ABC January: UK newsbrands see digital surge

Plot twist: all online news sites recorded a surge in web traffic in January, with Richard Desmond’s dailystar.co.uk seeing its audience increase by more than half.

Up 51.7%, dailystar.co.uk welcomed more than 901,000 unique daily browsers – up from 594,200 the previous month.

The Sun’s removal of its paywall in November seems to be paying off, with a 25.2% increase in traffic seeing the redtop secure almost 2 million browsers a day, while Metro was up 26.9% and Trinity Mirror Nationals up 20.7%.

As it prepares for a digital-only future, with its print counterparts set to close at the end of March after 30 years, the Independent recorded a record-breaking 19.1% increase in traffic in January, taking its daily total to more than 3.3 million – the fifth most-popular news website.

The site also recorded its highest ever number of US visitors, with 20 million users during the month. Last week it was announced that new global editorial bureaux will open in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with an expansion of the current US operation, set to double in size by the end of the calendar year.

Elsewhere, web giant Mail Online was up 12% to 14.8 million, while theguardian.com was up 11.7% and Telegraph online up 14.2%.