10 million Australians ‘not being leveraged’ as migration surges towards regional hubs

Regional Australia is booming, but advertisers are still failing to catch up. That’s the message from Boomtown chair Andrew ‘Billy’ Baxter as new CommBank data shows city dwellers are moving to the regions at pace.

The June quarter Regional Mover Index found 26% more people relocated from capital cities to regional areas than the other way around, with Albury recording a 16-fold increase in net migration from capitals in the year to June 2025.

Queensland’s share of internal migration jumped from 19% to 31% in just one year, second only to New South Wales at 34%, while Tasmania reversed its outflows to post a 4% net inflow. The Sunshine Coast topped the list for net migration overall. The trend highlights a widening gap between population growth and media investment.

“The short answer is, the 10 million Australians in regional areas are not being leveraged by as many brands as they should,” Baxter said. “With roughly 18% of national ad spend going into regional Australia, we can see that a large portion of the population just aren’t hearing from some brands.”

Boomtown, the regional media consortium representing 9.9 million Australians, says regional households are now younger, wealthier and more digitally connected than ever. More than a third earn over $100,000 and grocery baskets are 6.5% larger than in metro areas. Baxter argues brands that do speak to regional audiences see outsized results.

“Brands that do speak to these audiences find they get better cut through and a more loyal customer base,” he said. “Never before has regional Australia been wealthier, diverse and more valuable for brands and business.”

Some brands are already capitalising. Nick Scali Furniture media executive Kim Giusa said the company sees a direct link between regional campaigns and sales.

“I can assure you that every single time we do that, the sales go up," she said. "It speaks volumes of how powerful the cut-through is for us with regional marketing.”

At Kennards Hire, regional marketing is also proving critical to growth. “Around 35% of our branch network and operations are based in regional Australia – it means that we ensure to focus a significant portion of our marketing spend in supporting regional markets,” Manelle Merhi, general manager of marketing and customer experience, said. “We stay close to the data and find that we get a double or triple impact in regional more so than we do in metro areas.”

Digital-first brands are also seeing results. Tinder’s “Big Rainbow Project”, delivered during World Pride season, gave the dating app its best-ever brand perception results in Australia by connecting with regional LGBTQIA+ audiences. The campaign lifted key brand measures by more than 15 points, delivered record-breaking uplift scores, and generated more than 200 PR hits with 100% positive sentiment.

Baxter said migration trends only strengthen the case for advertisers to think regional first. “Migration to the regions is accelerating. These audiences are growing, engaged, and ready to be reached. From an advertising perspective, the returns are clear.”