UKOM: Conservatives have most popular political party website

Ahead of tonight’s first televised debates between the leaders of the three main political parties, new UKOM figures show that the Conservatives had the most popular political party website in the UK last month.

According to data from the UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM), the site had a 150,000 unique audience.

March also saw the Liberal Democrats (115,000 unique audience) overtake Labour (114,000 unique audience) for the first time since last summer.

Visits to the BNP site rose significantly during times of public scrutiny, the figures reveal.

In October 2009 – when Question Time featuring Nick Griffin aired on BBC One – the site topped 152,000 unique audience, more than any other UK political party in that month. Last June, around the time of the local elections, the party attracted some 192,000 unique audience.

The Conservatives had the greatest proportion of female visitors to their site, with 44%, compared to Labour’s 43% and the Liberals’ 31%, according to UKOM.

And their support seems more evenly spread across the social classes than the other parties: 58% of Conservative site visitors are ABC1, compared to a surprising 71% for Labour and 75% for the Lib Dems.

James Smythe, UKOM general manager,  said: “This data reflects the complexity and dynamism of the race for UK voters’ attention. Over the past 12 months the parties have taken turns to peak and dip in popularity, but it’s become more important to deliver your party message as we get closer to the election.

“Our research suggests that the Tories are attracting online interest from a bigger and broader section of society than the other parties – but as the BNP data shows us, visits don’t necessarily turn into votes.”

UKOM figures are available on MediaTel’s new online database and show comprehensive traffic data for over 10,000 sites, including unique audience, active reach and gender profile.