WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT
September 2026
The national mood remains predominately negative, with net negative emotions seeing a slight increase since last month. Nine’s audience shows conflicting emotions with Frustrated, Anxious, Calm, Hopeful and Stressed the top feelings this month, followed by Pessimistic and Sceptical. In line with the range of conflicting emotions, Nine’s audience is feeling both cautious and optimistic, however this varies with age. 2 in 5 of Nine’s audience are feeling secure with their finances, however many are feeling the strain from rising costs with 69% wanting to cut back on spending, particularly on items that are not necessities.
4 September - 7 September 2026
Inside this month’s Consumer Pulse dip
Mood of the Nation
The national mood
The negative sentiment remains dominant among Australians, and has seen a slight increase month on month, while NET positive has seen a slight decrease. While the past few months had seen the emotional gap between negative and positive sentiment start to close, this change reflects a shift back towards a feeling of instability and uncertainty among Australians.
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Dominant mood indicators
In line with the change in NET negative, the sentiments list has shifted back to being slightly more negative with the top 2 emotions being frustrated and anxious. The remaining top 5 emotions show contrasting feelings, with calm, hopeful and stressed ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. The final top 10 emotions continue this trend of paradoxical feelings with pessimistic, sceptical, optimistic, relaxed and annoyed.
The mix of both positive and negative shows Australians resilience and stress in the current political and economic landscape. However, the month on month decrease across the majority of positive emotions suggests that we may be shifting back towards a strong dominance in negative feelings, similar to the beginning of the year.
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NATIONAL MOOD BREAKDOWN
of the 45+ age group feel calm
While anxiety and frustration is a current staple across all ages, there is some variety across the demographics. Those 45+ show more diversity in their feelings with 1 in 4 also feeling calm, as well as more likely to feel optimistic and relaxed. Contrastingly, younger audiences show a strong dominance of negative emotions with 27% feeling overwhelmed. The top 3 emotions are consistently negative for both males and females, however while females feel anxious, stressed and frustrated, males feel frustrated, sceptical and pessimistic.
BRAND CONSIDERATION
To navigate this fragmented emotional landscape, brands should offer supportive, stress-relieving reassurance to overwhelmed younger consumers and females, while countering male scepticism with direct transparency and appealing to the grounded optimism of older demographics.
Conversation Starters
OUTLOOK ON THE YEAR AHEAD
of Nine's audience is feeling cautious about the year ahead
Caution is on the rise with consumers navigating a mix of optimism and uncertainty
44% of Nine’s audience is feeling cautious about the year ahead and in line with sentiment, optimism has seen a decrease month on month (5 percentage points), with a shift towards a mix of both optimistic and cautious. Optimism has seen a large drop among younger audiences to 24%, while those 45+ have remained stable at 19%. A cautious sentiment stems from concerns regarding the economy, their personal finances and political factors. Those feeling a mix acknowledged that their optimistic outlook is anchored to personal circumstances (friends, family, work etc.), while their caution is driven by external uncontrollable forces such as cost of living pressures and political instability.
Audience’s top concern is rising prices for essentials like groceries, fuel and utilities, which has seen a 14 percentage point increase month on month (now at 67%). This is followed closely by increasing political polarisation, and global conflicts affecting fuel prices, and national security. In comparison to 45+, younger audiences are more concerned about high rent, rising mortgage interest rates or the ability to buy a home.
Cost of living
Australians are becoming increasingly concerned
2 in 5 of Nine’s audience are feeling financially comfortable, which is a drop from last quarter (15 percentage points) and a drop from this time last year (16 percentage points). When it comes to their personal finances 38% feel like they are “just managing” and 21% are “feeling the pressure”, with both seeing an increase from 6 months ago, suggesting that cost of living has become an increasing concern.
The top factors affecting audiences have remained consistent with the rising cost of groceries (74%) taking the top spot, followed by rising cost of insurance premiums (68%) and rising cost of utilities (67%). The majority also feel that these concerns are going to persist for the next 3 months.
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QUALITY
of Nine's audience agree that they are willing to pau more for quality and a superior product
While consumers are looking at cutting back, quality is seen as essential
This quarter has seen a 7 percentage point increase in those who are planning to cut back on spending (now at 69%) reinforcing that concerns over cost of living pressures have continued to increase. Consumers have already started reducing their spending on non-essential items, particularly dining out and apparel. However, spending on essentials such as the internet, insurance products, petrol and utilities will not change for over 50%.
But, while cost of living has influenced how the majority of consumers spend their money, 79% agree that they are willing to pay more for quality and a superior product, highlighting that even with economic pressure value is more of a priority over low prices.
BRAND CONSIDERATION
Brands should pivot away from competing solely on low prices and instead emphasize superior product quality and long-term value to win over discerning consumers.
COST OF LIVING
of those under 45 rank education and furniture as "must haves"
Cost of living is having a widespread effect and reshaping spending habits
Reduction on spending is consistent across ages highlighting that cost of living is having a widespread impact. However, older audiences show a lower willingness to be savvy by switching to cheaper products. While, younger audiences over-index in already having reduced spending on international or domestic holidays. However, the different life stages of Nine’s audience drives their different priorities, with 1 in 4 of those under 45 ranking education and furniture as a “must haves”.
Additionally, females show a higher concern over spending with 74% cutting back in comparison to 64% of males. In terms of cost cutting, females have reduced their spending on apparel while males are focused on investments and luxury items. Despite these differences in spending, all agree that quality of a product is important and are willing to spend more for it.
BRAND CONSIDERATION
As cost-of-living pressures prompt demographic-specific spending cutbacks, brands should tailor their value propositions to distinct life-stage priorities while consistently emphasizing product quality to justify price points across all audiences.
QUALITY
of Nine's audience view music or TV subscriptions as high value entertainment staples
Subscriptions value varies by age with news a must for older audiences and males, while entertainment drives younger engagement
25% of older audiences and 27% of males perceive a news subscription as a “must have”, highlighting that quality journalism remains a key staple and retains its value among these high interest demographics. Even though some younger audiences have already cut back their spending on subscription services, nearly 1 in 3 view music or TV subscriptions as high value entertainment staples that they won’t relinquish.
BRAND CONSIDERATION
As consumers prioritize non-negotiable media habits, brands should align their channel strategies accordingly by leveraging trusted news environments to reach older male demographics while utilizing essential entertainment platforms to connect with younger audiences.
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