Online ABCs: Brexit helps Indy boost web traffic by 44%
The run-up to the EU Referendum was no doubt responsible for the huge spike in web traffic for the majority of online news sites – with the Independent coming out on top.
Following a -7% drop in traffic the previous month, the Independent online was up by almost 44% in June – the biggest increase in traffic of all online news sites by far. The website – no longer accompanied by a print counterpart – now attracts almost 4.4 million unique visitors a day.
The Evening Standard’s website also had a good month, up 34.5%, alongside Telegraph online which was up 29.5%.
MailOnline and guardian.com remain the most popular news platforms by a long shot – with an 8% increase in web traffic taking MailOnline above the 15 million mark and a 15.5% increase seeing the Guardian average 10.3 million browsers a day.
Similarly, the Sun was up 15.4% and express.co.uk up 18.7%.
With a little more than 5 million daily visitors, Trinity Mirror Nationals maintained its place as the fourth most-visited news platform after an 8.4% increase in traffic.
Of the top 10 performing online news sites, only dailystar.co.uk recorded a decline in web traffic, down -9%.
| Site | June 16 daily average unique browsers | May 16 daily average unique browsers | Actual change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailOnline | 15,053,614 | 13,954,521 | 1,099,093 | 7.88 |
| theguardian.com | 10,304,181 | 8,923,129 | 1,381,052 | 15.48 |
| Telegraph | 5,623,053 | 4,342,570 | 1,280,483 | 29.49 |
| Trinity Mirror Nationals | 5,032,799 | 4,643,612 | 389,187 | 8.38 |
| The Independent | 4,382,722 | 3,048,377 | 1,334,345 | 43.77 |
| The Sun | 2,730,920 | 2,367,137 | 363,783 | 15.37 |
| express.co.uk | 1,851,337 | 1,559,744 | 291,593 | 18.69 |
| Metro | 1,346,565 | 1,207,841 | 138,724 | 11.49 |
| dailystar.co.uk | 818,188 | 899,259 | -81,071 | -9.02 |
| manchestereveningnews.co.uk | 747,713 | 712,021 | 35,692 | 5.01 |
| Evening Standard | 725,888 | 539,880 | 186,008 | 34.45 |
| www.liverpoolecho.co.uk | 524,549 | 584,619 | -60,070 | -10.28 |
| Wales Online | 392,220 | 286,568 | 105,652 | 36.87 |
| Birmingham Mail | 239,863 | 206,684 | 33,179 | 16.05 |
| Newcastle Chroniclelive.co.uk | 237,111 | 258,661 | -21,550 | -8.33 |
| Teesside Evening Gazette | 106,074 | 114,725 | -8,651 | -7.54 |
| Daily Post (Wales) | 81,423 | 83,187 | -1,764 | -2.12 |
| Huddersfield Daily Examiner | 66,281 | 55,866 | 10,415 | 18.64 |
| Coventry Telegraph | 62,938 | 57,115 | 5,823 | 10.20 |
