I’ll be honest. When I signed up for Boomtown Insiders, I saw it as a great opportunity to meet new people, expand my industry network and learn more about regional media. While I’d booked plenty of regional media, I didn’t expect the program to challenge some of the assumptions I’d developed working in agencies.
If you work in planning or trading, you’ll know that most clients naturally prioritise metropolitan audiences, particularly across the eastern seaboard. They’re larger markets, historically easier to measure, and often where clients assume most of their customers are. Because of that, I’d always viewed regional media as something that complemented a metro plan rather than a strategic starting point.
Boomtown Insiders gave me a different perspective.
What struck me most was the scale of regional Australia and just how engaged regional audiences are with local content. I’d always thought of regional media as a way to add incremental reach, but I never realised that 37% of Australians live outside major metro centres, nor fully appreciated the role local news and community-focused media play in people’s lives. We talk about attention all the time in our industry, so the value there was pretty obvious.
I was also surprised by the commercial opportunity. I’d always assumed metro audiences offered greater spending power, but the program highlighted just how valuable regional consumers can be (spending more in a lot of categories compared to metro audiences). Combined with the efficiency of regional media, it challenged my assumption that bigger markets automatically represent better value.
Working in agency trading/implementation at the time, we were constantly balancing budget pressures, client expectations, measurement requirements and the need to deliver results. The easiest approach was often to default to metro-first thinking because that’s where most conversations started. One of my biggest takeaways from the program, though, was that efficient reach doesn’t always come from the biggest market.
Now, as a junior strategist, one of the biggest lessons I’ve taken from Boomtown Insiders is to challenge assumptions earlier in the planning process. Rather than automatically starting with a metro-first mindset, I’m now more likely to challenge where growth opportunities exist and whether regional audiences could play a bigger role in delivering the outcome a client is looking for.
Most importantly, the program reminded me of the value of stepping outside your own perspective. If you’re considering Boomtown Insiders, I’d strongly encourage you to get involved. You’ll meet great people, learn something new, and likely come away with a different view of what regional media can offer.