Almost 96 per cent of people are aware about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio programme “Mann Ki Baat”. The periodic address is estimated to have garnered a reach of more than 100 crore people who have listened to the programme at least once, according to a survey by the Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak.

The survey on listener feedback and sentiment analysis of Mann Ki Baat was commissioned by All India Radio. Mann Ki Baat’s 100th episode is set to be released on April 30.

According to the survey findings, 23 crore people have either listened to or viewed the programme regularly, while 41 crore have been occasional listeners, who can potentially be converted into regular audience.

With the programme being broadcast across DD and private TV channels, 44.7 per cent respondents said TV was their preferred medium to tune into the programme, while 37.6 per cent respondents said they prefer listening it on the mobile phone.

About 17.6 per cent said they preferred listening to it on the radio. “About 62 per cent of the respondents aged 19-34 said they prefer watching or listening to Mann Ki Baat on their mobile phones,” said Dheeraj Sharma, Director, IIM Rohtak. He added that of the total sample strength of 10,003 polled for this study, 60 per cent were males while 40 per cent were females. This population was spread over 68 occupational sectors with 64 per cent being from the informal and the self-employed sector.

He added that the radio programme was found to be positively influencing citizen behaviour, optimism and happiness.

“Hindi grabs a major chunk of listeners of Mann Ki Baat with 65 per cent audience preferring it over any other language while English comes in at second place with 18 per cent,” the institute said in a statement.

Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, Prasar Bharati said that Mann Ki Baat was translated by AIR into 22 Indian languages, 29 dialects and 11 foreign languages. “Mann Ki Baat is broadcast in 11 foreign languages excluding English, namely, French, Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Arabic, Pashtu, Persian, Dari and Swahili. It is being broadcast by more than 500 broadcast centres of All India Radio,” he added.