Australians in metropolitan areas are more anxious, stressed and pessimistic than their cousins in the country.
Regionals Australians tend to be happier and have a greater trust in newspapers.
Publishing group ACM, in partnership with the University of Canberra, has embarked on a national research study to capture the sentiment of Australians.
Heartbeat of Australia is an in-depth picture of the sentiment of Australians; how they feel, what they’ve worried about, how they connect to their community and their relationship with local news and advertising.
ACM managing director Tony Kendall said: “This new study helps to understand how Australians are feeling and reconfirms our hypothesis that regional Australians are generally happier and more content than those living in capital cities.
“We wanted to explore the key drivers of this disparity between geographic regions and the findings clearly show that feeling connected to your community is intrinsically linked to positive sentiment factors such as happiness and satisfaction with our personal lives..”
The study finds significant differences in sentiment, future plans and media consumption across various demographic and geographic segments.
ACM Research Director Alex Mihalovich said: “Metro Australians are more anxious, stressed and pessimistic compared to regional Australians, who are happier, more hopeful, content and optimistic.
"This trend is more prevalent when we compare younger to older Australians, giving us a powerful insight around the need to support and nurture our next generation.
“Affordable housing and good quality phone and internet connections are the big issues among regional communities, on average 16% and 14% respectively poorer compared to cities.
“The Heartbeat study highlights that regional Australians are much more likely to plan domestic travel, buy furniture, home appliances and renovate their homes in the next 12 months."
Heartbeat of Australia also looked at how news influences communities and how that relationship differs between those consuming state-based and national content versus hyper-local information.
Mihalovich: “We found that regional Australians have significantly greater trust in newspapers (64%), compared to residents of the five major capital cities (50%).
"Localised content is what builds that trust so it’s not surprising to see audiences beyond metropolitan areas with access to such content having a stronger relationship with their news brands."
Heartbeat of Australia shows that those same audiences also want to see more big business supporting their local communities.
For a long time local businesses have advertised directly to regional communities. However. this study shows opportunity for national brands to do the same.
Mihalovich: “More than half of the respondents believe big brands place more value on people from capital cities (52%) and as a result are seeing a lack of big brand local advertising, yet 67% value those brands that support their community and 70% prefer advertising that is localised."
Kendall said: “This is a huge opportunity for national advertisers to not only be more active in talking to the 9.2 million people who live in regional Australia but to ensure they tailor their message to the local audiences to improve relevance and cut through.
“We’ve always known the ACM suite of mastheads are trusted but this research not only shows that ACM readers trust their masthead 20% more than readers who don't read ACM titles but it shows the role these mastheads play in the positive well being of our readership.
"We can see a direct correlation between news consumption of our trusted mastheads, the feeling of being informed and connected and in turn positive well being amongst our readership.”
Professor Sora Park from the University of Canberra said, “The ACM Heartbeat of Australia survey has shown us that access to vital and unbiased information creates a sense of connection and belonging. It’s the glue that binds regional Australians.
“Knowing what’s going on in the local area is one of the most important factors that make people feel connected to the community. This confirms the critical role of local news in people’s lives. We have seen regional areas losing their local newspapers during the pandemic and creating a divide between communities.
“The work we’ve done with ACM will help local news organisations understand what local news audiences need and how to address them. There is a thirst for localised, quality independent news across Australia, particularly in the regions."
ACM Heartbeat of Australia findings will be featured this week in a major editorial program across ACM mastheads.
The study was conducted online by McNair Yellow Squares. Total respondents: 6,367.
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