It is completely normal and understandable to use an ellipsis (or just three dots if you care to make the typographical distinction) for unfinished, continuing, lists. It's often used particularly to strike a humorous note. "There's my ex-wife Cindy. And there are my ex-wives Helena, Georgia, Audrey..."
You are right that it is probably "rather informal": you'd probably not use it in, say, a novel. I'd say you'd see it in magazines fairly often. More "stuffy" newspapers would avoid it, it would not be in their style guide.
It is 100.0% understandable as an "unfinished list" to any anglophone.
Note that you would not have a comma after the last item before the dots.