The State of ASX Investor Engagement 2026
A curated benchmark of how Australian listed companies engage shareholders — pulled together from the ASX Australian Investor Study 2023, the MailerLite Email Marketing Benchmarks 2024–2025, the Goldcast 2025 B2B Webinar Benchmark Report, the NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 IRO Compensation and Practices Survey, and current ASX market statistics. Every figure on this page is cited to a public source.
Use this as a reference for board reporting, IR strategy, and investor communications planning. ARC publishes this roundup so IR teams, advisors, and journalists have one Australian-focused page to cite from.
Headline numbers
1. The ASX market and its investors
The audience an ASX-listed company is speaking to has grown materially since 2020. Half of Australian adults now hold investments outside of super and the family home.
| Metric | 2020 | 2023 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian investors (total) | 9.0M (46%) | 10.2M (51%) | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Hold on-exchange investments | 6.6M | 7.7M | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Women as a share of investors | — | 42% | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Hold at least one ETF | 16% | 20% | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Want stable returns over growth | 54% | 67% | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Use responsible-investing principles | — | 31% | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Rate ESG in top 3 considerations | 13% | 6% | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
| Say financial advice is too expensive | 24% | 34% | ASX Investor Study 2023 |
Read: The ASX 2023 study (which surveyed 5,500+ Australian adults in November 2022) shows a measurable retail-investor shift toward stability and ETFs. The drop in ESG salience between 2020 and 2023 is one of the more striking findings for IR teams currently scripting ESG narratives.
| Market context | May 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic ASX-listed entities | 1,898 | ASX Historical Market Statistics |
| Total ASX-listed entities (incl. foreign) | 2,040 | ASX Historical Market Statistics |
| Total domestic market capitalisation | A$3,251bn | ASX Historical Market Statistics |
| S&P/ASX 200 price index | 8,731.7 | ASX Historical Market Statistics |
| All Ordinaries price index | 8,965.0 | ASX Historical Market Statistics |
2. Investor email engagement
Email is the workhorse of IR communications. Australia leads the world on email engagement; the “Business & Finance” category sits modestly above the global average for clicks but slightly below for opens.
| Segment | Open rate | Click rate | Click-to-open | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global average (all industries) | 43.46% | 2.09% | 6.81% | MailerLite 2024–2025 |
| Campaigns sent in Australia | 47.69% | 2.82% | 8.30% | MailerLite 2024–2025 |
| Business & Finance | 43.34% | 2.37% | 7.96% | MailerLite 2024–2025 |
| Real Estate | 40.37% | 1.72% | 6.72% | MailerLite 2024–2025 |
| Business + Finance (Mailchimp, all-time) | 31.35% | 2.78% | — | Mailchimp Benchmarks |
| Mailchimp all-industries average | 35.63% | 2.62% | — | Mailchimp Benchmarks |
Read: MailerLite’s 2024–2025 dataset covers 3.6 million campaigns across 181,000 accounts in 46 industries and 7 regions, and is the most recent comparable benchmark. The much lower Mailchimp Business + Finance open rate reflects an older dataset and a different mix — useful as a floor, not as a target. Caveat: open rates have been inflated since Apple Mail Privacy Protection rolled out in 2021 (Apple Mail auto-loads images regardless of whether the recipient opens the message). Click-through rate is now the more reliable engagement metric.
3. Webinars and investor events
The 2025 B2B Webinar Benchmark Report from Goldcast analysed 19,531 webinars across 418 B2B companies — 3.5 million registrants and 815,000 attendees. ON24’s 2025 benchmarks use a different counting methodology and report higher attendance.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline attendance rate (Goldcast) | 33% of registrants attend | Goldcast 2025 Benchmark |
| Attendance rate, small webinars (<100 reg) | 43% | Goldcast 2025 Benchmark |
| Friday peak, tech (12–3pm) | 44% attendance | Goldcast 2025 Benchmark |
| Friday peak, non-tech (9am–noon) | 54% attendance | Goldcast 2025 Benchmark |
| Webinars per company per year (2024) | 47 (up from 22 in 2023) | Goldcast 2025 Benchmark |
| Live attendance rate (ON24) | 60% (different methodology) | ON24 Benchmarks 2025 |
| Avg attendees per webinar, Q4 2024 (ON24) | 254 | ON24 Benchmarks 2025 |
Read for IR teams: The Goldcast 33% baseline is the right number to use for budgeting results-day webinar capacity and replay infrastructure. Smaller, segment-targeted briefings (under 100 registrants) consistently outperform mass invites — relevant for analyst-only briefings vs. retail-investor sessions.
4. The IR function itself
The NIRI 2024 IRO Compensation and Practices Survey (run with Korn Ferry) is the most recent rigorous data on what investor relations practitioners actually do. While NIRI is US-focused, the role-scope and reporting-line findings are broadly applicable to ASX IROs.
| Finding | 2024 | Prior | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reports to the CFO | 69% | 65% (2022) | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Holds VP title or above | 44% | — | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Manages responsibilities beyond IR | ~80% | 62% (2022) | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Role includes ESG / sustainability | 20% | — | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Role includes competitive intelligence | 20% | — | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Earn US$276k+ base salary | 54% | 40% (2022) | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Say IR function elevated in their company | 61% | — | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
| Optimistic about the profession | 87% | — | NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 |
Read for ASX boards: The role is broadening (4 in 5 IROs now run things beyond pure IR) and seniority is rising. The IR Magazine Global IR Practice Report 2024 surveyed 550+ practitioners worldwide and reached similar conclusions about scope expansion and budget pressure. The AIRA (Australasian Investor Relations Association) also runs annual snap polls and benchmarking studies for Australian IROs — their member-only data is the right primary source for Australian-specific role data.
5. Secure data rooms — market context
There is no public, comparable engagement benchmark for investor or deal data rooms. The market-size figures below provide context for how rapidly the surface is growing for IR and corporate-development teams.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global virtual data room market (2024) | US$2.70bn | Polaris Market Research |
| Forecast market (2034) | US$11.06bn | Polaris Market Research |
| 10-year CAGR | 15.2% | Polaris Market Research |
| Top 5 global M&A deals (2025) on Datasite | 4 of 5 | Datasite (2025) |
Read for ASX IR teams: A 15.2% CAGR is the structural signal that “data room” is no longer just an M&A tool — it is increasingly a board-pack, capital-raising, and ongoing-investor-trust surface. Building this into your IR stack is now a near-zero-risk capability decision; the ROI question is which platform, not whether.
Sources & methodology
Every figure on this page is sourced from one of the following publicly available reports. We cite them in full so journalists, advisors, and IR teams can verify each number and cite the original source where appropriate.
- ASX Australian Investor Study 2023 — published June 2023 by ASX Limited; surveyed 5,500+ Australian adults in November 2022. Source for investor population, gender split, ETF adoption, ESG attitudes, advice usage.
- ASX Historical Market Statistics — ASX Limited; figures shown are end-of-month for May 2026. Source for listed entity counts, market capitalisation, headline indices.
- MailerLite Email Marketing Benchmarks 2024–2025 — covers 3.6 million campaigns from 181,000 accounts across 46 industries and 7 regions, period December 2024 – November 2025. Source for global, Australia, Business & Finance, and Real Estate email metrics.
- Mailchimp Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry — last updated December 2023 by Mailchimp / Intuit. Source for the older Business + Finance and all-industries baselines.
- 2025 B2B Webinar Benchmark Report — Goldcast; covers 19,531 webinars across 418 B2B companies through 2024. Source for attendance rates, frequency, and day/time performance peaks.
- ON24 Webinar Benchmarks Report 2025 — ON24; different counting methodology to Goldcast, results in a higher attendance figure. Source for the ON24 attendance rate and Q4 2024 average attendee figure.
- NIRI 2024 IRO Compensation and Practices Survey — National Investor Relations Institute and Korn Ferry. Source for IRO reporting line, scope of role, compensation bands, and outlook.
- Global Investor Relations Practice Report 2024 — IR Magazine / IR Impact; 550+ IR practitioners surveyed worldwide. Referenced as a confirming source for scope-expansion findings.
- Virtual Data Room Market Report — Polaris Market Research; global VDR market sizing through 2034.
- Australasian Investor Relations Association (AIRA) — runs an annual member survey, snap polls, and benchmarking studies on Australian IR practice. Referenced as the right primary source for Australian-specific role and remuneration data.
A note on ARC’s own data
This page is a curated benchmark, not ARC primary research. ARC operates an investor relations platform used by ASX-listed companies, and we aggregate anonymised engagement data from our customers. As the dataset and methodology mature, we plan to publish ARC-specific cuts on this page — clearly labelled and only where the sample size, anonymisation, and statistical disclosure rules support publication. Until then, the figures above come from the public sources cited.
ARC customers see a private benchmark view inside the platform comparing their own engagement to the relevant peer segment.
See your own IR engagement against these benchmarks
ARC consolidates your investor email, web, events, and data-room signals into one dashboard, so you can compare your numbers to the figures on this page in seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
Every figure is from a public industry source: the ASX Australian Investor Study 2023, current ASX Historical Market Statistics, the MailerLite Email Marketing Benchmarks 2024–2025, the 2025 Goldcast B2B Webinar Benchmark Report, the ON24 Webinar Benchmarks Report 2025, the NIRI/Korn Ferry 2024 IRO Compensation and Practices Survey, and the Polaris Market Research virtual data room market report. Full source list and links are in the Sources & methodology section above.
Can I cite these figures in research, board papers, or media?
Yes — with attribution to the original source. Each figure on this page links back to the publisher. For ASX market statistics and the ASX Investor Study, cite ASX Limited. For email metrics, cite MailerLite or Mailchimp as appropriate. We’d appreciate a link back to this page if you find the roundup useful, but the primary citation always belongs to the original publisher.
Does ARC publish its own benchmark from platform data?
Not yet, in public. ARC operates an investor relations platform used by ASX-listed companies, and we aggregate anonymised engagement data internally. We plan to publish ARC-specific cuts on this page when the sample size, anonymisation rules, and statistical disclosure approach support it. ARC customers already see a private benchmark view inside the platform.
Why do the Goldcast and ON24 webinar attendance rates differ?
Different counting methodologies. Goldcast measures attendance as “of all registrants, what proportion actually attended live” and reports 33%. ON24 reports a higher figure (60%) using a methodology that counts differently. Both are credible — use Goldcast’s figure for budgeting registrant-to-attendee conversion, and ON24’s figure for understanding engaged-audience dynamics within a session.
Why are email open rates so high?
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (rolled out in 2021) auto-loads message content for Apple Mail recipients regardless of whether they actually open the email. This has inflated open-rate benchmarks across the industry by roughly 18 percentage points. Click-through rate, click-to-open rate, and downstream conversion are now the more reliable engagement metrics.