Greg Byrnes on news, talk, companionship … and giveaways

 “I don’t think our audience is tuning in for prizes. I think they enjoy the opportunity to win, but that’s not their core reason for listening.”

Nine Radio’s Head of Content Greg Byrnes talks to Radio Today about prize promotions, phone-in competitions – and whether they’re worthwhile.

As far as he’s concerned, if there’s some fun to be had, that can only be a good thing:

He says “I think our listeners love the opportunity of winning achievable prizes. Rather than having one big prize, we’ve had, I suppose, smaller versions across all stations with a higher frequency.”

“We’ve done giveaways across all stations on the network and in my position, I’m really pleased. We’ve got a Managing Director who’s prepared to open the purse strings and allow us to do this sort of thing.”

And the response from the audience?  Byrnes says they want more of it.

“In Sydney, we just did Easter Show tickets and the demand was remarkable.”

“Just by the nature of talk radio, where people have our phone numbers programmed into their phones – whether it be to ring the Open Line or text message – there’s a lot of audience engagement, and we’re very proud of that.”

He believes it stands to reason that, if the audience is given the chance to win an achievable prize, they’ll actively participate.

“If the best ever Survey 2 result and the best ever start to the year is anything to go by, and the figures that we’ve had over the past 12-18 months, the more we can do, the better. It’s working.”

He rejects the notion that competitions are simply a ‘sugar hit’ for the army of ‘professional contestants,’ who then move onto the next competition, wherever that may be.

“I don’t think our audience is tuning in for prizes. I think they enjoy the opportunity to win, but that’s not their core reason for listening. It’s news, talk, opinion, companionship and trust. And that’s what we offer. That is the core of what we do and that will always be the core of what we do.”