Aha hits 1 million direct paid subscribers within a year of launch
Aha, the Telugu OTT platform owned by Arha Media & Broadcasting, has recorded 1 million paid subscribers within a year. In 2021, Aha will offer original content, including web series and movies every week. It now plans to launch 30 original shows and 22 movie premieres. Talking about the journey so far, Aha CEO Ajit Thakur said: “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. 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.”
Referring to the figures, he said: “As of 8th February, we have crossed 1 million paid subscribers and these are direct subscribers and don’t include any partnerships. Over 70% of our 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.” Aha has reached out to internet users outside the metro cities as well, he added: “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.”
WICCI PR & Digital Marketing Council together launches ‘HearHer Advisory Service’
To help support the professional development needs of women in the domain of communication, WICCI PR & Digital Marketing Council has joined hands together and launched ‘HearHer Advisory Service’ for women. ‘HearHer Advisory Service’ has been conceptualised to allow women in communications access expert advice to better navigate their career and tackle workplace issues such as sexual harassment. Talking about the programme, Kavita Lakhani, Executive Director, Lintas Live, and National President, WICCI Public Relations and Digital Marketing Council, said, “Through the ‘HearHer Advisory Service’ initiative, we wanted to create a safe place for women to share their aspirations and concerns, and access an unbiased opinion on matters related to their career growth. Online counselling offers an unusual level of privacy, accessibility, and convenience. The ‘HearHer Advisory Service’ is an important step towards our Council’s objective of helping women thrive in their careers.” The ‘HearHer Advisory Service’ will use the collective experience of 20 senior leaders of the council to guide women across disciplines. Women facing mid-career challenges, workplace issues, women wanting to return to the workforce after a break, those struggling to strike a work-life balance, or simply requiring an opinion on their career progression, could write in to the team at the WICCI Council on hearher.commscouncil@wicci.in.
Will Jin is MD, Cheil South West Asia
Cheil Worldwide, a global marketing and advertising agency, has hired Will Jin as its new Managing Director for Cheil South West Asia. In fact, Jin is no stranger to the agency. He joined Cheil Worldwide in 1993 as General Manager and went on to serve Cheil Latin America for six years. He has also served as the head of the Cheil Worldwide Office in Athens and later helped establish the Cheil Worldwide Office in Italy. His earlier stints include Samsung Group, Samsung Electronics, Beiersdorf, General Motors Korea, and Hankook Tire among others. On taking up the new role, Jin said, “South West Asia is a very important market with great potential to be the Global Hub for Cheil Worldwide. I see phenomenal progress here in the last few years. The pandemic has only made Cheil SWA more innovative and digitally advanced. The team here is extremely capable and proactive. I am very excited to be here and looking forward to my journey in India.”
Snapchat crosses 60 million Indian users
Snapchat, an American multimedia messaging app, has crossed the 60-million mark user base in India, according to Snap Inc Managing Director (International Markets) Nana Murugesan. The company aims to build on its growth across product development, partnerships, and the augmented reality side. Globally, Snapchat had 265 million daily active users in the December 2020 quarter with over 5 billion ‘snaps’ being created daily on an average by users on the platform. Speaking about the growth, Murugesan said: “2020 was a really strong year for us and we are thrilled with the momentum we’re seeing. We reached more than 60 million users in India in Q4 20, with strengthening growth throughout the year, and see our community engaging across all parts of Snapchat — from chatting to Discover content, using our Camera and getting creative with Lens Studio.” He further added: “We see this evolution accelerating. For example, our community played with Diwali-themed Lenses more than 500 million times. This year, we’re excited to keep on building on the variety of experiences available on Snapchat for people in India. From exclusive content to games, product development, partnerships, and of course AR, we have lots in store.”
