Editor’s Note: This article is part of To Vima International Edition’s year-end review, examining the stories and themes that most deeply engaged readers in 2025.
In 2025, Chartbeat – one of the world’s leading content intelligence platforms for publishers – reported that global audiences spent the most time engaging with stories related to celebrity memorials, health and science, politics, crime and violence, and the aftermath of major disasters, including the DC plane crash and the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
Analyzing 41 million pieces of content accounting for a total of 187.2 billion minutes of engaged time, Chartbeat’s global review revealed the following as the most-read and most-engaged stories of the year:
- Gene Hackman and wife’s deaths called ‘suspicious,’ bodies showed signs of ‘mummification’ by Fox News
- The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans by The Atlantic
- She was ready to have her 15th child, then came the felony charges by The New York Times
FILE – Actor Gene Hackman arrives with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, for the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
These findings followed closely on the heels of 2024, a year in which global engagement was overwhelmingly dominated by coverage related to the election of now U.S. President Donald Trump.
Other highly engaged global stories included the assassination of U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk; controversies surrounding American television host Jimmy Kimmel; and renewed attention to the fallout from the Epstein scandal, particularly in relation to Prince Andrew. At the same time, the death of Hollywood star Diane Keaton and speculation surrounding the selection of the next Pope also drew widespread interest.
Taken together, these trends underscore the wide spectrum of stories competing for readers’ attention in an increasingly crowded and fast-moving information landscape- one that Chartbeat also notes is being profoundly reshaped by artificial intelligence.
A person holds a U.S. flag during a vigil at Orem City Center Park, after U.S. right-wing activist and commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
What tovima.com Readers Chose
A look at readership trends on tovima.com reveals both parallels and clear distinctions from global engagement patterns.
Readers continue to return consistently for coverage of Greek politics and foreign affairs, the economy, society, and climate-related disasters. At the same time, tovima.com audiences have shown a sustained and distinctive affection for cultural stories, particularly those that connect Greece with global popular culture and internationally recognized public figures.
From January 1- December 1, 2025, readers particularly gravitated toward articles such as:
- The Film That Put Greece on the Hollywood Map Makes a Glorious Comeback in Cinemas
- Antetokounmpo Family, Sans Giannis, Moving Permanently to Athens
- Greek Seismologist Slams Authorities Over Illegal Construction on Santorini
A view of a closed path in the village of Fira, as the increased seismic activity continues on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 7, 2025. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
When it came to tovima.com’s original reporting, few topics captured sustained reader attention like Santorini. The island dominated headlines for months at the start of 2025, as persistent seismic activity unsettled residents, visitors, and authorities alike. Readers closely followed coverage that combined scientific analysis with human stories, highlighting the psychological toll of uncertainty and the broader implications for tourism and daily life.
Beyond Santorini, audiences showed a strong appetite for stories exploring authentic experiences in Greece and lesser-known dimensions of the country’s cultural and natural landscape.
Measured by total engagement time, some of the most notable stories of 2025 included:
- Santorini Embraces Authenticity to Elevate the Travel Experience
- Santorini on the Edge: How Relentless Earthquakes Are Shaking Minds and Lives
- Follow the Trail to Authentic and Unexpected Greece
Beyond the Daily News Cycle
Beyond celebrity, travel, and tourism, readers spent the most time with reporting that moved past the daily news cycle to examine Greece through broader structural lenses, including democracy, cost-of-living pressures, migration, demographics, and environmental risk.
Readers also showed a strong interest in hearing directly from global thought leaders, particularly when those voices helped contextualize international developments and explain their implications for Greece. Among the thought leadership interviews that recorded the highest engagement times in 2025 were:
- America’s Strategic Shift: Martin Wolf on Trump’s Unpredictability and Europe’s Growing Defense Imperative
- For Putin, Ukraine is More Important than Trump
- Trump, Power Plays, and the End of the Global Order: Dr. Robert Kaplan on a New Geopolitical Reality
Image of Robert Kaplan- best selling author of 24 books on foreign affairs and travel
Video and Podcasts
In addition to its core reporting, To Vima International Edition continued to expand its presence beyond traditional newspaper and online journalism.
Its flagship Ambassador Series, available on YouTube, offers in-depth conversations with senior diplomats representing their countries in Greece, exploring domestic and foreign policy priorities as well as bilateral relations with Athens. The episode featuring Canadian Ambassador to Greece Anna-Karine Asselin attracted the highest viewership in 2025, airing amid heightened U.S.–Canada tensions and growing geopolitical frictions over trade and tariffs.
On Spotify, tovima.com’s podcast series Explaining Greece continued to unpack complex domestic and regional developments. Listeners were particularly engaged by episodes such as:
- Why is Athens Irked Over a Turkey-Libya Deal to Draw Maritime Zones in the Med?
- An Energy Hub? LNG Imports, Off-shore Drilling & Power Cables
- Ag Sector Protests Across Greece As Viewed by Young, Female Farmer
A Global Outlook
Alongside its core focus on Greece, tovima.com has expanded its international coverage to reflect the global nature of the forces shaping the country’s economy, diplomacy, and public debate. Developments in U.S. and European politics, global markets, technology, and international institutions directly affect Greece’s present and future.
An important pillar of this broader outlook is tovima.com’s publishing partnership with The Wall Street Journal, which provides readers with access to authoritative U.S. journalism alongside tovima.com’s original reporting. In 2025, WSJ articles published on tovima.com featured prominently among the site’s most-read international stories, underscoring strong reader interest in global developments.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Among the most-read WSJ pieces on tovima.com were:
- A Texas Dad Tried to Kayak to His Daughters. The Girls Texted, ‘I Love You.’
- An American Retiree Was Lost Off the Coast of Venezuela. Then Things Went Really Bad
- The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers
Together, this mix of national and international coverage reflects a readership that values both depth at home and perspective abroad journalism that explains not only what is happening, but why it matters.
Rescuers paddle an inflatable boat as they search along a waterway following flash flooding, in Kerrville, Texas, U.S. July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Marco Bello
Looking Ahead
As we look toward 2026, one thing is clear: the most meaningful measure of journalism today is not speed or volume, but the time readers choose to spend engaging with it. Engagement time reflects trust.
We are grateful to our readers in Greece and around the world for continuing to turn to tovima.com for Greek reporting that matters, international coverage that informs, and cultural stories that surprise and inspire. We look forward to continuing the conversation in 2026, with journalism that remains curious, rigorous, and deeply human.
