A new survey conducted by magazine and newspaper subscription service Readly found that celebrity gossip mags are a popular guilty pleasure with more than a third of Australians (37 per cent) indulging in the habit.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the biggest cohort of gossip and entertainment magazine readers were women (41 per cent) aged 30-39 followed by women aged 40-49. The keenest fans of celeb news tended to concentrate in Greater Adelaide, which is home to the highest proportion of occasional readers (33 per cent) and regular readers (20 per cent) compared to the rest of the country.
Participants in the 1000-plus pool of respondents revealed they loved to curl up on the couch or sofa to read their favourite entertainment titles (29 per cent) or get up to date with celebrity news while sitting in waiting rooms at appointments (24 per cent).
Although a third of respondents (32 per cent) 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. Gossip mag enthusiasts said the magazines were an important part of their “me time” and they read them as an easy way to pass the time (45 per cent), because it was relaxing (25 per cent) and because the magazines distracted them from whatever was going on in their own lives and the world (34 per cent).
Chris Couchman, head of content at Readly said, “Our data shows that celebrity was the most popular news category in Australia in the March quarter having jumped by 55 per cent compared to the same three month period last year. With the ongoing popularity of titles like New Idea, Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day, it’s clear that Australians love celebrity news and enjoy reading to wind down after a long day.”
