobile and web and CTV.
We are running AVOD at an average fill rate of 85%+ on both banner and video inventory for Non-Skip Ads.
We have seen CTRs of 3x times the industry average.
We have been able to operate at a particular CPM benchmark and have been able to maintain that as we have a limited inventory with the best engagements.
We are rated number 2 on comScore after YouTube and number 1 across all OTTs.
On the expansion in the south, any plans to come to the Hindi market
As of now no plans to be in the Hindi market. The regional markets in India are big and can be self-sustaining as in terms of audiences it is bigger than many European countries. We are now in 2 languages and are currently evaluating options for 3rd language.
On the vision of aha in the next 3 years
I would love to see aha as the biggest regional OTT across multiple regional languages and maybe expand to one of the foreign languages.
