In a media landscape shaped by algorithmic feeds and fragmented attention, this landmark new study from Immediate has put a number on something trusted editorial brands have long known instinctively: context matters, and the emotional state of an audience is one of the most valuable things a media brand can offer.
The Joy Test surveyed nearly 10,000 people about the leisure activities they love, and what those activities do to their happiness, wellbeing, and psychological engagement.
The paradox at the heart of modern media
Scrolling was the single most frequently used leisure activity of all 21 surveyed, but it ranked dead last for the joy it delivered. People are spending the most time on the activity that makes them feel the least good.
This isn’t a moral argument against social platforms. It’s a commercial one. Time spent in an environment is not the same as quality of engagement within it. The highest-joy activities such as reading, listening to music, gardening, crafting, share a common characteristic: they are intentional, they reward attention, and they generate what psychologists call flow. That is the environment trusted editorial brands create for their readers.
Audiences in a state of joy are different audiences
The Joy Test measured emotional state before and after participation, finding statistically significant improvements in happiness, relaxation, and excitement across all activities studied. Every activity, done with intention, made people feel measurably better.
An audience absorbed in content from a trusted editorial brand covering a passion they’ve cultivated for years is not in the same receptive state as someone scrolling between items on a feed. They are more open, more curious, and more positively engaged. The research puts academic weight behind an argument the industry has been making for years: the editorial environment shapes the commercial opportunity.
Passion communities are commercially valuable
One of the research’s most consistent findings is that people who love something talk about it. 88% of gardeners regularly discuss their interest with others, 86% of cooks and bakers do the same, and 80% of TV viewers regularly talk about what they’re watching. This social amplification is directly associated with greater wellbeing, but it’s also a commercial signal. Passion-led media creates communities that actively share, recommend, and discuss.
Trusted editorial brands sit at the centre of those communities. The Joy Test found that the dominant emotional responses to magazine brand touchpoints were inspiration and curiosity — forward-leaning, positive states that are as good as it gets for brand association. And crucially, the more touchpoints readers engaged with, the more joy and flow they experienced. Great editorial deepens passion, which draws readers back to the brand, and grows the value of the context for advertisers over time.
What this means for your campaign
When someone is absorbed in content they have actively chosen, around an interest they have actively cultivated, they are in a state of genuine positive engagement. That is when brands can participate meaningfully, not just advertise.
The Joy Test offers the industry something genuinely useful: large-scale evidence that the emotional quality of a media environment is a real and measurable driver of audience receptiveness, and one that trusted editorial brands are exceptionally well placed to deliver.
The full findings will be published later in 2026 but you can download the report here. For more information, contact Immediate’s Jon Restall
