Editoria e Media
Chilling reads: two thirds of Brits read true crime as Criminal Psychologist reveals why we are so intrigued by crime
A third (32 percent) are captivated by disappearances with no trace and 31 percent are intrigued by reading up on wrongful convictions, showed the research by Readly digital magazine and newspaper app.
Interest in the category appears to be due to the psychological and mysterious nature of the reports. 61 percent of people said they read to understand criminal minds and the psychological aspect and 53 percent enjoy the mystery involved in solving cases. For others, it's fuelling the inner detective and justice, with 40 percent reading true crime for the desire for justice and exposing wrongful convictions and 39 percent reading due to the real-world stakes.
Interest in true crime also appears to also be about escapism and thrill, with 48 percent believing they would make a good detective and 28 percent saying it is a safe way to experience fear and suspense.
The category is trending in terms of time spent reading too as Readly's in app data shows that true crime content generates the highest average reading time per issue across several genres including history, lifestyle, and celebrity titles. Lifestyle magazines with true crime specials demonstrate even higher engagement, with 44 and 35 minutes of average reading time per issue, respectively. This compares with TV, film and cinema (27 minutes), Science (20 minutes) and Cars and Motoring (19 minutes) which were Readly's top categories in terms of time spent reading per session according to its 2024 trends report.
Readly has launched a true crime retro series with The Evening Standard, featuring some of the most well known crimes across history such as Jack the Ripper, The Great Train Robbery, Serial killer Fred West House of Horrors and The Pearl Robbery.
The True Crime retro series includes:
The launch of the True Crime Retro Series with the Evening Standard is the latest in a series of retro launches for Readly and part of its continued effort to bolster its content portfolio, offering its readers a broad range of content and over 8,000 digital magazines and newspapers on the platform.
For more information visit www.readly.com.
kate.tegelaars@readly.com or 07879 818 711
The representative online survey was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Readly in
March 2025 . 1,000 people in the UK were surveyed. Comparative data from
Sweden and Germany is also available.
Readly is a European category leader for digital magazines and newspapers. The Company offers a digital subscription service where customers have unlimited access to 8,000 national and international titles - all in one app and at a fixed monthly fee. Readly has subscribers in 50 countries and content available in 17 different languages. In collaboration with around 1,000 publishers worldwide, Readly is digitising the newspaper and magazine industry. In 2024, revenues amounted to
SEK 725 million . The Readly share is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market and FNCA Sweden AB is the Company's Certified Advisor. For more information, please visit https://corporate.readly.com
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