Online ABCs: Majority of online news sites see traffic slide
Despite the looming US Presidential election and snowballing post-Brexit coverage, almost all online news sites recorded declines in traffic in September.
dailystar.co.uk took the biggest hit and lost more than a quarter of its online audience compared to the previous month (-26.4%), while Evening Standard traffic was down -14.4%.
A move to online-only doesn’t seem to have done the Independent many favours, with daily browsers down -11% over the month – marking two consecutive months of declines.
Meanwhile Telegraph Online recorded an -8.8% decrease to its audience, while Trinity Mirror Group – Digital (a combination of national and regional figures) was down -5.5%, Guardian.com down -4.7% and MailOnline down -3.2%.
The Sun Online performed well in comparison with a small -1.5% decline.
Despite the declines in September, the entire market enjoyed a 13% year-on-year uplift across digital platforms.
| Site | September 16 daily average unique browsers | August 16 daily average unique browsers | Actual change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailOnline | 14,739,323 | 15,228,325 | -489,002 | -3.21 |
| Trinity Mirror Group – Digital | 8,248,853 | 8,729,512 | -480,659 | -5.51 |
| theguardian.com | 7,964,892 | 8,352,910 | -388,018 | -4.65 |
| Mirror Group Nationals | 4,912,704 | 5,262,564 | -349,860 | -6.65 |
| Telegraph | 4,350,828 | 4,769,878 | -419,050 | -8.79 |
| Trinity Mirror Regional Network | 3,721,519 | 3,897,848 | -176,329 | -4.52 |
| The Independent | 3,253,850 | 3,655,785 | -401,935 | -10.99 |
| The Sun | 2,905,750 | 2,950,649 | -44,899 | -1.52 |
| express.co.uk | 1,493,995 | 1,650,539 | -156,544 | -9.48 |
| Metro | 1,155,753 | 1,251,374 | -95,621 | -7.64 |
| Manchester Evening News | 782,492 | 833,172 | -50,680 | -6.08 |
| dailystar.co.uk | 710,127 | 964,366 | -254,239 | -26.36 |
| Evening Standard | 575,730 | 672,455 | -96,725 | -14.38 |
| Liverpool Echo | 526,691 | 598,174 | -71,483 | -11.95 |
| Wales Online | 349,014 | 318,874 | 30,140 | 9.45 |
| Birmingham Mail | 260,451 | 286,550 | -26,099 | -9.11 |
| ChronicleLive | 259,514 | 268,989 | -9,475 | -3.52 |
| GazetteLive | 111,509 | 108,819 | 2,690 | 2.47 |
| Hull Daily Mail (Web) | 103,984 | 110,439 | -6,455 | -5.84 |
| Daily Post (Wales) | 88,031 | 92,497 | -4,466 | -4.83 |
| Stoke Sentinel | 73,461 | 77,079 | -3,618 | -4.69 |
| Leicester Mercury (Web) | 68,573 | 74,884 | -6,311 | -8.43 |
| Coventry Telegraph | 65,459 | 62,685 | 2,774 | 4.43 |
| Huddersfield Daily Examiner | 59,471 | 64,529 | -5,058 | -7.84 |
| Get Reading | 54,378 | 63,636 | -9,258 | -14.55 |
| Get Surrey | 52,568 | 50,636 | 1,932 | 3.82 |
| Visiter.co.uk | 13,533 | 12,628 | 905 | 7.17 |
