Commercial Radio & Audio’s (CRA) CEO Lizzie Young is urging advertisers to step into the regional audio space, as new data reveals it’s an area buzzing with growth opportunities.
At CRA’s annual audio advertising showcase, HEARD 2026, research showed that regional audio is one of the most effective way to reach large audiences at a time where consumers are “pulling back from screens.”
During the presentation to an audience of Australia’s marketing leaders, media agency strategists and brand leaders, new analysis of the Advertising Council Australia’s (ACA) Effectiveness Database (2018–2025) found advertisers can unlock 33 per cent more effectiveness with regional audio.
“Regional Australia represents 9.9 million Australians – more than a third of the country’s population (37 per cent), with five million tuning in to commercial radio weekly. These audiences are highly receptive, yet regional receives just 18 per cent of media spend, leaving a 19-point gap between where Australians live and where brands invest,” Young said.
“That’s an opportunity for growth left on the table. Regional audio is more powerful than you think and the opportunity for brands to be heard is clear.”
Low hanging fruit
Ahead of the event, Young spoke to B&T about what an increase in regional audio spend could mean for brands, describing the opportunity as “low hanging fruit”.
“This is really clear data that demonstrates that increasing spend in regional areas has an outsized effectiveness advantage, which is an absolute opportunity for all brands that need a regional footprint or have a regional footprint,” she said.
“So we’re really trying to make sure that we are arming marketers with the evidence, with the research and the data that they need to think through the role that audio can play, and hopefully in support, you know, of growing the local industry.”
And the proof is in the pudding.
“We’ve seen really great evidence about what is happening in the audio landscape, and we saw that with Deloitte’s Media & Entertainment Consumer Insights report, about the fact that audio is now the only platform that is in growth,” Young said.
The Deloitte report, which surveyed over 2,000 Australian media consumers across five generations, revealed a 24 per cent rise in monthly average digital entertainment spending, from $63 to $78 between 2024 and 2025.
However, Australians spent an average of 42 hours and 45 minutes every week engaging with media and entertainment in 2025 – a decline of 3.4 per cent from 2024.
According to the report, Audio is the only media category with significant growth in consumption time, accounting for 29 per cent of total digital entertainment consumption.
“Video is back, news is back, social is back. There are different factors driving that, and of course, that is the total audio landscape. But certainly podcasting and commercial radio are drivers in that,” she said.
An opportunity in plain sight
During HEARD, The Morning Crew’s Breakfast Show Hosts Gabi James and Dan Robinson (pictured above), known as ‘Gabi and Dan’, took to the stage to discuss the real impact of regional radio on people’s lives.
“A few years back, Dan and I were approached by a crying woman on the street, someone we had never seen before, never met her, and she told us that one of our 70 callers who contributed to topics and won the odd prize here and there, had sadly passed away,” James said.
“He had one final wish, and that was one more prize from Dan and I, and it was a Gabi and Dan air freshener, and he wanted to be buried with it. That day I was, and we were, totally humbled by this.”
She said it’s “moments like this” that make her remember “the listeners are real”.
“They have real lives, and somehow we get to be a small part of their stories,” James said.
Robinson discussed the role regional radio plays as an official emergency broadcaster, providing reliable information during natural disasters, and comfort to those that need it.
“We’ve actually seen, even just in the last few months, the effect that natural disasters can have on Australia, and we take great pride in being one of our region’s official emergency broadcasters,” he said.
“Regional Aussies are hearing reliable, up to the minute information relayed by locals who are living the situation and reporting it from elsewhere. [These are] trusted voices who are not just radio stars, but actually know how to pronounce the names of the towns we’re reporting on.”
According to Robinson, it’s a combination of trust and connection that’s been “built over years, becoming part of people’s daily lives”.
When it comes to the population in Australia, three of the top five highest shopping postcodes happen to be regional.
“We represent 37 per cent of the national population, and we’re continuing to grow,” Gabi said. “It’s an opportunity sitting in plain sight.”
