India’s Telugu-language OTT platform aha and leading cloud transformations of OTT and in-home experiences for Pay-TV, Telcos, and MVPD’s Firstlight media has launched a first-to-market “glocal” strategy that harnesses a 100% cloud-based infrastructure to deliver localized services in discrete markets, all powered by a single, common backend.

Running on Google Cloud, the award-winning Firstlight Media technology allows aha to create local storefronts using local languages and local currency, accelerating time to market and significantly reducing costs.

The turbocharged aha 2.0 is a Telugu-language offering that reaches 1.5 million paid subscribers and more than 75 million Telugu speaking users not only in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana but also throughout India and in more than 190+ countries across the globe, the company said in a statement.

The service features a fast, smooth, smart user experience across multiple devices including mobiles, tablets, browsers, SmartTVs (miTV, AndroidTV, Samsung, LG, ROKU), and connected devices (AppleTV, FireTV, ROKU); multi-language capabilities; and enhanced personalization and customized recommendations that are designed to enhance subscribers’ engagement with aha’s unparalleled lineup of exclusive Telugu content.

aha’s lineup of content for the 2.0 service includes digital premieres of highly anticipated Telugu films as well as 10 original shows that are being produced specifically for the aha 2.0 platform.

The Shows include Unstoppable with NBK, a talk show hosted by Tollywood actor Nandamuri Balakrishna as well as Telugu Idol, modelled on American Idol & Indian Idol, blockbuster movies like Love Story and Most Eligible Bachelor (MEB), and many more premium Telugu movies and originals.

Commenting on the partnership, Allu Bobby, Promoter & Chief Advisor for aha said, “Our content and technology decisions both have been made with a single purpose: to establish aha 2.0 as the premier destination in our viewing markets.

“The Firstlight Media Gen5 platform provides high-quality, high-performance delivery to our subscribers’ demand, as well as the enhancements that will convert our viewers into dedicated fans,” Bobby added.

Andre Christensen, CEO and co-founder of Firstlight Media said, “Here’s what’s going to be behind aha’s spectacular growth in the coming months: differentiated content that subscribers’ value and the technology that creates the best possible viewing experiences for subscribers.

Firstlight Media’s Gen5 OTT architecture uses a sophisticated, cloud-native technology stack to power the aha platform from end-to-end – delivering step changes in performance, flexibility, agility, and scale, and offering best-in-class user engagement and monetization.

The Gen5 architecture from Firstlight Media will enable rapid time-to-market; will reduce cost and effort by more than 40%; and will future proof aha to enable capitalization on new trends and markets. The aha 2.0 platform powered by Firstlight Media’s Gen5 OTT architecture runs on Google Cloud and is integrated with Evergent, the leading provider of customer journey management for media and entertainment.