MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio address Mann ki Baat has reportedly got mega bucks for the All India Radio (AIR). Apart from getting millions of listeners, the programme, according to the information and broadcasting ministry, has fetched a gross revenue of over Rs 4.78 crore through advertisements.

Prasar Bharati has informed that, as far as AIR is concerned, only the radio broadcast of Mann ki Baat is monetised and other platforms such as live streaming or app-based service are not, said the minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore.

Overall, the AIR registered a revenue growth in 2015-16 of Rs 447.76 crore from Rs 435.1 crore in 2014-15. Mann Ki Baat has also been visually adapted for telecast on Doordarshan channels.

AIR, owned by the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, so far aired 26 episodes of Mann Ki Baat. The show was launched in October 2014 and the broadcaster started monetising it by December. It is reported that AIR generates close to Rs 1 crore from Mann Ki Baat.

According to a report in Livemint, the broadcaster has designated a total of seven minutes (five minutes before the show and two minutes after the show) for commercial revenue from Mann Ki Baat. It also airs self-promotional advertisements in those seven minutes.

The report suggests that AIR charges an ad rate of Rs 2 lakh per 10 seconds of advertising for the PM’s radio address.