Half of the world’s top 50 most-visited English-language news sites grew their traffic year-on-year in September – but all but two saw visits decline month-on-month.
- Top 50 most popular news websites in the UK (monthly ranking)
- Top 50 most popular news websites in the US (monthly ranking)
The only sites to grow their web traffic month-on-month were CBS News (102.3 million visits, up 18% month-on-month) and India.com (140.54 million, up 42%).
The latter, which was also the fourth-fastest growing site on the top 50 year-on-year, continues a trend of healthy growth at Indian news sites in recent months.
As well as the growth at CBS News, the sites with the shallowest month-on-month declines in September included US hard news staples NBC News (106.6 million visits, down 2.4% month-on-month), The New York Times (517.3 million, down 3.6%) and CNN (571.2 million, down 5.9%), possibly reflecting the approach of the US presidential election in November.
Related
Last month English language news sites outside India saw a sharp pull-back coming out of an eventful July that saw the opening of the Paris Olympics, Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Indian sites generally fared well, however, increasing traffic compared with July or remaining largely stable.
This month India.com, OneIndia.com and IndianExpress.com were among the ten sites with the most growth (or the least shrinkage) month-on-month, but several Indian sites were also the fastest droppers, including The Hindu newspaper (72.2 million, down 17.6% month-on-month), LiveMint.com (69.1 million, down 17%) and NDTV (102.6 million, down 25.8%).
Canadian broadcaster CBC saw the biggest month-on-month decline in the top 50 (60.3 million visits in September, down 37.9% on August), and UK newspapers The Sun (60.2 million, down 23.3%), The Telegraph (109.1 million, down 19.8%), the Daily Express (59.4 million, down 16.2%) and the Daily Mirror (59.5 million, also down 16.2%) were all among the biggest fallers.
This picture was repeated year-on-year, with the Mirror (down 34.9% year-on-year), The Sun (down 23.2%) and Daily Mail (279 million visits, down 20.2%) among the top ten largest fallers compared with September 2023. They were, again, joined by Indian news sites Live Mint (down 26.8% year-on-year), India Today (down 26.8%), The Hindu (down 20%), NDTV (down 17.2%) and Rediff (61 million visits, down 14.2% year-on-year) also in the top ten.
Meanwhile Newsweek (109 million visits, up 108.3%) was once again the fastest year-on-year grower, followed by CBS, fellow US news site ABC News (69.4 million, up 51.8% year-on-year) and India.com.
Approximately a third of sites in the top 50 saw double-digit growth compared with September 2023.
Among the ten most visited English-language news sites in the world no site grew its web visits month-on-month. The New York Times, CNN, MSN (601.2 million visits, down 6.1% month-on-month) and Google News (329.2 million, down 6.3%) saw the shallowest declines while the deepest occurred at The Guardian (303.8 million, down 11.7%), the Daily Mail and Yahoo Finance (213.7 million, down 11.1%).
Year-on-year, meanwhile, as many top-ten sites grew their traffic as shrank. The New York Times grew the most compared with last September, with visits rising 14%, followed by CNN (10%), MSN (5%) and Fox News (288.5 million visits, up 2.8% on last year).
The Mail saw the fastest drop, shedding 20% of its traffic, followed by the BBC's sites (986 million, down 10.6%), despite which they remained the most-visited English-language news sites in the world. The Guardian also shrank year-on-year (down 4%), meaning all the British top ten sites lost traffic year-on-year.
Continue reading for previous months' coverage of the world's top 50 websites for news:
August 2024
Most of the world’s most-visited English-language news sites grew traffic year-on-year in August, despite month-on-month traffic declines.
American and British news sites saw the sharpest month-on-month contractions coming out of a busy July that saw the opening of the Paris Olympics, Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Indian news sites, on the other hand, were among the most resilient of the top 50 newsbrands in August. Five of the 12 sites that grew their traffic were Indian, and a further two Indian brands kept visits steady compared with July.
Year-on-year, the fastest-growing site in August was again Newsweek (up 141% to 134.9 million visits), which has registered as either the fastest or second-fastest growing brand year-on-year every month since December 2023.
Newsweek was followed by ABC News (78.1 million visits, up 71% year-on-year), People (205.2 million, up 53%) and newsletter platform Substack (82.9 million, up 45%).
Here too Indian websites are well-represented, with Indiatimes (194.2 million, up 41% year-on-year) and DNAIndia.com, (72.1 million, up 38%), also known as Daily News and Analysis, ranking as the sixth and eighth-fastest growing top 50 news sites respectively.
Among the ten most-visited English language news sites the picture is mixed, with another Indian site, CNN partner News18.com (254 million visits) growing traffic 11% year-on-year to enter the top ten for the first time in ninth place. The next fastest-growing among the top ten was The New York Times (536.4 million, up 9%) and msn.com (640.4 million, up 3%).
The fastest decliner among the top ten was Mail Online, which saw visits drop 18% year-on-year to 314.8 million.
The Mail saw the third-largest drop year-on-year among the whole top 50. The second largest, despite the success of other Indian sites, was IndiaToday.in (99.6 million visits, down 22%) and fellow British tabloid Mirror.co.uk (71 million, down 35%).
Month-on-month DNAIndia was the fastest grower, seeing visits rise 49% compared with August. It was followed by India.com (99 million, up 29%) and Canada's CBC (97.1 million, up 31%).
Relatively few sites saw rapid month-on-month growth in August, however, with five of the top 50 registering double-digit traffic increases.
Most of the biggest fallers were big names in breaking news who saw traffic correct after the bumper July. NBC News shed the most visitors month-on-month, dropping 28% to 109.2 million. It was followed by ABC News which - despite seeing the second-greatest growth year-on-year - lost 17% of its visitors compared with July.
Among the ten largest English-language sites globally there was little growth month-on-month, with Yahoo Finance (240.5 million) growing visits 2% and News18 growing them 0.2%. The rest of the top ten saw traffic contractions, led by CNN (607.2 million, down 14% month-on-month), Fox News (324.5 million, down 12% month-on-month) and Mail Online (down 8% month-on-month).
July 2024
Most of the world’s biggest news website saw strong growth in July in what was a bumper month for news.
July saw an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, Joe Biden announcing he would not stand for re-election as US president and the start of the Paris Olympics (see in-depth coverage of Olympics news web traffic here).
The fastest-growing English language news websites in the world were mainly based in the US with Newsweek, ABC News and AP News all up more than 100% year on year. All of the fastest-growing sites in our top 50 were US-based with the exception of India-based NDTV.com.
Seven out of the top ten English language news websites in the world grew year on year, with CNN and Fox News both up more than 20%.
The biggest news website in the world remains the BBC with 1.2 billion visits per month (although it should be noted this includes the entire BBC website domain, not just the news section).
Month on month ABC News in the US was the fastest-growing global top-50 news website, up 79%, with UK-based Sky News the third fastest-growing site globally up 47%.
May 2024
Note: Figures from May 2024 and earlier were calculated using an old Similarweb data model that has since been updated.
The BBC was the fastest-growing of the ten biggest news websites in the world in May, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.
Visits to the website of the UK’s flagship broadcaster were up 9% in May compared to April to 1.1 billion. While Similarweb data includes traffic to the BBC’s entertainment and other content too, the site has a major news offering.
It was followed by Fox News (292 million, up 8%), New York Times (685.5 million, up 4%) and Google News (383.2 million, up 3%), according to digital intelligence platform Similarweb.
None of the top ten sites saw smaller audiences in May compared to April, although the audiences to the Daily Mail (364.9 million) and India Times (287.9 million) were largely unchanged from last month.
Year-on-year, among the top ten news sites by number of visits India Times was again the fastest-growing site (up 67% compared to May 2023). It was followed by the New York Times (up 19%), Yahoo Finance (248.2 million, up 10%), The Guardian (368.2 million, up 5%) and the BBC (up 4%).
Among the wider top 50, AP saw the biggest growth with visits to the newswire’s site up 20% month-on-month to 115 million. British newsbrands Sky News (77.2 million visits, up 14% month-on-month) and the Express (92.6 million, up 11%) also made the fastest-growing list.
Year-on-year Newsweek was the fastest-growing top 50 site in a list largely dominated by Indian newsbrands. Visits to newsweek.com were up 170% compared to last May to 107.4 million. Al Jazeera (63.9 million, up 55%), AP News (up 48%) and People (205.2 million, up 39%) also made the list.
The BBC was again top of the table for visits. It was followed by MSN (686 million), New York Times, CNN and Google News. The order of the top five is unchanged from last month. The Guardian in sixth place was the best-ranked UK newsbrand after the BBC.
April 2024
India Times was the biggest-growing news website in the world in April, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.
Visits to the website of digital giant were up 87% year-on-year to 287.6 million as the world’s most populous country undertakes elections. It was followed by Yahoo Finance (243.9 million, up 20%), The New York Times (657 million, up 15%) and The Guardian (366.5 million, up 10%).
The remainder of the top ten newsbrands in contrast did not see traffic grow year-on-year. Fox News slumped furthest with traffic falling to 269.3 million, down 14% in April, while BBC saw a smaller fall of 5% year-on-year to 1 billion visits, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.
Month-on-month, among the top ten news sites by number of visits the picture was more positive with six seeing more traffic in April than in March. Top of the list was again India Times (up 8% month-on-month), followed by The Guardian (up 5%), CNN (558.2 million visits, up 3%) and the BBC (up 2%). Traffic for the remainder of the top ten was static, increasing or decreasing by less than 1% compared to March.
Among the wider top 50, five of the fastest-growing new sites year-on-year were from India with financial news site Livemint seeing the largest surge in visits compared to April 2023 (up 139% to 83.7 million). Newsweek maintained its strong growth and was the second-fastest growing, close behind Livemint with visits up 132% to 103.4 million. This echoes teh US news magazine’s strong performance in our US top 50 ranking as well.
Al Jazeera meanwhile also saw a strong month with visits up 67% year-on-year to 70.8 million. Continued interest in the war in Gaza likely lies behind the Qatari newsbrand’s strong performance in April.
Among the top 50 many of the same names that performed well year-on-year also did well in terms of month-on-month growth in visits. Indian Express led the list with visits up 36% to 156.8 million compared to March, while Al Jazeera (up 28%) and CBS News (95.4 million visits, up 24%) also saw a strong April.
The BBC was again top of the table for visits. Its monthly growth meant that it crossed the 1 billion visit threshold in April below which it had remained for the previous two months. It was followed by MSN (678.8 million), New York Times, CNN and Google News (370.9 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month. The Guardian fell just short of the top five in sixth place. It was the best-ranked UK newsbrand after the BBC.
March 2024
Newsweek was the biggest-growing news website in the world in March, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.
The news magazine saw visits to its website more than double in March, up 128% year-on-year to 104.1 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.
Newsweek has seen a recent run of strong growth, and was also the fastest-growing site in recent Press Gazette rankings of the top 50 news sites in the US. The newsbrand recently appointed a new executive editor, Jennifer H. Cunningham, formerly of Business Insider, who told Press Gazette her brief is to broaden Newsweek’s audience and "to enhance and augment the journalism".
Newsweek was followed by three Indian newsbrands, ahead of national elections in the country coming between April and June: financial news specialist Livemint (82.4 million visits, up 100% year-on-year), India Times (265.4 million, up 60%) and the Hindustan Times (170 million, up 45%).
Similarly month-on-month India.com (65.9 million visits, up 44%) topped the table for growth.
Two British newsbrands also featured in the fastest growing sites month-on-month. Visits to the website of Reach’s tabloid brand Express.co.uk were up 17% compared to February to reach 76.8 million, while visits to The Independent were up 12% to 109.5 million.
Among the ten biggest sites by number of visits in March, fastest-growing year-on-year was India Times. It was followed by The New York Times (666 million visits, up 11%) and Yahoo Finance (245.9 million, up 5%).
The remainder of the ten biggest sites slumped year-on-year, with Fox News seeing the sharpest decline (269.4 million visitors, down 18%), followed by aggregator MSN (676 million, down 11%).
However all top ten sites grew month-on-month. The biggest increase in visits was for India Times, followed by New York Times (up 10% month-on-month) and CNN (539.9 million, up 9%). UK newsbrands The Daily Mail (369.3 million, up 8% compared to February) and The Guardian (349.7 million, up 7%) also saw growth of more than 5% in their number of visits.
The BBC was again top of the table for visits (992.4 million) although it remained below the one billion visit mark for the second month in a row. It was followed by MSN, New York Times, CNN and Google News (375.6 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month.
February 2024
India Times was the fastest-growing top ten news website in the world in February, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.
Visits to the Indian daily newspaper’s website were up 48% year-on-year to 234.5 million, possibly due to increased interest in news about the country given India’s upcoming general election in April.
It was followed by Yahoo Finance (241.4 million visits, up 18% year-on-year) and The New York Times (606.7 million visits, up 10%) which were second and third fastest growing among the ten biggest sites by number of visits, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.
The Guardian made a smaller gain of 2% (327.4 million visits) and the rest of the top ten reported declines compared to February last year.
Microsoft news aggregator MSN (642.2 million visits, down 14% year-on-year) and Fox News (262.9 million, down 16%) were the two top ten sites to see double-digit drops.
Month-on-month all of the top ten sites except the India Times (up 3%) saw less traffic in February compared to January. Fox News (down 16%) and the Daily Mail’s website (343.6 million visits, down 10% month-on-month) saw the biggest falls.
Yahoo Finance (down 1% month-on-month) and New York Times (down 5%) also slumped compared to January despite growing year-on-year.
Fastest-growing year-on-year among the whole top 50 was again Newsweek (79.5 million visits, up 114%) which similarly saw strong growth in its home market of the US this month. Newsweek was followed by Indian financial newsbrand Livemint (71.8 million, up 90%) and Al Jazeera (53.4 million, up 55%), repeating the order of the fastest-growing sites year-on-year in January.
Month-on-month Newsweek (up 7% compared to January) was beaten by another Indian site, Indian Express (96.8 million, up 9% month-on-month). It was followed by GB News (55.2 million, up 4%) which entered the global top 50 for the first time last month.
The BBC was again top of the table for visits (963.4 million) although it fell below the one billion visit mark it has topped in recent months. It was followed by MSN (642.2 million), New York Times (606.7 million), CNN (497.7 million) and Google News (360.9 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month.
Similarweb generates its traffic data by applying machine learning and modelling to the statistically representative datasets that the company collects. Datasets are based on direct measurement (i.e. websites and apps that choose to share first-party analytics with Similarweb); contributory networks that aggregate device data; partnerships and public data extraction from websites and apps. The sites in the list are based on Similarweb’s classification of news and media publishers, although Press Gazette refines the list to exclude some sites with a less news-based focus.
Continue reading for previous months' coverage of the world's top 50 websites for news:
January 2024
CNN was the fastest-growing top 10 news website in the world month-on-month in January, according to Press Gazette’s updated ranking.
Visits to the US cable broadcaster’s site were up 7% to reach 537.2 million compared to December, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb. It reverses last month’s pattern for CNN which was the only top ten sites in December to see visits down, falling 2% between November and December.
Second fastest-growing among the biggest ten sites by number of global visits was The Guardian (360.9 million, up 7% month-on-month), while Microsoft aggregator MSN (699.6 million, up 5%) was third. All top ten sites saw month-on-month growth.
Year-on-year all of the top ten sites saw audience drops however, The Guardian, New York Times (636.3 million visits) and Yahoo Finance saw comparatively small drops in visits of less than 1% compared to January 2023. MSN saw the biggest slump in traffic for the third month in a row (down 23% year-on-year), followed by Fox News (294.8 million visits) and CNN which were both down 16% year-on-year.
Fastest-growing year-on-year among the whole top 50 was again Newsweek (74.1 million visits, up 83%) - although its traffic was lower than December. Newsweek was followed by Indian financial newsbrand Livemint (77 million, up 76%) and Al Jazeera (57.8 million, up 56%).
Month-on-month UK-based news aggregator newsnow.co.uk was top for growth with visits up 40% compared to December (58.4 million visits). It was followed by GB News (53 million, up 21%) which entered the top 50 for the first time in 50th position, and Business Insider (107.7 million, up 21%).
The BBC remained top of the table for visits and was the only site to top the 1 billion visit-threshold as in past months (1.1 billion visits), followed by MSN, New York Times, CNN and Google News (393.4 million). The order of the top five is unchanged from last month.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
