Ahead of 100th episode, IIM Survey finds Mann Ki Baat has reached 100 crore listeners

Ahead of the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat, a survey by the Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, revealed that the popular radio programme has reached 100 crore people, who have listened to the programme at least once. While 96 per cent people in the country are aware of Mann Ki Baat, the radio show has a dedicated fan following of 23 crore regular listeners. 
The study was commissioned by Prasar Bharti and conducted by IIM, Rohtak. 

One of the important findings of the survey was that the programme is influencing people's behaviour as 60 per cent of listeners are interested in nation building, while 73 per cent feel that the country is going in the right direction.

Also, around 63 per cent of the respondents said that their approach towards the Central government became positive after listening to the programme.

The survey came days ahead of the 100th eposide of Mann Ki Baat, scheduled for April 30.

The findings of the study were released at a press conference by Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO of Prasar Bharati, and Dheeraj Sharma, Director, IIM Rohtak.

Sharma said that 23 crore people tune in to the programme regularly, while another 41 crore constituting an occasional audience that has the potential to be converted into a regular audience.

The report delved into the reasons behind the popularity of PM's radio broadcast and listed out the most liked characteristics of the programme.

The study distributed the audience across three platforms with 44.7 per cent people tuning in to the programme on TV, and 37.6 accessing it on a mobile device.

Viewing the programme is favoured over listening to it, as 62 per cent of the respondents between the age group of 19 and 34 preferred watching it on a TV set.

Hindi grabbed a major chunk of listeners of Mann Ki Baat with 65 per cent audience preferring it over any other language, while English came in second with 18 per cent.

Dwivedi said that apart from 22 Indian languages and 29 dialects, Mann Ki Baat is broadcast in 11 foreign languages, namely, French, Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Arabic, Pashtu, Persian, Dari and Swahili. He said Mann ki Baat is being broadcast by more than 500 broadcast centers of All India Radio.