New warriors of language streaming

Eken Babu is an unlikely detective. The rotund, balding character was created in 1991 by the late author Sujan Dasgupta for Bengali magazine Anandamela.

- VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR

Eken Babu became a web series on Hoichoi, a Bengali streaming service, in 2018. The show is now in its eighth season. Eken Babu's popularity prompted Hoichoi's parent, SVF Entertainment, a major studio and distributor based in Kolkata, to produce a film featuring the character in 2022. This May saw the release of the third film in the franchise, Eken: Benaras e Bibhishika. Hoichoi, a subscription-based service, which launched in 2017, now makes a small profit on its 100 crore top line (FY 2024-25).

In Hyderabad, Aha, a Telugu streaming app birthed by real estate major, My Home Group, and Allu Aravind's Geetha Arts, will break even this year on its ₹150 crore top line. It has 2.5 million subscribers. Stage, another OTT, just raised over ₹100 crore in a Series B funding round as it tries to scale from its claimed 4.4 million subscribers to 70-80 million.

It offers programming in Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, and Rajasthani with plans to add 18 more dialects/languages, including Maithili, Bundeli, Awadhi, and Marathi.

The numbers seem small. In 2024, streaming video generated ₹35,600 crore in advertising and pay revenues from 125 million subscribers, according to Media Partners Asia. So a couple of million subscribers and a few hundred crore in top line doesn't seem much.

It is for two reasons—history and profitability.