Hi REF:FirstName,
Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, gives its perspective on the most popular online newspapers amongst the British audience.
Popularity
- The Guardian remains the most popular online newspaper amongst Britons, with 3.0 million Unique UK Visitors (from home & work locations) in April 2008, followed by the Telegraph with 2.7 million - which is the clear number two site for the second consecutive month
- However, the Telegraph has considerably closed the gap on the Guardian, having had a 77% increase in Unique UK Visitors since April 2007, compared to 24% for the Guardian
- The Daily Mail had the biggest year-on-year growth (92%) amongst the leading five online papers
The most popular online newspapers by UK Unique Audience: April 2008
Rank |
Newspaper |
Unique Audience Apr 08 (millions) |
Unique Audience Apr 07 (millions) |
YOY Change
Apr 07 – Apr 08
|
1 |
Guardian |
3.0 |
2.4 |
+24% |
2 |
Telegraph |
2.7 |
1.5 |
+77% |
3 |
Sun |
1.9 |
1.6 |
+20% |
4 |
Times |
1.8 |
1.5 |
+20% |
5 |
Daily Mail |
1.7 |
0.9 |
+92% |
Source: Nielsen Online, UK home and work data, April 2007 - April 2008
Engagement
- The Sun is the most engaging of the leading five online papers – having the highest percentage (14%) of heavy visitors (visitors spending more than 15 minutes on the site during April)
-
The two most popular online newspapers – the Guardian and the Telegraph – have the highest percentage of light visitors (83% and 81%, respectively)
Audience composition by heavy, medium and light users: April 2008
Source: Nielsen Online, UK home and work data, April 2008
- Since January 2008, the Times is the only one of the five leading online papers to have increased the share of heavy visitors amongst its audience
Change in heavy, medium, light audience composition: January 2008 - April 2008
Newspaper |
Online Visitor Type |
January 2008 |
April 2008 |
|
Guardian |
Heavy |
7% |
6% |
-1% |
Medium |
14% |
11% |
-3% |
Light |
80% |
83% |
+4% |
Telegraph |
Heavy |
13% |
7% |
-6% |
Medium |
18% |
12% |
-5% |
Light |
70% |
81% |
+11% |
Sun |
Heavy |
16% |
14% |
-2% |
Medium |
17% |
16% |
-2% |
Light |
66% |
70% |
+4% |
Times |
Heavy |
7% |
13% |
+6% |
Medium |
19% |
17% |
-2% |
Light |
74% |
70% |
-4% |
Daily Mail |
Heavy |
12% |
12% |
0% |
Medium |
14% |
14% |
-1% |
Light |
74% |
75% |
+1% |
Source: Nielsen Online, UK home and work data, January 2008 - April 2008
Stephen Brooks, UK Managing Director, Nielsen Online, comments, "Analysing the Telegraph's audience by heavy, medium and light visitors reveals their dramatic growth in popularity is concentrated around light users, which could be due to the site's improved visibility in search results.
The Times, on the other hand, has experienced much less growth but this growth is mostly focused around heavy visitors.
This encapsulates the 'reach vs engagement' conundrum that newspaper sites face – is the best path to financial success attracting the most visitors or having a smaller core of more engaged users?"
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