October 2026

Consumer Pulse October 2026

WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT

The national mood remains predominately negative, with net negative emotions continuing to increase from last month. Nine’s audience reflects this strong negative mindset with Frustrated, Anxious, Stressed, Annoyed and Calm the top feelings this month, followed by Pessimistic and Unsure. In line with the negative sentiment, Nine’s audience is feeling more cautious about the year ahead. Nine’s audience maintains from last quarter the value it places on health, enjoying life and family security. Additionally, sports are a strong area of engagement with viewing habits varying depending on the sport. However, those interested in a sport engage outside of games, watching additional content and engaging in fandom behaviour.

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2 October - 5 October 2026

Inside this month’s Consumer Pulse dip

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Mood of the Nation >

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CONVERSATION STARTERS >

Mood of the Nation

The national mood

The national mood has seen a further decline with negative sentiment continuing its increase since last month, and coincides with the latest interest rate rise that was announced the week the survey launched. While NET positive has maintained a steady decline in line with levels from April this year. The significant gap between positive and negative emotions is reflective of the current mindset due to economic concerns, with interest rate rises top of mind for Australians, as well as a reflection of the continued global instability.

NOTE: For the best viewing experience on mobile, please view landscape.

Dominant mood indicators

The sentiments list reflects the current mindset and is dominated by negative emotions. The top 3 emotions being frustrated, anxious and stressed. Frustration and stress have seen a month-on-month as well as a year-on-year increase, reinforcing that Australians are currently feeling more negative than before. Annoyed and calm complete the top 5 of the list, highlighting that some are trying to remain positive despite the instability. Pessimistic, unsure, sceptical, relaxed and hopeful complete the remaining top ten emotions, showing the conflicting emotions felt by Australians as whilst impacted by a number of concerns, some remain hopeful and optimistic about the future.

NOTE: For the best viewing experience on mobile, please view landscape.

NATIONAL MOOD BREAKDOWN

Emotion all reflect the negative sentiment dominance, for those 45+

Frustration, anxiety and stress are acutely felt by all Australians regardless of age, however differences arise in the remaining emotions. For those under 45, the top 5 emotions all reflect the negative sentiment dominance, with overwhelmed and pessimistic rounding out the list. Contrastingly, those 45+ show more diversity, also feeling annoyed and calm, with calmness much stronger than younger audiences. While negative sentiment remains strong for both males and females, they also show some difference with the particular emotions felt. The top 3 emotions for females are in line with the total sample, however males show stronger feelings of annoyance.

Concept Burnout Syndrome. Business Woman feels uncomfortable working. Which is caused by stress, accumulated from unsuccessful work And less resting body. Consult a specialist psychiatrist

BRAND CONSIDERATION

To effectively navigate these demographic emotional nuances, brands should lean into themes of safety and connection to comfort overwhelmed younger audiences and females, while providing grounding, practical messaging to counter the anxiety, pessimism, and frustration present among older consumers and males.

Conversation Starters

OUTLOOK ON THE YEAR AHEAD

of Nine's audience feel cautious about the year ahead

Caution has continued to rise with economic pressures and global uncertainty a key driver

Nine’s audiences’ negative outlook has increased from last month by 4 percentage points, with ~1 in 2 feeling cautious about the year ahead. 47% to 49% of both younger and older audiences are feeling cautious, however this has increased since last month for those under 45, while remaining consistent for 45+. The cautious sentiment is driven by external, uncontrollable factors such as the heightened cost of living pressure, geopolitical instability and government dissatisfaction. However, despite the predominately negative mood, 1 in 3 are feeling a mix of both optimistic and cautious, as while they are wary of the external pressures they are positive about their personal lives and well-being as well as feeling confident about the things within their control.

Audience’s top concern remains rising prices for essentials like groceries, fuel and utilities, followed closely by global conflicts affecting fuel prices, & national security, and increasing political polarisation. Older audiences show less concern about high rent, rising interest rates or the ability to buy a home compared to those under 45, highlighting the varying lifestages and the financial stability of those 45+.

Health, Life, and Family Security Top Australian Values

When it comes to what matters most to Australians, health maintains its position at the top of the list and has seen a slight increase from last quarter (5 percentage points). Aside from maintaining good health, enjoying life and family security continue to be core values. Other values have shifted quarter on quarter, with protecting the environment increasing to the 5th ranked position (up 3 percentage points). Important values continue to be focused on well-being, relationships and global stability, while ideals such as self-discipline and capability have seen a minor decline from last quarter suggesting that ambition is not a high priority for audiences.

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SPORTS

of Nine's audience are willing to pay to access live and on demand streaming content of a sport of interest

Sports keep crowds hooked, with plenty ready to pay for their favourite games

Sports continue to bring individuals together with 78% of Nine’s audience engaging with any sports or sports related content in the last week. The key way audiences engage with sport is through free-to-air (54%), however print still plays a role with 28% reading content via a newspaper, particularly 45+ and males. Younger audiences show higher engagement through social media than those 45+, while males are higher across all platforms, reinforcing that they are a highly engaged sports audience. Among Nine’s audience, 42% are willing to pay to access live and on demand streaming content of a sport of interest. This increases 9 percentage points for males (up to 51%), with 13% willing to pay for NRL / NRLW and 10% willing to pay for soccer (domestic or international).

BRAND CONSIDERATION

To capitalize on high sports engagement and strong subscription intent - particularly among highly engaged male fans - brands should prioritize live and on-demand streaming environments within their media mix alongside platform-tailored touchpoints across free-to-air, print, and social media.

Friends watching soccer match together at home

WEEKLY LOYALTY VS TOURNAMENT ENGAGEMENT

of Tennis viewers only watch for major tournaments such as the AO

Different games reveal different habits: From weekly loyalty to major tournament viewing across platforms

Engagement with sports varies among audiences depending on the sport. 1 in 5 watch NRL / NRLW weekly or more often, which increases to ~1 in 4 among males. 14% of Nine’s audience also indicate that they tune in for major tournaments such as State of Origin or Grand Final. Over 90% of those who watch the NRL / NRLW do so via Channel 9 / 9Now, with 73% watching live. Tennis shows a slightly different engagement behaviour as rather than regular viewing, 2 in 4 only watching for major tournaments such as AO. However tennis still maintains some loyal fans, with 13% watching at least monthly. Viewership of tennis is primarily the full event live on free to air (55%), which is slightly high among females (61%). This is followed by the short highlights on free to air (30%). In line with tennis, athletics shows less regular viewing but 28% are watching for major competitions and this is slightly higher among older audiences and males. 46% of those watching, do so of the full event live or on catch up, followed by 37% watching short highlights on free-to-air or a streaming service. Beyond the screen, print and digital news publications help 19% of NRL fans and 15% of tennis & athletics fans keep up on the action.

Close-up of man watching football sport on smart phone.

BRAND CONSIDERATION

Brands should align their media strategy with code-specific viewing habits by maintaining an always-on live presence across Channel 9 and 9Now for loyal NRL audiences, while capturing event-driven tennis and athletics viewers through high-impact tentpole broadcasts, short-form highlights, and news extensions.

FANDOM BEHAVIOUR

of Nine's audience engage in fandom behaviour of sports teams and/or athletes they support

Over half of audiences engage beyond live matches with highlights, social media, and fandom driving deep sports engagement

58% of those who watch sport show high engagement, interacting with sporting content outside of live matches and highlights, however this increases to 63% for males. The top way fans choose to engage is watching highlight reels of the games / sporting moments, particularly males. This is followed by liking, commenting or sharing content on social media, which is a key engagement avenue for younger audiences.

52% engage in fandom behaviour of sports teams and/or athletes they support. This behaviour is reflected through following them on social media, owning a jersey, owning other merchandise or having a membership to a sport / sporting team. Engagement with sporting teams / athletes is stronger among younger audiences and males. 18% of males participate in a sport of interest on a regular basis, while 17% of younger audiences own a product that is sponsored or promoted by a sporting team / athlete.

BRAND CONSIDERATION

To capitalize on deep off-field sports fandom, brands should leverage highlight reels, social media, and athlete partnerships to activate younger, connected audiences and males, while balancing broader creative messaging with reassuring support for anxious females and practical solutions for pessimistic older demographics.

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September 2026 Data

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From Saliency to Sales: How Retail OOH Unifies the ‘Sofa to Store’ Journey

Insights from Nine Upfront 2027

From Saliency to Sales: How Retail OOH Unifies the 'Sofa to Store' Journey

12th October, 2026

Tim Murphy

Chief Sales Officer, QMS

It is no secret that Retail Out of Home is a highly populated and established category in Australia. Major retailer-owned media networks have done an exceptional job of proving the value of the space, fundamentally shifting how marketers view the path to purchase.

The next frontier for brands isn't just about tapping into a supermarket's data loop; it is about taking the full-motion broadcast quality of Digital OOH and placing it where daily habits are formed, meaningful connections are nurtured, and final purchasing decisions are made. It is about understanding that true national scale is built from the neighbourhood up.

The Local Trust Halo

Australians live their lives locally. While the major big-box supermarkets are often destinations for the sprawling weekly shop, the moments of true, habitual connection happen closer to home. It is the shop at the local independent grocer, the Saturday morning project run to the hardware store, the quick stop for liquor on the way to a dinner party, or the daily coffee run at the corner convenience store.

These are high-frequency, trusted retail destinations embedded in the social and commercial fabric of Australian neighbourhoods. When a customer steps into a local IGA, Mitre 10, Cellarbrations, or their local convenience store, their mindset shifts. They are in an active, receptive state, making decisions for their households and engaging with businesses that sit at the core of their community. We call this the "Local Trust Halo."

This is the philosophy behind our new Retail OOH network, SHOP. By bringing together the Metcash "LocalEyes" network – featuring 860+ screens across IGA, Cellarbrations, The Bottle-O, Thirsty Camel, Mitre 10, Home Hardware, and Total Tools – with The Convenience Network's 470 screens across 7-Eleven stores, we aren't just aggregating inventory. We are creating an environment where brands meet local shoppers at scale.

When you consider that 70% of Australians live within three kilometres of a SHOP retailer, the strategic value becomes clear. Delivering more than 16 million monthly shoppers * across 1,300+ screens – including over 400 regional locations – offers the scale of a national media buy, but it is delivered with the intimacy of a local endorsement.

Redefining the Space: Pure-Play Retail OOH

To truly capitalise on this environment, we need to separate Retail OOH from the broader definition of Retail Media. We aren't talking about digital catalogues or in-store audio. Retail OOH is about building mental availability at the physical point of entry. It brings the visual impact and flexibility of pure DOOH directly to the point of purchase, acting as a broadcast bridge between top-of-funnel brand campaigns and immediate in-store action.

Viewing the channel through this pure play DOOH lens unlocks two distinct, yet equally powerful, commercial opportunities:

For Endemic Brands: It is the ultimate conversion engine. Retail OOH allows brands already sitting on the shelves inside to influence local shoppers, driving immediate path-to-purchase conversion and capturing 'share of basket' right when intent peaks. Crucially, it benefits from the proven dual effect of DOOH – driving immediate, short-term sales whilst also building long-term brand equity.
For Non-Endemic Brands: It provides a highly cost-effective, low wastage platform to reach qualified local audiences. For categories like automotive, financial services, insurance, and telecommunications, the local independent retail environment offers a rare, low-distraction canvas. It allows advertisers to tap into household decision makers within high-trust, highly receptive everyday shopping environments without competing in a crowded retail media ecosystem.

The Complete Ecosystem: From Sofa, to Street and now, to Store

As DOOH continues to advance, our focus as media owners must remain firmly on effectiveness and outcomes. This is where the strategic integration into the broader Nine ecosystem changes the game for agencies and brands.

At the recent Nine Upfront, we highlighted the power of moving consumers seamlessly from the 'Sofa' – capturing high-attention viewing in the living room – to the 'Street', to maintaining brand presence across our quality national DOOH network.

SHOP now completes that commercial continuum. By adding the retail footprint as the final, crucial touchpoint, we create a truly holistic proposition for Australian marketers. We can now accompany a consumer from relaxed entertainment at home, through their daily commute, right up to the final point of purchase in their local community.

It is no longer about choosing between brand awareness or retail conversion, the highway or the high street. By taking the sophistication of Digital OOH and embedding it into the everyday retail rhythms of Australian neighbourhoods, we give brands the complete, connected canvas they have been searching for: the power to inspire on the sofa, build saliency on the street, and drive real-world action at the store.

^{*Source – Nielsen CMV, Survey 4 2026 ^Metcash Transaction 2025 Data, IBA Shopper Intelligence, Summit Transaction Data 2025}

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Trust isn’t the Finish Line: Turning Influence into Action Through Real-World Ecosystems

Insights from Nine Upfront 2027

Trust Isn't the Finish Line: Turning Influence into Action Through Real-World Ecosystems

5th October, 2026

Ashleigh Thomas

Commercial Director, Publishing Sales

Brands increasingly need partners who understand the forces shaping purchase decisions within their category, not just media channels. The true power of connected media not only connects with Australians in those moments of intent, it transforms passive readers into active consumers.

For decades, the media industry has measured success through attention. We’ve chased eyeballs, optimised for dwell time and built a digital advertising model around the assumption that adjacent placement was the pinnacle of influence. But in an industry oversaturated by the infinite scroll, passive attention is no longer enough. The real opportunity lies in turning trusted relationships into meaningful action. And that requires a fundamental rethink of what a publishing environment is designed to do.

Australians aren’t reading our mastheads to understand the world, but to decide how to live in it. From the suburbs they invest in, to the shares they buy, the restaurants they book and the flights they board, news media is actively shaping Australian culture.

Yet historically, the commercial model hasn’t always reflected the influence publishing has on those decisions. We have largely sold brands access to audiences around our content, rather than creating ways for them to participate in the moments that content inspires. The opportunity now is to close that gap, taking the trust, authority and influence built on the page or screen and extending it into richer experiences that can move people from consideration to action.

Finding Moments of Intent

Today’s audiences move fluidly between platforms, channels, communities and experiences. For marketers, the challenge isn’t finding those audiences anymore. It’s finding moments of intent. We know today’s most effective campaigns are built around passion points: Money, property, food, travel and culture. Because they’re the decision-making categories.

Take travel as the blueprint. By pairing editorial authority with specialised commercial expertise, a brand story can move seamlessly from a weekend print feature into a digital interactive, onto our TODAY show for broadcast amplification, and straight into a consumer’s inbox.

This is the true power of connected media that puts brands alongside Australians, throughout their entire journey through life, and transforms passive readers into active consumers.

Yet even the most sophisticated content ecosystem has limitations. While digital environments excel at building consideration, the moments that most powerfully shape behaviour often happen in the physical world. That is where trust becomes participation, and participation becomes action.

The Power of Real-World Experiences

The challenge for publishers is no longer simply building trusted audiences. It is creating pathways that move people from engagement to participation, and from participation to purchase. The bridge between digital scale and physical experience is where that opportunity exists. And it’s a reflection of how consumers increasingly engage with trusted brands beyond content consumption.

We are seeing this come to life through properties like The Australian Financial Review Ventures portfolio, the Good Food Guide Awards, and the newly announced Melbourne Assembly. This is the physical manifestation of our editorial IP.

For a brand, the difference between advertising next to a restaurant review and integrating into a live culinary event where thousands of engaged consumers are tasting, drinking and purchasing is profound. It shifts the dial from brand awareness to brand experience, wrapped in the credibility of the masthead.

Consider the Financial Review About Time Watch Weekend (ATWW), the AFR Magazine’s annual watch fair where we bring AFR audiences direct to our Watch partners for two weekends in September. By restricting access exclusively to loyal subscribers, the event has curated an exceptionally high-calibre audience. The results challenge conventional performance marketing expectations: Almost 1,000 individuals registered, generating more than 2,600 partner appointments in four days across two cities. Attendees averaged three brand appointments each, demonstrating serious purchase consideration.

Most importantly, the physical ecosystem is known to generate measurable conversion. The 2025 event survey results showed that 26 per cent of repeat attendees had purchased a watch they discovered at an ATWW activation.

But creating these outcomes requires more than audience scale or premium environments alone. It requires a deep understanding of the categories where consumers are making decisions and where brands are seeking growth. The most effective publishing ecosystems are built not just around content, but around category expertise.

Commercial Specialisation is the New Strategic Imperative

As audiences become more fragmented and categories more complex, brands increasingly need partners who understand the forces shaping purchase decisions within their sectors, not just media channels. This is why we are aligning our dedicated commercial teams directly to audience passions and partner growth sectors, expanding beyond traditional media categorisation to create bespoke solutions for Retail, FMCG, Utilities, Services and Travel.

This deep category expertise allows us to move beyond standard media buys and design experiences that genuinely resonate. We see the advantage of this approach when specialised commercial understanding merges with editorial authority.

Our Scenic and Fin! Magazine High Seas launch, hosted at the Aster Bar for 70 guests, provided a tailored platform that drove genuine brand advocacy by placing the partner directly in front of an influential audience. Likewise, an exclusive event with Van Cleef & Arpels gave an influential cohort of readers behind-the-scenes access to a travelling collection of exceptional jewels before anyone else.

The Active Trust Advantage

Recently, there has been much debate about the value of trusted news environments. Trust is undeniably the signal that cuts through the noise. It’s the foundation, but not the final destination.

The future belongs to brands that can convert trust into momentum. By building lifestyle ecosystems, pioneering live brand experiences, and matching editorial authority with deep commercial specialisation, we are offering brands a new way to operate in these spaces.

Attention built the digital media economy. Trust helped to sustain it. The next era will belong to brands that can transform trust into participation, and participation into action.

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Welcome to a Fairer and More Transparent Publishing Ad Tech Ecosystem

Opinion

Welcome to a Fairer and More Transparent Publishing Ad Tech Ecosystem

Julia Edwards

Director of Programmatic Sales

6th October, 2026

The culmination of the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust trial against Google marks a pivotal inflection point for the global digital publishing ecosystem. While Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a structural breakup, sparing Google from spinning off AdX, the mandated behavioural remedies offer a vital pathway to level the playing field. For a premium publisher like Nine Publishing operating flagship titles like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, these regulatory updates, paired with programmatic updates like Direct Pay Open Bidding, are essential to creating a fairer, more transparent media supply chain.

Breaking the Lock-in

For years, Google's near 90% dominance in the publisher ad-server market was fortified by tight technical tie-ins. AdX demand was effectively locked inside Google Ad Manager (GAM), forcing publishers to remain within Google's ad tech stack. The behavioural remedies are transformative in two main ways.

Header Bidding Access for AdX: Forcing AdX to bid directly into open-source, pre-bid header bidding liberates publishers. Media owners can now explore alternative ad servers, such as SpringServe, Freewheel or Publica, without risking the loss of AdX demand, dismantling the historical lock-in that defined the market.
Non-Discriminatory Google Ads Demand: Requiring AdWords/Google Ads demand to bid non-discriminatorily across rival ad exchanges opens vast advertiser budgets to independent Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) like Index, PubMatic and Magnite.

The Money on the Table

The financial upside of shifting this market dynamic is immense. Industry estimates indicate that every 1% of global market share shifting to an independent player like Index, Magnite or PubMatic could potentially generate $50M-75M in incremental revenue, with the majority flowing straight to the bottom line of publishers globally.

Enforcement Is Everything

However, as PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel noted following the ruling, these remedies must be enforced rigorously and implemented rapidly. Impact will depend on the specific implementation, transparency and sustained enforcement, including the role of independent monitors.

James Young, Regional Director, ANZ for PubMatic, added: "This is a meaningful step, but its value will be decided more by implementation and enforcement than by the ruling itself. For publishers in Australia, it is critical that they can choose the technology that best serves their business without losing access to important demand. Australia is a market built on innovation, and I'm optimistic that if done right, these changes could support greater choice and competition in the ad exchange and ad server markets."

Magnite's global CEO also aligned with this perspective, saying: "The decision includes meaningful requirements around how Google's ad tech products interact with competing technologies and eliminates many of the behaviours that underpinned Google's exclusionary scheme to lock publishers into its ad server and to prefer its own exchange. If properly implemented, we believe these remedies have potential to level the playing field and create a more competitive auction environment that benefits the entire industry."

Amelia Ward, Managing Director, AUNZ Index Exchange, also added, "The real test of these remedies is whether they create meaningful choice and a genuinely level playing field for media owners. Greater interoperability and non-discriminatory access are important steps toward changing the dynamics of the market, but effective implementation and enforcement will be critical. Publishers should be able to choose the technology partners that deliver the most value, while buyers should be able to compete for inventory on fair and transparent terms."

Cutting Out the Middleman

While regulatory bodies enforce compliance on a macro level, publishers can already take proactive operational steps to bypass Google's legacy take-rates. The implementation of Direct Pay Open Bidding, moving away from standard Open Bidding with partners like Magnite and PubMatic, demonstrates how cleaner supply paths immediately unlock higher publisher yield.

Instead of allowing Google to act as a financial middleman charging variable revenue shares, Direct Pay converts Google into a pure auction facilitator charging a predictable flat CPM serving fee. Additionally, reclassifying publisher inventory from "Intermediary" to "Publisher" in sellers.json removes DSP throttling and opens access to direct Supply-Path Optimisation (SPO) budgets.

The Proof Is in the Yield

Nine's recent yield data across premium publishing inventory confirms the immediate impact of providing advertisers with a direct, transparent path. After transitioning to Direct Pay, updated partners generated a +49% YoY revenue growth and a +41% YoY surge in impression volume. This dramatic shift proves that buyers aggressively ramp up bid velocity once listed as direct sellers.

From Forced Reliance to Real Competition

Direct Pay is a great step towards creating a fairer and more transparent ecosystem. If court-ordered behavioural remedies are delivered swiftly and monitored independently, the digital publishing market will finally shift from decades of forced reliance to true performance-based competition. Premium publishers and advertisers alike stand to gain a far more transparent, efficient and profitable open web.

Explore the Nine Advantage today

Source: Nine (2026, September). Programmatic revenue reporting.