25 February 2015

Local Media Maintains Strong Growth in Online Audiences

Local media websites have maintained their strong rate of traffic growth, yesterday’s (Wednesday 25 February) ABC figures show. 

Traffic to local media websites has grown by 56.6 per in the past year – a very similar increase to that recorded in the previous ABC figures in August.

Looking at figures for publisher networks, Trinity Mirror recorded the fastest rate of growth with average monthly unique browsers for the period 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2014 increasing by 90.5 per cent.

The KM Group was the next highest with a year-on-year increase of 82.5 per cent followed by Local World at 65.6 per cent.  

KM Group editorial director Ian Carter said: “This huge leap in audience is a credit to everyone who contributes to KentOnline, be that our journalists, advertising staff or technical team.

“KOL is firmly establishing itself as the first port of call for anyone interested in news, sport or entertainment in Kent.

“It is important we continue to develop KentOnline to ensure our audience continues to grow. We are rapidly expanding our video content and have just relaunched our entertainment platform.”

Newsquest was up by 46.4 per cent and the publisher also saw the Sunday Herald post a massive print circulation rise of more than a third.

Mark Smith, Newsquest digital director said: “Coming on top of 46% growth in the first half of 2014 we’re delighted with the results we’re seeing. It’s a vindication of the investment we’re making in our digital team and products and the increasing focus our editorial teams are placing on digital across the UK.

“We’re seeing a lot of growth from mobile devices, particularly smartphones, but desktop audiences are still increasing too. We expect to see more growth as we continue to develop our products and content in 2015.” 

Johnston Press was up by 28.7 per cent and Midland News Association was up by 34.6 per cent. 

The previous ABC release in August last year showed that traffic to local media websites grew by 57.6 per cent on the previous year-on-year.