The New York Post saw the biggest decline – dropping 11% of traffic month-on-month – followed by The New York Times, which dropped 10% to 336 million visits. All but two of the top 50 news websites in the US saw visits grow month-on-month amid an eventful July for political news. The four sites that dropped off the top 50 to make room for them were climate site The Cooldown, which had been enjoying a rapid traffic rise in recent months, local publishers Patch.com and KSL.com, and current affairs magazine The Atlantic. In July every site in the top ten saw month-on-month traffic growth, likely driven by blockbuster news events including the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s departure from the presidential race. Two-thirds of the top news sites in the US saw traffic shrink month-on-month in August following a bumper July. Despite its robust politics offering, Axios (23.3 million) was the top 50 site with the largest monthly traffic fall, losing 17.4% of its visits compared with September.
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Far-right website Gateway Pundit, which entered the chart at 48th last month, has in turn fallen out of the top 50. The site has since rolled out its inaugural paywall, the effects from which will only become visible next month. In September the shallowest traffic falls were recorded at The New York Times (down 1.9% to 355 million) and Forbes (down 2.1% to 113 million). Major news events in the US in September included Hurricane Helene hitting North Carolina, a second failed assassination attempt against Trump, and the first TV debate between him and Kamala Harris. In August eight of the top ten publishers saw month-on-month decline, which marked a correction after an eventful July (in which the Paris Olympics kicked off, Joe Biden left the US presidential race and Donald Trump was shot).
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The biggest month-on-month increase in June was at The Times of Israel, which saw its visits almost double to 23.7 million in the US (up 98%). The other newsbrands to report month-on-month growth were Newsbreak (up 6%), SFGate (4%), USA Today (3%), and LA Times and India Times (both 1%). Similarly six sites reported month-on-month growth for August, with this hugely increasing to 35 in September.
- Mark Carney and Pierre Polievre offered condolences after nine people were shot dead in the town of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia.
- Some content remains free to all users regardless of whether they have hit the paywall, including select global breaking news stories.
- A candlelit vigil was held on Wednesday night in the remote British Columbia town where six people were killed and dozens injured.
- CNN (425 million) remains the most-visited news site in the US despite an 11.8% year-on-year decrease in traffic — the only fall among the top ten besides Fox News (258.1 million), which lost 22.5% of its October 2023 traffic.
- It was followed by UK news site The Independent (up six places with 37.6 million) and the Los Angeles Times (up five places with 28.5 million).
- The black glove found on the roadside near Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home could hold crucial DNA evidence key to finally unmasking the missing 84-year-old’s kidnapper.
FBI looking at multiple persons of interest in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance: Kash Patel
CNN (425 million) remains the most-visited news site in the US despite an 11.8% year-on-year decrease in traffic — the only fall among the top ten besides Fox News (258.1 million), which lost 22.5% of its October 2023 traffic. Thirty websites in the top 50 also saw their visits grow year-on-year in October, as well as eight of the top ten. The Los Angeles Times (23.7 million visits) and Washington Post (102.4 million) saw the sixth and eighth largest drops, falling by 7.9% and 6.6% respectively compared with October. Among the top ten most-visited sites specifically, all but two sites saw some year-on-year growth. The biggest traffic pullback in the top ten was at USA Today (143.6 million, down 29.4%), followed by CNN (356.6 million, down 22.5%) and Fox News (253.6 million, down 17%). Some 32 sites grew their total number of website visits year on year, according to Similarweb.
Among the wider top 50, The Cool Down, which entered our ranking last month for the first time in 42nd position, saw strong growth for another month, moving up from 42nd to 35th in the table. Celebrity newsbrand People was the fastest-growing news website in the US in March according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking. The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (rank 11, 115.4 million visits), pulling further ahead of the BBC (rank 13, 106.1 million), which fell one place from twelfth in March. Those that declined only saw small traffic drops with People (down 4% compared to March) and Washington Post (117 million, also down 4%) seeing the largest drops.
Fastest-growing month-on-month in the top 50 was Advance Local-owned New Jersey news site nj.com (23.5 million visits, Online Casino Mistakes To Avoid up 33% month-on-month) while third fastest-growing was Business Insider (74.4 million, up 21%). It was followed for month-on-month growth in visits by progressive news website Rawstory (20.4 million, up 24%) and Newsweek (up 10% month-on-month). Month-on-month the fastest-growing newsbrand was The Cool Down (24.3 million visits, up 52% compared to January).
