July saw the UK’s desktop-only online population remain static with a total of 45.4 million visitors using the internet over this period.
According to UKOM-approved data released from comScore MMX, this is the second consecutive month users reached that total, the highest reported amount of users in 2015 so far.
Once again, the biggest social grade belonged to the C1 category, described by NRS as ‘junior managerial, administrative or professionals’, making up 28.5% of the online population, with the users in London accounting for 22%.
The majority of those online (31%) lived in a household with just two people, while households reporting five or more people accounted for 14% of July’s users.
45% had children in the household, while 31% of the month’s online universe had a household income of £50k or more.
comScore subscribers can see further breakdowns in the monthly online users by demographic report.
Top News/Information Properties
BBC Sites remained the number one destination for news in the UK, even though it reported a fall of over half a million users month on month, translating to a small -2.8% drop for July. The collection of sites which includes all regional and international sites connected to BBC News, saw each person visit 66 pages on average, while boasting an active reach of 50%.
While BBC Sites suffered the biggest actual loss over the month (-641,000 users) it was the About network that witnessed the biggest percentage drop in the top 10. In July it had 4.3 million desktop-based visitors, which translated to a -12% fall.
Mail Online remained the nation’s most popular digital newsbrand, securing an impressive 11.8 million visitors in July, translating to an active reach of 26%. The property, which includes Metro.co.uk and Thisismoney.co.uk sites, ranked in 39th place overall and saw each visitor spend an average of 50 minutes browsing.
The Guardian followed with 8.8 million visitors while Telegraph Media Group and Independent & Evening Standard pulled in 8.4 million and 5.7 million desktop users, respectively, while relatively new kid on the block, Buzzfeed.com, came in 10th with 2.5 million users.
| UK Rank | Site | Jul 15 (000s) | Jun 15 (000s) | Change (000s) | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | BBC Sites | 22569000 | 23,210,000 | -641,000 | -2.8 |
| 39 | Mail Online / Daily Mail | 11793000 | 12,153,000 | -360,000 | -3.0 |
| 58 | The Guardian | 8805000 | 9,396,000 | -591,000 | -6.3 |
| 64 | Telegraph Media Group | 8370000 | 8,392,000 | -22,000 | -0.3 |
| 113 | Independent & Evening Standard (ESi Media) | 5687000 | 5,687,000 | n/a | n/a |
| 123 | Gannett Sites | 5376000 | 5,270,000 | 106,000 | 2.0 |
| 169 | About | 4278000 | 4,869,000 | -591,000 | -12.1 |
| 239 | Johnston Press Plc | 3285000 | 3,223,000 | 62,000 | 1.9 |
| 246 | Local World Sites | 3228000 | 3,367,000 | -139,000 | -4.1 |
| 362 | BUZZFEED.COM | 2457000 | 2,565,000 | -108,000 | -4.2 |
Source: comScore MMX (desktop only) approved by UKOM
Family and Youth
Unsurprisingly, the Disney Corporation had two entries in the top 10 sites aimed at family and youth, with parent property Disney Online netting just under 1.9 million users while media channel, Disney Entertainment, secured nearly 1.4 million users.
Mode Tend Parenting, an educational and parental network under the Mode Media property, was the most popular family-based site and attracted over 4 million users throughout July. The collection of sites, which include a variety of language learning and maths brands, only managed an average of four pages and five minutes per person.
In third and fourth place were suspiciously similar competitors netmums.com and Mumsnet.com, netting 1.6 million and 1.5 million users, respectively.
| UK Rank | Site | Jul 15 (000s) | Jun 15 (000s) | Change (000s) | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 178 | Mode Tend Parenting [M] | 4087000 | 4,623,000 | -536,000 | -11.6 |
| 491 | Disney Online [P] | 1855000 | 1,743,000 | 112,000 | 6.4 |
| 559 | NETMUMS.COM [G] | 1622000 | 1,546,000 | 76,000 | 4.9 |
| 616 | MUMSNET.COM [P] | 1457000 | 1,383,000 | 74,000 | 5.4 |
| 664 | Disney Entertainment [M] | 1358000 | 1,328,000 | 30,000 | 2.3 |
| 734 | TotallyKidz – Evolve Media [P] | 1236000 | 1,369,000 | -133,000 | -9.7 |
| 767 | ANIMALJAM.COM [M] | 1189000 | 854,000 | 335,000 | 39.2 |
| 806 | CBBC [C] | 1134000 | 1,052,000 | 82,000 | 7.8 |
| 858 | MOVIESTARPLANET.CO.UK [P] | 1048000 | 1,092,000 | -44,000 | -4.0 |
| 891 | Ancestry.com Inc. [P] | 1008000 | 957,000 | 51,000 | 5.3 |
Source: comScore MMX (desktop only) approved by UKOM
Further breakdowns and reports can found in Mediatel’s Online database.
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