Demand for coronavirus-related news has led to huge leaps in digital audience reach for national newsbrands in the UK, new figures show.
Comscore figures for March show double-digit gains for nearly all titles across desktop, mobile and tablet when compared with figures for November last year, as interest in news on the pandemic surged.
Scroll down for March Comscore figures and comparisons
March saw the first recorded UK death from Covid-19 and strict lockdown measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus.
Related
Figures for phone and desktop reach were up by well over a third on average (39% and 36% respectively) compared to data from November 2019. For tablets the average growth was was just over one fifth (22%).
Pamco figures show The Times grew its mobile reach by 68% from 7.1m last quarter to nearly 12m. The Scotsman was up by 87% to 4.5m, the Daily star by 72% to 10m and The Guardian by 63% to nearly 29m.
On desktop, The Times’ reach was actually down 2% on the previous quarter, while others made large gains. The Express was up 69% to 6.5m, The i by 58% to 1.5m, and The Sun by 53% to 5.2m.
Content from our partners
The Scotsman’s desktop reach grew by 149% to just shy of 1m.
The Evening Standard, which has seen its print distribution severely disrupted by the lockdown and is pursuing a digital-first transformation, grew its mobile reach by 48% to 16m and desktop by 30% to 2.5m.
The Yorkshire Post is the only newsbrand not to have recorded digital audience growth across at least one medium, with double-digit decline across mobile, tablet and desktop.
Comscore March 2020 (Pamco):
| Newsbrand |
Phone (000) |
Tablet (000) |
Desktop (000) |
Total (not deduped)
(000) |
| Sun | 32,902 | 3,808 | 5,276 | 41,986 |
| The Guardian | 28,932 | 2,944 | 9,403 | 41,279 |
| Independent | 28,183 | 3,026 | 6,775 | 37,984 |
| The Mail | 28,737 | 2,716 | 6,257 | 37,710 |
| Mirror | 26,276 | 3,046 | 3,481 | 32,803 |
| Express | 23,083 | 2,548 | 6,525 | 32,156 |
| The Telegraph | 22,636 | 2,436 | 6,236 | 31,308 |
| Metro | 25,762 | 2,298 | 2,918 | 30,978 |
| Evening Standard | 16,030 | 1,674 | 2,506 | 20,210 |
| The Times | 11,993 | 1,759 | 1,020 | 14,772 |
| Daily Star | 10,039 | 729 | 631 | 11,399 |
| i | 6,165 | 737 | 1,506 | 8,408 |
| Daily Record | 5,739 | 506 | 548 | 6,793 |
| The Scotsman | 4,556 | 462 | 988 | 6,006 |
| The Herald | 1,392 | 136 | 186 | 1,714 |
| The Yorkshire Post | 901 | 107 | 117 | 1,125 |
Comscore comparison for phone reach:
| Newsbrand | March 2020 (000) | Nov 2019 (000) | % change |
| Sun | 32,902 | 30,671 | 7% |
| The Guardian | 28,932 | 17,804 | 63% |
| The Mail | 28,737 | 19,035 | 51% |
| Independent | 28,183 | 19,642 | 43% |
| Mirror | 26,276 | 23,947 | 10% |
| Metro | 25,762 | 20,747 | 24% |
| Express | 23,083 | 17,068 | 35% |
| The Telegraph | 22,636 | 15,516 | 46% |
| Evening Standard | 16,030 | 10,795 | 48% |
| The Times | 11,993 | 7,147 | 68% |
| Daily Star | 10,039 | 5,851 | 72% |
| i | 6,165 | 5,588 | 10% |
| Daily Record | 5,739 | 4,524 | 27% |
| The Scotsman | 4,556 | 2,433 | 87% |
| The Herald | 1,392 | 907 | 53% |
| The Yorkshire Post | 901 | 1,234 | -27% |
Comscore comparison for desktop reach:
| Newsbrand | March 2020 (000) | Nov 2019 (000) | % change |
| The Guardian | 9,403 | 6,574 | 43% |
| Independent | 6,775 | 4,847 | 40% |
| Express | 6,525 | 3,866 | 69% |
| The Mail | 6,257 | 4,504 | 39% |
| The Telegraph | 6,236 | 4,591 | 36% |
| Sun | 5,276 | 3,441 | 53% |
| Mirror | 3,481 | 2,802 | 24% |
| Metro | 2,918 | 2,492 | 17% |
| Evening Standard | 2,506 | 1,922 | 30% |
| i | 1,506 | 951 | 58% |
| The Times | 1,020 | 1,042 | -2% |
| The Scotsman | 988 | 397 | 149% |
| Daily Star | 631 | 506 | 25% |
| Daily Record | 548 | 379 | 45% |
| The Herald | 186 | 183 | 2% |
| The Yorkshire Post | 117 | 239 | -51% |
Comscore comparison for tablet reach:
| Newsbrand | March 2020 (000) | Nov 2019 (000) | % change |
| Sun | 3,808 | 3,369 | 13% |
| Mirror | 3,046 | 2,816 | 8% |
| Independent | 3,026 | 2,336 | 30% |
| The Guardian | 2,944 | 2,118 | 39% |
| The Mail | 2,716 | 2,900 | -6% |
| Express | 2,548 | 2,165 | 18% |
| The Telegraph | 2,436 | 2,176 | 12% |
| Metro | 2,298 | 1,825 | 26% |
| The Times | 1,759 | 1,170 | 50% |
| Evening Standard | 1,674 | 1,384 | 21% |
| i | 737 | 600 | 23% |
| Daily Star | 729 | 425 | 72% |
| Daily Record | 506 | 487 | 4% |
| The Scotsman | 462 | 262 | 76% |
| The Herald | 136 | 176 | -23% |
| The Yorkshire Post | 107 | 123 | -13% |
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
