New data reveals Sun’s falling online audience

The Sun’s total digital population was down significantly in October, while other online red tops saw huge increases in traffic, according to new data from UKOM and comScore.

The data – which combines audiences across PC, mobile and tablet – revealed that in October, of the internet’s total digital population of 47.8 million, news/information sites accounted for almost 36 million unique visitors over the course of the month.

The Sun Online, which went behind a paywall earlier this year, recorded a -16% decrease in its digital population in October, taking its audience down to just over 3.5 million overall.

Meanwhile, the Sun Online’s main rival, Mirror Online, was up 19% to a total of 9.3 million.

Similarly, other online red tops, including Dailyrecord.co.uk and Dailystar.co.uk, reported huge digital increases for the month – up 24% and 46%, respectively.

Although only up 7.4% in October, MailOnline lead the ranks with a total digital audience of 18.1 million, while Telegraph Media Group and the Guardian followed with 13.9 million and 12.3 million, respectively – both reporting marginal increases.

Since launching a new news app, Metro.co.uk has seen its digital audience rise by over 66% to almost 6 million, with the majority of traffic coming from mobile (3.2 million).

Of the total digital audience of just under 48 million, the platform split, according to comScore, shows that desktops accounted for 44.7 million newsbrand views, mobiles for 34.3 million and tablets for 3.1 million.