Like their print counterparts, national news websites had a tough February – in large part due to the short month.
Only a handful of titles saw any growth, with Mail Online and the Guardian, already market leaders, up 5.4% and 5%, respectively.
Every other national newsbrand recorded a decline, with Trinity Mirror Nationals hardest hit – down almost -17%, a drop of 796,000 daily unique browsers.
The Metro also saw people click elsewhere with a -11.5% drop, equating to 146,000 fewer browsers, whilst dailystar.co.uk was down almost 70,000 browsers (-10.5%).
Of the regional newsbrands audited by ABC, again only two recorded any growth – Coventry Telegraph and Teeside Evening Gazette. The titles were up 1.5% and 3.4%, respectively.
All other regional newsbrands were down, with Manchester Evening News hardest hit with a -18.6% drop (-105,000).
| Site | Feb 15 Daily Average Unique Browsers | Jan 15 Daily Average Unique Browsers | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailOnline | 14,702,749 | 13,949,793 | 752,956 | 5.40 |
| guardian.co.uk | 7,346,024 | 6,996,926 | 349,098 | 4.99 |
| Trinity Mirror Nationals | 3,986,855 | 4,782,898 | -796,043 | -16.64 |
| Telegraph | 4,024,173 | 4,144,592 | -120,419 | -2.91 |
| The Independent | 2,400,878 | 2,488,481 | -87,603 | -3.52 |
| Metro | 1,132,000 | 1,278,354 | -146,354 | -11.45 |
| express.co.uk | 838,564 | 878,858 | -40,294 | -4.58 |
| dailystar.co.uk | 598,503 | 668,437 | -69,934 | -10.46 |
| manchestereveningnews.co.uk | 458,278 | 562,843 | -104,565 | -18.58 |
| www.liverpoolecho.co.uk | 405,900 | 426,584 | -20,684 | -4.85 |
| standard.co.uk | 325,126 | 338,175 | -13,049 | -3.86 |
| Wales Online | 221,372 | 222,337 | -965 | -0.43 |
| Birmingham Mail | 181,663 | 203,869 | -22,206 | -10.89 |
| Newcastle Chroniclelive.co.uk | 182,158 | 194,028 | -11,870 | -6.12 |
| Teesdide Evening Gazette | 85,444 | 82,665 | 2,779 | 3.36 |
| Daily Post (Wales) | 63,391 | 63,795 | -404 | -0.63 |
| Huddersfield Daily Examiner | 44,715 | 51,861 | -7,146 | -13.78 |
| Coventry Telegraph | 50,718 | 49,954 | 764 | 1.53 |
Source: ABC
