The Joy Test: Research Reveals How People's Leisure Activities and Related Media Content Boost Emotional Wellbeing

Published: 11 Jun 2026

Research commissioned by Immediate, home to trusted brands that people love including Radio Times and Good Food, conducted by psychologists at the University of Sussex, reveals the profound connections between people's leisure activities and their emotional states and overall wellbeing.

The Joy Test, which had nearly 10,000 respondents across two quantitative surveys and six focus groups, explored the emotional impact of taking part in selected popular leisure activities, including those in some of Immediate's core content areas: gardening, cooking and baking, and TV and radio consumption. It also examined what, if any, emotional impact, engagement with Immediate's brands had on people’s interaction with their leisure activities.

The research reveals that people’s chosen leisure activities provide profound psychological benefits that go far beyond simply passing the time, with respondents reporting a range of positive emotional, mental, and personal benefits - including increased levels of joy, wellbeing, and personal fulfilment.

Analysis focused on some of Immediate's key content areas – gardening, cooking and baking, TV viewing, radio listening – showed the more brand touchpoints people had engaged with, the more joy, intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, flow, and immersion they experienced in relation to their chosen activity. The key findings when comparing preferences for the four key leisure activities are:

1. Gardening and cooking support joy, flow states and wellbeing

The multi-sensory experience of gardening was most strongly associated with the experience of intrinsic motivation and sense of flow of all the activities studied. More than two thirds (68%) of respondents who chose gardening as the activity that brought most joy to their lives (out of the four being studied) rated feeling joyful very highly - 6 or 7 out of 7.

· Those who found most joy in gardening were 47% more likely to be highly conscientious.

· 57% of those who chose cooking and baking rated feeling joyful very highly - 6 or 7 out of 7.

Cooking and baking scored highest of the four activities on two specific psychological dimensions: perceived competence and task-oriented flow.

· Those who found most joy in cooking and baking were 26% more likely to be highly extraverted in comparison with others.

2. Media consumption provides relaxation, knowledge, and connection

TV and radio deliver on specific audience needs, providing connection, knowledge growth, and escapism.

· Relaxation was the most commonly cited impact of media consumption - 62% for TV and streaming viewers and 46% for radio listeners.

· Expanding knowledge was the dominant motivational driver for radio listeners, cited by 73% as a key reason for listening.

· Radio listeners are also 16% more likely than others to score highly on openness to experience.

3. Brand touchpoints amplify psychological experience

The research found a clear and statistically significant relationship between engaging with Immediate’s brands and the depth of joy people experienced - with correlations ranging from .09 to .25 across measures of joy, intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, flow, and immersion, all highly statistically significant across a dataset of nearly 7,500 respondents.

4. Social connection around activities supports wellbeing

The majority of respondents reported talking about their chosen leisure activity at least sometimes: -

· 88% for gardening

· 86% cooking and baking

· 80% of TV viewers

· 77% of radio listeners

The tendency to discuss leisure interests with others was directly associated with greater wellbeing and generalised trust in others, and lower mental health difficulties. TV and radio were also found to play an important role in supporting wellbeing, providing comfort, companionship, and a sense of shared cultural connection.

5. Social media scrolling brings the least joy

The research revealed that scrolling social media is the leisure activity that brings the least joy, despite being the activity people do with the greatest frequency. Across the study's respondents, scrolling on social media was among the top three most frequently engaged with activities during leisure time, and the single most regularly engaged with overall. Yet it was rated the lowest for how much joy it brought into people's lives - a finding that highlights a significant disconnect between how we choose to spend our leisure hours and what truly supports our wellbeing.

Sean Cornwell, Immediate CEO, says: "The Joy Test provides invaluable data showing that our brands are not merely content providers, but facilitators of deep psychological wellbeing and personal fulfilment. The clear correlation between engaging with multiple touchpoints and a greater sense of joy, competence, and flow is a powerful validation of our multi-platform strategy and our wider mission of helping people get more from the things they love."

Professor Robin Banerjee, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex, who led this work, says: "The Joy Test provides compelling evidence that an important key to psychological fulfilment and wellbeing could lie in simply being intentional with our leisure activities. These findings underscore the importance of dedicating time to hobbies that are emotionally rewarding and socially enriching. The research highlights the profound, and often unseen, contribution of media brands that support aspirational leisure activities, guiding consumers beyond mere passive consumption to active personal growth."

The findings are published in a new Whitepaper available here.