The Yorkshire Post is the UK’s fastest growing regional news website, according to the latest ABC figures for the first six months of 2018.
The Johnston Press website had 58,654 daily unique browsers, up 43 per cent year-on-year from 41,044.
In May, the Post asked readers to register to continue reading their content for free online, with the aim of strengthening the relationship between their advertisers and their potential customers by deterring ad-blocking.
Its sister website, the Yorkshire Evening Post, has 107,064 daily unique browsers and is now the second biggest regional news website in the UK that is audited by ABC.
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The Scotsman, also owned by Johnston Press, is top of the rankings with 138,733 after year-on-year growth of 13 per cent.
Mark Thompson, Johnston Press head of audience for Northern England, said: “We have seen our strategy of investing in and growing our biggest brands yielding positive results in the most recent ABC figures.
“The focus is to provide trusted, quality, local content that encourages people to return time after time and rely on the title to keep them informed about the place in which they live.
“With this focus on engagement, the outlook for the second half of 2018, whilst still challenging, is an improving one as we work ever more closely with Google, continue to widen our traffic sources and look for greater transparency from Facebook on algorithm changes and future adjustments.”
However Reach, which for the same period in 2017 boasted the five biggest regional websites after the Evening Standard, no longer has its websites audited by ABC.
The omission means websites like the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Wales Online, Birmingham Mail and Chronicle Live in Newcastle are no longer included in the rankings.
The biggest falls in online readership have been recorded at CN Group’s Cumbria Live and Cumberland News, which fell 42 per cent year-on-year to 425 daily unique browsers and 20 per cent to 1,107 respectively.
Of the websites audited at the bigger publishers, Newsquest’s Evening Times in Glasgow saw the biggest drop, falling 19 per cent year-on-year to 73,253.
Number of daily unique browsers to regional news websites in June 2018 (source ABC):
| Website | Daily unique browsers (June 2017) | Year-on-year % change |
| Scotsman.com | 138,733 | 13% |
| Yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk | 107,064 | 0% |
| Eastern Daily Press | 104,896 | 16% |
| Thestar.co.uk | 101,700 | -6% |
| edinburghnews.scotsman.com | 95,158 | 9% |
| heraldscotland.com | 78,916 | -15% |
| bournemouthecho.co.uk | 77,034 | -8% |
| dailyecho.co.uk | 75,956 | -9% |
| eveningtimes.co.uk | 73,253 | -19% |
| thetelegraphandargus.co.uk | 66,765 | -11% |
| thenorthernecho.co.uk | 63,079 | -2% |
| Portsmouth.co.uk | 61,539 | 5% |
| Yorkshirepost.co.uk | 58,654 | 43% |
| lancashiretelegraph.co.uk | 56,638 | -2% |
| Sunderlandecho.com | 55,430 | -6% |
| theargus.co.uk | 54,596 | -3% |
| theboltonnews.co.uk | 50,126 | -15% |
| thepress.co.uk | 49,651 | -11% |
| Oxfordmail.co.uk | 49,386 | 9% |
| southwalesargus.co.uk | 46,261 | -2% |
| East Anglian Daily Times | 44,231 | 13% |
| LEP.co.uk | 40,641 | 2% |
| newsshopper.co.uk | 40,592 | 12% |
| Swindonadvertiser.co.uk | 38,763 | 2% |
| Peterboroughtoday.co.uk | 34,566 | -7% |
| Ipswich Star | 33,979 | 0% |
| www.newsandstar.co.uk | 32,687 | -4% |
| northamptonchron.co.uk | 32,025 | 0% |
| worcesternews.co.uk | 30,875 | 1% |
| newsletter.co.uk | 30,495 | 0% |
| dorsetecho.co.uk | 25,367 | -2% |
| www.nwemail.co.uk | 21,514 | -4% |
| derbyshiretimes.co.uk | 20,405 | |
| Norwich Evening News | 18,653 | -3% |
| northantstelegraph.co.uk | 18,017 | |
| eastbourneherald.co.uk | 12,772 | |
| miltonkeynes.co.uk | 11,164 | |
| www.timesandstar.co.uk | 5,188 | 1% |
| www.whitehavennews.co.uk | 4,215 | 9% |
| www.hexhamcourant.co.uk | 3,354 | 15% |
| www.cumberlandnews.co.uk | 1,107 | -20% |
| www.in-cumbria.com | 888 | 10% |
| www.cumbrialive.co.uk | 425 | -42% |
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