Nearly 96 percent of the population is aware of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’. The programme has reached 100 crore people who are aware and have listened to the programme at least once, according to a survey that was carried out ahead of the 100^th episode.

The statistics were revealed in an exhaustive study commissioned by Prasar Bharati and conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak. The findings of the study were brought out in a press conference in New Delhi by Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, Prasar Bharati and Dheeraj P. Sharma, Director, IIM Rohtak.

Speaking about the findings of the study further, Sharma said that 23 crore people tune in to the programme regularly, while another 41 crore constitute an occasional audience that has the scope of being converted into a regular audience.

 According to an official statement put out by Prasar Bharati, the survey report delves into the reasons behind the popularity of PM’s radio broadcast and lists out the most liked characteristics that hook people to the broadcast.

A powerful and decisive leadership that speaks to establish an emotional connect with the audience is cited as one of the reasons for the huge following of the programme.

The Prime Minister has been credited by the population of the country as knowledgeable and having a sympathetic and empathetic approach. Direct engagement with the citizens and guidance is also cited as a reason for the trust the programme has established.

The study has tried to gauge the impact ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has had on the population over the 99 editions so far. It states that a majority of listeners have become aware of governments working and 73 percent are optimistic and feel the country is going to progress. 58 percent of the listeners have responded saying their living conditions have improved, while a similar number (59 percent) have reported increased trust in the government.

The general sentiment towards the government can be gauged from the fact that 63 percent respondents said their approach to the government has become positive and 60 percent have shown interest in working for nation building as per the survey.

The study distributes the audience across theree platforms with 44.7 percent people tuning in to the programme on a TV, while 37.6 percent access it on a mobile device. Viewing the programme is favoured over listening to it, as 62 percent of the respondents between the age of 19 to 34 preferred watching it on a TV.

Hindi grabs a major chunk of listeners of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ with 65 percent audience preferring it over any other language, while English comes in at second place with 18 percent.

Speaking about the profile of respondents, Sharma informed that the total sample strength of 10,003 was polled for this study of which 60 percent were males, while 40 percent females. This population was spread over 68 occupations-sectors with 64 percent being from the informal and self-employed sector, while students constituted 23 percent of the studied audience.

Sharma further said that the data was collected from North, South, East, and West regions of India using snowball sampling with approximately 2,500 responses per zone, through a psychometrically purified survey instrument.

Dwivedi said that apart from the 22 Indian languages and 29 dialects, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ is broadcast in 11 foreign languages. He said the ‘Mann ki Baat’ is being broadcast by more than 500 centers of the All India Radio.

Going into the thought process behind commissioning of the study, Dwivedi stated that from time to time there was a thought that more well-rounded feedback in terms of the overall programme must be obtained and not for particular episodes only.