ABCe September 2009: Guardian.co.uk back on top

The Guardian’s website saw a huge jump in traffic over the month of September, gaining over 6.3 million unique users in the process.

Since June of this year Mail Online has kept Guardian.co.uk off the top spot. Traffic for Guardian.co.uk has been lingering around the 26 million mark since the beginning of this year, with this latest drive in popularity seeing it finally breaking the 30 million mark with nearly 33 million unique users.

Telegraph.co.uk also had a large jump in users over September, with an extra 6.1 million logging onto the Telegraph Media site. With 31 million unique users the site has not only broken through the 30 million mark but moved up to second place since August, with a MOM rise of 24%.

While it may look like Mail Online had a very bad month, reigning in the top spot for three months only to fall to third place in September, this is not the case. The Associated news website gained nearly 1.5 million users, maintaining its huge surge in traffic over recent months. Since September of 2008, Mail Online has expanded its online readership by 37%.

In fourth position, Sun Online lost nearly 1 million users. In February of this year the website came out on top with 27 million users, although its success was short lived. In the past year the News International site grew by 7 million unique users.

There is little change with the competitors lagging behind. Both Times Online and the Mirror Group were down a few thousand users and remained in their previous positions. Independent.co.uk gained 700,000 users and reported a YOY increase of 10%.