Australia’s 10m regional consumers have $250bn in annual spending power and are outspending metro compatriots in a host of categories, from groceries to homewares, lifestyle, streaming services, travel and auto, new CommBank iQ data reveals. The cohort often leading such spending? Millennials. Yet even as regional media investment cracks its highest levels in a decade – 18.3 per cent per March figures – there’s still a persistent gap between that and the actual size of the consumer wallet prize outside of Australia’s five metro cities. For the CMOs of Reflections Holidays and Inspiration Paints, brands getting their act together in regional markets have the ability to overindex on share of voice and will build mental availability faster and more cost effectively, generating stronger brand loyalty and market share. According to CommBank iQ CEO, Makenna Ralston, transactional data is finally backing that belief up.
What You Need to Know
- Regional Australia now represents 10 million people (37% of population) with economic spending power of $250bn per annum, new CommBank iQ data reveals.
- The new CommBank iQ data also shows regional consumers outspend metro counterparts across multiple categories. Key over-indexing categories include grocery (+13%), recreation (+18%), outdoor/active lifestyle (+38%), hardware/garden (46% of national spend), travel (+19%) and auto (~40% share, higher per capita spend).
- Regional consumers also match the spending of metro counterparts across several other categories.
- Millennials (25–44) are driving disproportionate growth in regional markets, outperforming metro peers by up to 2.4x in some categories.
- But while it’s at its highest levels in a decade, March 2026 figures show regional is still underindexing on investment, representing 18.3% of media spend.
- That imbalance gives brands a cost-efficient opportunity to build excess share of voice and mental availability, per Reflections Holidays CMO, Pete Chapman. Less cluttered environments and lifestyle factors mean greater “headspace” for consumers to absorb brand messaging, improving effectiveness, he said.
- Speaking on a panel alongside Inspiration Paints CMO, Joel Goodsir and CommBank iQ’s Makenna Ralston, the trio also noted stronger brand loyalty in regional areas, with consumers more likely to reward brands that show up consistently in their communities.
- Inspiration Paints also finds “double” funnel metrics in regional vs metro from awareness to consideration and visitation, with a 50/50 media split delivering higher regional sales, said Goodsir.
The persistent gap between regional media spend – 18.3 per cent per March figures – and the size of Australia’s regional constituents – now 10m, or 37 per cent of the total population – gives brands a rare ability to earn excess share of voice and build mental availability in a much more cost effective way, Reflections Holidays CMO, Pete Chapman, claims.
The comments came during a Boomtown breakfast last week that revealed fresh figures on the $250bn annual spending power regional communities command. The new CommBank iQ data also showed regional consumers outspending metro compatriots in several categories, from grocery to lifestyle, travel, auto, streaming and homewares. In several categories, millennial demos are driving the growth trajectory.
Panellists at the breakfast – Chapman, along with Inspiration Paints CMO, Joel Goodsir, and CommBank iQ CEO, Makenna Ralston – also cited a higher propensity for brand loyalty in regional consumers than their metro counterparts. “They do reward brands for showing up in their communities, whether it’s through traditional channels or more activated channels,” Chapman agreed.
But the less cluttered environment in regional areas, from traffic to messaging, is also one that opens up a rare opportunity for brands to speak to consumers “the way we used to speak to consumers, and like we used to be able to do in any market”, according to Chapman.
“Regional consumers still do all the living we want to do and are involved in the great things in life. But they do less of the shit stuff, like sit in traffic,” he said. “It sounds simple, but when you take an hour each way out of someone’s day, and working from home is something you choose to do … It changes the amount of mental capacity to take in all sorts of information. You can take in life itself, but also connected to that are brands and brand messaging.
“The thing businesses really care about is market share at the end of the day. And if you can build a brand through those deeper ways of brand building, like we used to be able to do in any market, but now in a market that holds 37 per cent of the population, that’s really interesting. That’s what’s driving loyalty – the ability to show up in the life of a consumer who has the headspace to hear that message and show up time and time again, and build that frequency that builds mental availability.”
I can describe it as ‘double’ for regional: Double the awareness, double the consideration, more of the visitation and purchase in regional areas as there is in metro. Why? We get more bang for our buck in regional – those franchisees are locally owned; they’re aligned to town. It’s wild. The sales results flow onto that. Even though we split the funds 50/50, more sales are done in regional than metro.
The inaugural Boomtown Spend Snapshot report
The inaugural Boomtown Spend Snapshot report using CommBank iQ data shows the 10 million regional consumers outside the five major capital cities are spending $250 billion annually and outspending their metro peers in a number of categories.
For example, regional consumers spend 13 per cent more at the grocery check-out than metro consumers, clocking up 38 per cent of spend, or $56.2bn, a year ($7240 per capita versus metro’s $6410). They also overindex in pet-related spending, spend 18 per cent more on recreational goods and 38 per cent more on outdoor and active lifestyle products and services than metro dwellers.. Pride in their bigger homes is also in evidence, and regional Australians account for 46 per cent of total national hardware and garden spend, 15 per cent higher category growth than in metro areas ($1000 regionally per capita versus $750 in metro).
In the streaming entertainment category, regional Australians account for 36 per cent of streaming subscription dollars, up 18 per cent year-on-year and led by millennial consumers, and they are also spending more ($600 versus $570 per capita).
Auto and petrol is another one where regional Australians account for over 40 per cent of share in these categories, outlaying $3500 per capita on car-related purchases versus $2700 in metro locations. And when they take a trip, they tend to spend more too: Regional per capita spend is 19 per cent higher versus total national travel spend, and regional Australians account for 41 per cent of national cruise spend.
Across the demos, millennials (25 – 44 years old) are driving regional spend growth in multiple categories; For example, they outpace metro by up to 2.4X in the home category.
CommBank iQ also pointed to a number of categories where spending between regional and metro is on par, including department and discount retail stores, computer and electronic purchases, energy, telecommunications, insurance and pharmacy.
The insights are based on transactional data collected by Commonwealth Bank across its 17 million customers in 40 spend categories across more than 200,000 brands. CommBank iQ is a joint venture between the Big 4 bank and Quantium.
CommBank iQ also broke down the economic weight of the regions by state. Notably, regional Queensland is exactly half the total economic value of the Sunshine State, while Victoria’s regional consumers make up 23 per cent ($40.3bn), In NSW, that share is 34 per cent ( $73.7bn), in regional WA it’s 19 per cent ($16.3bn), and it’s 20 per cent in South Australia ($9.7bn). All of Tasmania and the Northern Territory are classified as regional per media spend breakdowns.
Presenting the data at the Boomtown Sydney breakfast event, CommBank iQ CEO, Makenna Ralston, said it challenges “some of the default notions that come to mind when we think about regional planning”.
“If national planning still starts and ends with the capital cities, there’s real risk investment is not aligned to where this big, healthy demand sits,” she says. “There is so much diversity in the spend, and there is a real opportunity to capitalise on it. What a shame to lump that into one audience, one message and one way of thinking.
“Regional Australia is not a secondary channel; this is where the category actually lives.”
Boomtown chair, Andrew ‘Billy’ Baxter, saw the gap between the 37 per cent of consumers situated in regional Australia and the share of media spend going towards as an ongoing, significant gap. It has narrowed – as at March, 18.3 per cent of media spend was placed in regional markets, the highest ratio in the decade Boomtown has existed. But it’s still an imbalance given what regional consumers spend and represent.
“Regional isn’t incremental – it’s structurally embedded in our economy and represents a significant share of every major state economy,” Baxter argued. “Despite the evidence, brands are still consistently underinvesting in Australia’s highest value consumers.”
If national planning still starts and ends with the capital cities, there’s real risk investment is not aligned to where this big, healthy demand sits,” she says. “There is so much diversity in the spend and there is real opportunity to capitalise on it. What a shame to lump that into one audience, one message and one way of thinking.
And that was the overarching message from the breakfast panel. Inspiration Paints has about half its stores in regional locations and splits media in the same 50/50 ratio. To do this, it maintains two media planning agencies: One for metro, and one for regional.
“If you look at the metrics through the funnel, I can describe it as ‘double’ for regional: Double the awareness, double the consideration, more of the visitation and purchase in regional areas as there is in metro,” Goodsir says. “Why? We get more bang for our buck in regional – those franchisees are locally owned; they’re aligned to town. It’s wild. The sales results flow onto that. Even though we split the funds 50/50, more sales are done in regional than metro.”
Reflections Holidays sites are all situated in regional areas, but customers are both metro and regional, largely from NSW and Queensland.
“Sometimes the best research is research that just confirms what we thought we knew, and it shouldn’t be underestimated how important that is to do with data,” Chapman commented. “But it absolutely makes sense as a marketer that is investing in regional markets, but also someone who lives in one – it’s relatively basic science. We know through a lot of good evidence that a key driver of market share is share of voice. When only 18 per cent of media is spent in a market that holds nearly 40 per cent of our population, you’re going to grow your market share by growing you share of voice, which is cheaper in these markets.”
Local loyalty
Stronger loyalty was another differentiator for panellists in engaging in regional markets. “We instinctively had a hunch on this, but putting that data to instinct is really important,” said Ralson.
“Where those brands are showing up in communities and in grocery, for example, where that weekly shop is a ritual: There is just a different mindset around ‘I know what I know, I can trust that brand’. The repeat visitation and patterns are there. It’s not across every brand and category, of course, but we do see that.”
Inspiration Paints has seen this in practice when selling paint. “It’s a palpable amount of loyalty and a significantly different amount in regional towns,” Goodsir commented. “The franchisees, which are more enmeshed in the local communities through sports, chamber of commerce … I found out the other day our franchisee in Bega is a minister in the church.
“What we find is that the businesses that do B2B with us, and consumers, want to shop with someone who is local. That just doesn’t exist in Sydney, for instance. We’re much more individualistic – it’s all about me, where I get the best deal, and I don’t really care – well apart from the café. So we notice that loyalty heavily, and you can’t contrive it.”
He also pointed out that the newer franchisees are millennials who have been moving into regional areas in droves. “They have a different mindset, and they’re almost more connected to the community,” he added.
In addition, Chapman noted the accessibility of regional media gave brands the ability to truly choose the right channel for the right communication. “Because of the cost effectiveness of regional media, you can think without the constraints of ‘well we just can’t afford to be in that channel’. Now these channels are affordable, what actually is best for the content and context,” he said.
“There are very few competitive advantages left in businesses now; regional media is one of them.”
Goodsir pushed for brands to show up in regional places “authentically, organically, supporting the sports in the community”. “Don’t just buy the media, encourage clients to show up, and every dollar will work harder,” he urged
Ralston’s advice to brands is to be really clear with the messages to the consumers you’re trying to reach. “But also understanding what that brand means to them today is very important to be able to grow that share of wallet and deepen penetration,” she says. “So whoever is in these communities, talking to them with the right messages tailored for those humans is a pretty powerful proposition.”