Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s has made it a practise to publicise his schemes through Mann Ki Baat. Speaking in 29th Mann Ki Baat , he again talked about his Swachch Bharat scheme, the BHIM app and the other schemes. Actually, these are schemes that have yet to show results on the ground. But this program of his has emerged a big revenue-generating property for All India Radio, which has already collected crores from advertising of this program one Sunday of the month.
While the Prime Minister is using this medium to manage his perception by reaching out to maximum people, it is making big revenues for the media outfit. No wonders all the channels pick it up as if there was nothing else on the cards. So it has all the ingredients to become a top revenue generator. According to sources, interestingly, it commands even higher advertising rates than any other program on AIR including live commentary of the recent India-Pakistan world cup match.
Why is it so important from the advertising point of view even though the Prime Minister says the same things. It is the anticipation that the Prime Minister may make some new announcements, perhaps or is it because head of the state speaking makes good news? It is because AIR has such a vast reach. It is one of the largest broadcasting organisations in the world in terms of the number of languages of broadcast, the spectrum of socio-economic and cultural diversity it serves. AIR’s reaches nearly 92% of the country’s area and 99.19 % of the total population. So the medium is indeed well thought out. It is an ideal combination for any advertiser as Prime Minister combined with the biggest broadcaster makes it the best combination for advertisers to reach their products.
On the other hand the Prime Minister uses the medium to reach to the maximum people to tom tom his schemes and as a medium for publicity with an eye on the vote bank. It makes good marketing sense both ways.