Dan Caban.
The pandemic did more than shift lifestyles. It transformed Australia’s regional landscape. What those of us outside the capitals have long known was suddenly uncovered by those in metro areas seeking escape to Australia’s coastal and inland gems. We all know what happened next - regional populations boomed, capital cities saw the largest population loss on record, what were small towns are now busier than ever, while the likes of Wollongong, Newcastle, Geelong and the Gold Coast have become business and economic hot spots.
While the pace of regional relocation has slightly slowed, we’ve seen a 24.2% net gain in favour of those moving to regional areas from cities compared to the reverse, indicating that the trend is still ticking upwards. While migrators have been attracted to these areas after falling in love with all the qualities and lifestyles that locals love too, the way they consume media and often their key triggers and value propositions aren’t always the same.
Media consumption: old habits and new neighbours
Regional consumers are as likely to consume audio digitally (70%) compared to metro consumers (71%). They’re also close to as likely to stream BVOD (63% v 68%). That said, regional inventory across streaming platforms are largely filled with national brands, even though digital channels give localised advertisers a greater ability to hyper target their audiences.
For a long time, traditional regional media outlets have formed a strong part of the fabric of local communities, with printed mastheads, radio shows and the nightly news programming having a loyal audience base, and able to reach most demos when used in the right mix. For plenty of regional brands, these mediums have consistently provided brand safe, high reaching environments to advertise. With a shift in population make up however, comes a need to shift targeting. This is not to say that key channels and brand alignment on those media channels are best disregarded, but to achieve incremental reach of these new audiences, with a much more detailed audience segmentation ability, is critical to consider.
Think of a Sydneysider who recently made the move north to the Central Coast. They’re still audio consumers, though may take time to adopt new habits in listening to the local breakfast show on the daily, preferring to continue the routine of waking up with their favourite Sydney hosts, this time via streaming. Or a Melburnian who moved regional on the outskirts of Geelong. They’re still consuming the news, though likely opting for a metro masthead online rather than the printed local publication.
The value in diversifying for regional brands
There’s been positive initiatives educating the national industry on the importance in considering and including regional markets in campaigns, and the value in doing so for larger strategies speaks for itself. We know that there’s a disparity between advertiser dollars and the percentage of population in regional Australia - while 40% of Australia’s population reside regionally, only 17% of national media budgets are allocated there, according to Boomtown. Many national brands have shifted strategy to capitalise on this, with success following, outlined in numerous Boomtown case studies.
For regionally-based brands and businesses advertising in their own backyard, it's important to evolve with the fragmented way that newer regional audiences are consuming media, to ensure the swelling population is not disregarded and strategic approaches on how to reach, speak to, and drive action from our new neighbours are made.
From our conversations with regionally-based brands advertising within one to three markets, most have been sticking to tried and tested traditional methods, aligning with those key channels and local platforms. While tackling business problems trying to grow share of market, or drive behaviour change from a broad demographic mix, often it’s a lack of understanding around newer streaming and digital channels holding them back from grasping the importance of this new potential audience and customer base. Some remain hesitant to explore, while we’ve seen SMEs in the market successfully able to uncover untapped audiences regionally by taking the steps to advertise across new channels with purpose and intent.
The national market is shifting, indicated by the IAB reporting that 66% of agencies see CTV as a key channel to drive extended reach of TV campaigns. This of course points to the leaders in the landscape, with smaller brands often behind the curve. Virtual Australia (VOZ) will help to educate regional advertisers on addressability in CTV and how it can assist to drive incremental reach.
As a regionally-based agency, with a mix of strategists, media planners and buyers, designers and marketing consultants from regional backgrounds, we’re passionate about seeing the success of regional brands. As migration into regional areas brings audience growth and diversity in media consumption, brands have a rare opportunity to connect with new audiences. It’s about capitalising on these audiences before everyone else does.
Dan Caban, Group Media Consultant, SOLVD