A general election campaign helped more than double web traffic for The Independent, The Sun and Birmingham Mail websites, new ABC figures show.
The Independent, which had the largest number of viral stories during the election campaign according to Buzzsumo data, saw its daily average unique browsers climb by 115 per cent to 6,577,317, also up 38 per cent on last month.
The Sun was up by 108 per cent and the Birmingham Mail up 115 per cent year-on-year.
The Manchester Evening News, which won plaudits for its coverage of the bombing at a concert venue in the city on 22 May, saw its daily average unique browsers jump 66 per cent year-on-year and by 50 per cent on the previous month.
The smallest year-on-year growth in online audience for a national news website was recorded by Mail Online, at 10 per cent, although it continues to dominate with more than 15m daily average unique browsers – more than double nearest rival the Independent.
The Telegraph also recorded a 10 per cent rise in its online audience, year-on-year. The title introduced a premium content paywall last year and told Press Gazette it had doubled the number of daily subscribers since the snap general election announcement in April.
UK newspaper websites ABC figures for May 2017 (source ABC):
| Publication (website) | Avg daily unique browsers (May 2017) | % change month-on-month | % change year-on-year |
| MailOnline | 15,365,330 | 1.64 | 10.11 |
| The Independent | 6,577,317 | 38.07 | 115.76 |
| Mirror.co,uk | 5,413,808 | 9.98 | 16.59 |
| The Sun | 4,935,140 | 4.98 | 108.49 |
| Telegraph | 4,797,213 | 12.08 | 10.47 |
| Metro | 2,273,131 | 35.21 | 88.2 |
| express.co.uk | 2,049,140 | 0.31 | 31.38 |
| Manchester Evening News | 1,184,050 | 50.63 | 66.29 |
| dailystar.co.uk | 1,022,772 | 8.46 | 13.73 |
| Evening Standard | 825,192 | 9.09 | 52.85 |
| Liverpool Echo | 652,414 | 5.11 | 11.6 |
| Birmingham Mail | 444,663 | 23.92 | 115.14 |
| Wales Online | 403,019 | 3.95 | 40.64 |
| Chronicle Live | 305,022 | 18.24 | 17.92 |
| Bristol Post | 161,320 | 48.04 | |
| Hull Daily Mail | 135,461 | -12.47 | |
| GazetteLive | 126,903 | 11.44 | 10.61 |
| Nottingham Post | 115,834 | -1.8 | |
| Daily Post (Wales) | 108,997 | 5.48 | 31.03 |
| Plymouth Herald | 104,997 | 15.93 | |
| Stoke Sentinel | 98,395 | 10.1 | |
| Coventry Telegraph | 98,215 | 2.79 | 71.96 |
| Derby Telegraph | 95,388 | 6.81 | |
| Leicester Mercury | 93,687 | 10.56 | |
| Huddersfield Daily Examiner | 84,535 | 18.44 | 51.32 |
| Cambridge News | 68,367 | 20.03 | |
| Get Surrey | 66,128 | 4.08 | 26.9 |
| Get Reading | 49,574 | 15.94 | -6.75 |
| Grimsby Telegraph | 43,610 | -0.39 | |
| Visiter.co.uk | 16,485 | 10.98 | 53.63 |
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