Research conducted by digital magazine and newspaper subscription service Readly found that celebrity and gossip magazines are a popular guilty pleasure with one in five Brits (17%) admitting to indulging in the habit.
The biggest cohort of gossip and celebrity magazine readers are women (24%) aged 30-39 followed by women aged 50-59. However one in four men (26%) reported reading celebrity and gossip as part of their ‘me time’!
The 2000 UK wide poll for Readly digital magazine and newspaper app also revealed that respondents love to curl up on the couch or sofa to read their favourite celebrity titles (32%), get up to date with celebrity news while sitting in waiting rooms at appointments (30%) or peruse the gossip pages whilst travelling or on holiday (12%).
Although one in five respondents (18%) said they felt embarrassed by the urge to catch up on their favourite celebrity’s private life, most readers were unapologetic about their reading habits. The over 60’s were the least shy about their habit with almost nine in ten (85%) saying they are not the slightest bit embarrassed to be reading gossip on their favourite celebrities!
The top 10 celebrities searched for by Readly subscribers in 2022 were:
Rose Ayling- Ellis
Daniel Craig
Davina McCall
Kylie Minogue
Monty Don
Jamie Lawson
Ali Bastian
Kate Moss
Michelle Keegan
Holly Willoughby
– Celebrity and entertainment is always one of the most popular categories in the UK. As the research shows, Brits love reading about their favourite celebs and men love reading the gossip pages too! One in five of our subscribers choose to read Celebrity and Entertainment titles alongside the breadth of digital magazines and newspapers on the platform. Reading about celebrities is a source of inspiration, entertainment and escapism that many of us seek to wind down, relax or switch off from a busy day, says Ranj Begley, UK MD and Chief Content Officer at Readly.
The research showed that the most avid celebrity readers were in London (22%), the West Midlands (21%) and the North West (19%). Respondents reported reading celebrity and gossip magazines as an easy way to pass time (56%), as a source of distraction from a busy day or things happening in the World (42%) or to relax them (21%).
With over 6,300 titles on the Readly app including top celebrity titles and the juiciest celeb reports to choose from in the Celebrity and Entertainment category, Readly makes it easy to sit back and catch up on the latest gossip at the touch of an app.
