Telegraph loses 2.25 million users in seasonal news websites slump
Telegraph Media Group was the biggest loser as all the national newspaper websites suffered a seasonal hit in December. Telegraph.co.uk lost more than 2.25 million unique users on the previous month, recording a figure of 10.5 million, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation Electronic figures.
Market leader Guardian Unlimited, which includes guardian.co.uk and observer.co.uk, shed more than 1.5 million unique users, falling to 15.95 million.
News International’s Sun Online fell by more than 1.1 million unique users to 10.5 million, while Times Online also dropped more than 1.1 million to 11.2 million unique users.
The second most visited newspaper site, Associated Newspapers’ Mail Online, reported the smallest decline, with a fall of 785,903 to 13.6 million unique users.
MindShare investment director for publishing Paul Thomas says that people always spend less time online at Christmas. “These figures don’t surprise me,” he adds. “People are out more and socialise more during Christmas. However, it’s not reflective of newspaper circulation. You can expect to see [online users] rise again during January and February.”
