Hey, if you guys didn’t know already, the highly anticipated Telugu web series, ‘Kudi Yedamaithe‘ is releasing on Aha Video this weekend. And upon release, it will be the first OTT series to premiere with Kannada subtitles. What is even more surprising is that we are seeing these subtitles in a Telugu regional streaming platform and not in any of the bigger ones such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and/ or Disney+ Hotstar.
The Kannada audience has been quite active on Twitter and on other social media platforms – with many regularly going on the official pages of OTT platforms and asking for Kannada dubbed and subbed versions of various popular content. Even the Kannada film industry has been “unpopular” in the streaming market, with many of the streaming platforms opting to buy the streaming rights of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam content. During such a time, Aha Video managed to do a very smart thing and get the Kannada audience interested in their upcoming original series.
What OTT platforms are forgetting is that there are over 4.35 crore (or 43.5 million) native Kannada speakers in India alone, 1.1 crore (11 million) more than native Malayalam speakers. So even if their content may not be as attractive as the other South-Indian content – there is a large and willing audience who wants to watch some Kannada content. Releasing new and popular content in Kannada subs or dubs will help in gaining the loyalty of this “forgotten audience” in the long run.
The Telugu web series, ‘Kudi Yedamaithe’ will premiere on Aha Video on 16th July 2021 with English and Telugu subtitles. Check out the teaser for this upcoming movie below: