Nielsen Online: Top magazine sites up 30%
Top magazine and newspaper websites saw their unique users in the UK increase over the last year, according to Nielsen Online’s latest survey.
Auto Trader is by far the most popular magazine website with 1.8 million unique users, while the Guardian remains the most visited online paper with 3.5 million unique users, despite having the lowest year on year growth of the top UK newspapers.
Nielsen Online’s survey found that in November, 10.3 million Britons visited at least one of the ten most popular websites compared to just 8.3 million across the group in November last year – a growth of 23%.
Meanwhile, the Mirror, the Independent and the Daily Mail’s sites have seen the largest year on year increases, up 92%, 85% and 65% respectively.
The New York Times is the only non-UK paper in the top ten, with 0.9 million British visitors, making it more popular online than the Financial Times, the News of the World and the Daily Express.
The Metro is the only regional paper to feature in the list of most popular newspaper sites, with 0.6 million unique users.
Alex Burmaster, communications director at Nielsen Online, said: “Regardless of what’s happening with print circulations, the major papers have had a fantastic year online, all experiencing strong growth in audience numbers.”
| Year-on-Year Performance of Most Popular Newspaper Websites in the UK | ||||
| Rank | Newspaper Website | UK Unique Audience (000s) Nov 08 | UK Unique Audience (000s) Nov 07 | YoY Change |
| 1 | Guardian | 3,459 | 3,044 | 14% |
| 2 | Telegraph | 3,142 | 2,563 | 23% |
| 3 | Times | 2,896 | 2,041 | 42% |
| 4 | Sun | 2,711 | 1,895 | 43% |
| 5 | Daily Mail | 2,692 | 1,631 | 65% |
| 6 | Independent | 1,588 | 859 | 85% |
| 7 | Mirror | 1,334 | 695 | 92% |
| 8 | New York Times | 902 | 824 | 9% |
| 9 | Financial Times | 774 | 587 | 32% |
| 10 | Metro | 645 | 531 | 21% |
| Source: Nielsen Online, UK NetView. E.g. 3.5 million Britons visited the Guardian site in Nov 08, 14% more than in Nov 07. | ||||
| The audience figures are for UK visitors only, accessing the sites from home or work locations only | ||||
Nielsen’s survey also found that in November, 5.5 million Britons visited at least one of the ten most popular magazine websites compared to just 4.3 million across the group in November last year – a growth of 30%.
BBC Good Food is the fastest-growing online magazine in the top ten with an impressive 153% growth, followed by the Radio Times, which saw a 76% increase.
Meanwhile, Auto Trader easily takes the lead on the table, followed by Which? magazine with 1.1 million unique users.
The ten most popular magazine websites list remains varied, coming from nine different sectors, with only technology featuring more than one magazine – PC Advisor and Wired.
Burmaster said: “Whereas the highest-circulation print magazines are dominated by retailer publications and TV listings, the most popular magazine sites cover an extremely wide array of sectors from auto sales, consumer reviews, food and TV to listings, science, technology, music and geography.
“Despite this diversity, there is consistency in that almost all the leading magazine sites have had a large increase in audience over the last year. As with the newspapers, this provides some great news for publishers in contrast to what’s happening with print circulations,” he continued.
“Furthermore, it shows how key a part online should play in the future strategies of print titles in terms of generating advertising revenue,” he added.
| Year-on-Year Performance of Most Popular Magazine Websites in the UK | ||||
| Rank | Magazine Website | UK Unique Audience (000s) Nov 08 | UK Unique Audience (000s) Nov 07 | YoY Change |
| 1 | Auto Trader | 1,847 | 1,784 | 4% |
| 2 | Which? | 1,055 | 822 | 28% |
| 3 | BBC Good Food | 745 | 294 | 153% |
| 4 | Radio Times | 566 | 321 | 76% |
| 5 | Time Out | 565 | 608 | -7% |
| 6 | Scientific American | 427 | – | – |
| 7 | PC Advisor | 405 | 254 | 59% |
| 8 | NME | 388 | 228 | 70% |
| 9 | National Geographic | 387 | 333 | 16% |
| 10 | Wired | 370 | 247 | 50% |
| Source: Nielsen Online, UK NetView. E.g. 1.8 million Britons visited the Auto Trader site in Nov 08, 4% more than in Nov 07 | ||||
| The audience figures are for UK visitors only, accessing the sites from home or work locations only | ||||
Nielsen Online: www.nielsen-online.com