New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS): Listenership of All India Radio (AIR) live-streams on the ‘NewsOnAir app witnessed a jump of two million within a span of one month in December last year, with about 18 million listeners tuning into the app.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said, "For the first time ever in the world of radio, listenership is being quantified in absolute numbers by the Prasar Bharati audience research team. Listenership of AIR live-streams on ‘NewsOnAir' app saw a jump of two million within a span of one month with 18 million listeners tuning into the app in December last year. The figures for November were 16 million."

"In city-wise monthly listenership measurement of AIR live-streams on app, listenership in Pune, Bengaluru, Indore and Nagpur were in millions, while Patna, Lucknow and Delhi-NCR were close to a million," it added.

In the latest rankings of top cities in India where AIR live-streams on the app are most popular, Jaipur has made a comeback by displacing Ernakulam from the top list.

In major changes in rankings of top AIR streams in the country, FM Rainbow Mumbai has found its way back into top 10, while AIR News 24X7 has slipped off the list. AIR Pune has climbed up the ladder from ninth to third spot, while AIR Malayalam slid down to seventh from third rank. These rankings are based on data from December 16 to December 31 last year.

More than 240 radio services of AIR are live-streamed on the ‘NewsOnAir' app. The All India Radio streams on the app have a large number of listeners not just in India, but globally, in more than 85 countries across the world.