Immediate research links a joyful mindset to advocacy and spend

Published: 20 Jul 2026

Immediate, home to trusted brands that people love, including Radio Times and Good Food, has published new research showing that joyful audiences, are 11 times more likely to recommend a product and close to five times more likely to spend on the things they love.

The study, The Joy Advantage, surveyed 2,095 people in April 2026 and builds on the company's 2025 Joy Test with the University of Sussex, which established the link between people's passions, brand touchpoints and their wellbeing. It reveals that the emotional state people are in when they see advertising has a direct and measurable effect on commercial behaviour.

Where the 2025 work proved the wellbeing case, the Joy Advantage looks at how a joyful, passion-led mindset makes audiences measurably more likely to recommend, consider and buy. The study used data from the Immediate Insiders’ panel of passion-driven audiences and a nationally representative sample. When feeling joyful rather than sad or stressed, the Immediate audience are 11 times more likely to recommend products to friends and family, close to five times more likely to spend on their passions. They are also more willing to explore unfamiliar brands and trade up to premium options.Where that mindset is formed matters as much as the message. Passions and hobbies deliver the biggest net positive impact on mood of any factor tested for all respondents, and 92% of the audience say their mood is improved daily by their hobbies and passions.

In the original research project with the University of Sussex, scrolling social media was found to be the activity that brought people the least joy from a list of 21 activities, despite being the most frequent. The Joy Advantage explored this further, revealing that engaging with passion content rather than scrolling makes the audience 240% more likely to feel positive and energised and 400% more likely to buy a product advertised alongside it.Meanwhile this audience are 66% more likely to buy any product advertised in a magazine brand than when scrolling social media, whatever the category.The findings align with several other studies. Mindshare's Meaningful Connections work puts the advertising receptivity index at 126 and above for people actively seeking inspiration, against just 60 for those filling time. Thinkbox's Context Effect study found that positive emotions improve trust in advertising claims. Craft Media make a similar case in their Anti-Ultra-Processed Planning Cookbook, arguing that reach without receptivity delivers empty calories.

Jon Restall, Advertising Director, Trading and Clients, Immediate, said: "We have spent years as an industry getting better at reaching the right people. The Joy Advantage shows that the emotional state that audiences are in when we reach them is just as important to commercial results. A joyful, passion-led mindset makes audiences significantly more likely to share recommendations and to try new products. These are not soft metrics - and are ones that our premium environments are built to deliver." Restall continues: "As our insight shows, doomscrolling delivers “content without nourishment”, leading to lower levels of engagement and inspiration. Passion-led content intentionally sought out by the audience does the opposite. It puts people in a frame of mind where advertising is welcome rather than tolerated. When a brand shows up around the things people love, they reach an audience more receptive to commercial messaging and more likely to take action."