Hello! magazine has topped the list of the most-read titles on digital subscription service Readly for 2018.
The celebrity title’s “historic souvenir” issue for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding, published on 21 May, was its most-read issue.
Readly offers readers access to more than 3,000 titles, including Stuff, Hello! and Time, for £7.99 a month in the UK.
Eight of its top ten most-read magazines are women’s lifestyle titles, with technology brands T3 and Stuff appearing in the top five.
Readly’s most-read digital titles in 2018 are:
- Hello!
- T3
- Cosmopolitan
- Stuff
- Closer
- OK!
- Women’s Health
- Bella
- Woman
- Heat
UK managing director at Readly, Ranj Begley, said: “With two royal weddings, the World Cup and Brexit preparation, it’s been a big year for the nation and the magazines on our platform.
“The brands which have caught the imagination of our readers are in celebrity, technology and women’s lifestyle.
“All of them reveal a lively interest in how our world is changing around us so rapidly, but from very different and usually very personal angles.”
The top five subject categories on the digital newsstand, according to year-on-year audience growth, include current affairs, women’s lifestyle, leisure, home and garden and men’s lifestyle.
The top current affairs titles were Time, Newsweek, The Spectator and The Oldie. The most-read issues for each of these titles were:
- Time: ‘The Tourist Trap’, asking if Europe turning into a tourism theme park with ‘over-tourism’
- The Spectator: ‘The New Narcissism: modern men want to be virtuous’
- Newsweek: ‘What if Elon Musk succeeds?’
- The Oldie: ‘Dad’s Army turns 50’
Begley said: “There is a real sense that the public is losing interest in the endless coverage of world leaders such as Trump and Putin – important though they still are.
“Under pressure, we find refuge in what we know and love – our houses, our hobbies, our own specific interests.
“Also, entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk are becoming the new celebrities, as business models now matter as much as political manifestos.
“Then, add in a good dose of Dad’s Army nostalgia to give a little stability and humour to our chaotic, disrupted world.”
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