Undertaken in partnership with Bournemouth University, the research found that 82% of the audience immediately experienced an uplift in positive feeling following an individual interaction with Hearst UK content.

Hearst UK said the study is the first of its kind to capture the real-time, real-world impact of print, online and social media content from magazine brands on consumers' positivity.

The research employed the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) approach to measure mood variations among participants before and immediately after engaging with Hearst UK content via a mobile app.

Participants were ‘pinged’ or prompted to engage with content at random times of the day, enabling their feelings to be assessed when previously engaged in other activities. Over a three-week period, 36,000 individual pieces of feedback and data were collected.

The study also found that:

• 79% of respondents felt higher levels of enthusiasm, 76% felt higher levels of excitement and determination, and 73% saw their happiness levels uplift after engaging with Hearst UK content
• 83% of positively uplifted people take immediate action, such as talking to others or investigating what they’ve read further, after engaging with Hearst UK content
• Levels of positivity grew stronger over time, rising by 29% on average from the start of the study to the end. For 'frequent engagers', positivity levels rose to 67% by the end of the study

Faye Turner, Head of Commercial Strategy & Insight at Hearst UK, said: “We are so proud to have partnered with Bournemouth University on this incredible piece of research, which once again proves how important positive content is for both our audiences and our commercial partners.

"The research shows that when in a positive state of mind, consumers have a greater interest in brands and advertising delivering tangible results in terms of engagement and purchasing behaviour. This new research will enable us to offer solutions for clients to help better serve their needs.”

Melanie Gray, Head of the Communication and Journalism Department at Bournemouth University, added: “We took a novel research approach to get ‘in the moment’ feedback from audiences engaging with media content. This allowed readers to give their immediate reflections and offer an honest appraisal of the mood the articles and content created.

"We were really struck by the relationship between positive stories and positive feelings, which developed as a core thread of this research with a very large sample size. It allows us to say, with confidence, that positive storytelling can have positive benefits to your mood.”