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June 16, 2008

Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List

Newspaper Sites Set Record for Unique Audience

This month there was some movement in Nielsen’s top 30 Online Current Events & Global News Destinations.
 
Nielsen Online provides these numbers to the Newspaper Association of America on a monthly basis. The data shows traffic and sessions per person* to the top 30 sites in the “News” category based on May 2008 numbers. It takes into account U.S. home and work Internet usage, and it shows both unique visitors to each brand or channel and sessions per person. (For more information about the sourcing of these statistics, please visit www.netratings.com.) 
 
Although DrudgeReport.com again has the highest number of sessions per person by far (indicating, perhaps, that people return to the site multiple, separate times during the month), Yahoo! News still reigns on unique audience, followed (somewhat closely) by the MSNBC Digital Network.
 
Drudge Report also reigns in sessions per person, breaking 20. The second- and third-place rankings switched places this month, though they remain far behind Drudge Report. Daily Kos is now second in sessions per person (9.6) and Fox News Digital Network is now third (8.7 sessions per person). 
 
A rising tide lifts all boats: The average sessions per person for the month of May were higher than those in April (though individual entries may have dropped).

Note that 10 of the top 30 in this list are newspapers or newspaper companies – one more than last month! Newcomers to the newspaper list are washingtonpost.com and Hearst Newspapers Digital. MediaNews Group, which ranked 30th last month, is not on the top 30 list this month.
Newspaper Sites Set Record in Unique Audience
Newspaper Web sites attracted more than 69.4 million unique visitors (41.7 percent of all Internet users) in May, a record number. This is a big jump over last year. In May 2007, newspaper Web sites attracted 60.3 million unique visitors (37.8 active reach), according to a custom analysis provided by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America. For comparison, i
n April, newspaper Web sites attracted 64.3 million unique visitors (39.1 percent active reach).
Other stats from May (all down just slightly from last month):
  • 43.81 pages per person
  • 39:51 time per person
  • 7.91 visits per person
* Note on the following numbers: Auto-refresh features on Web sites (i.e. when a Web site page reloads automatically) does not increase the number of sessions. For more information about our sourcing guidelines, go to www.netratings.com
 
Brand or Channel Sessions per Person Unique Audience (000)
DrudgeReport.com 20.1 3,008
Daily Kos ^ 9.6 1,201
Fox News Digital Network 8.7 10,132
CNN Digital Network 7.8 33,101
AOL News 7.8 22,524
Yahoo! News 7.2 35,846
Economist.com 6.5 789
MSNBC Digital Network 6.2 35,184
Google News 5.5 11,356
Netscape 5.3 1,947
Breitbart.com 5.2 2,318
Gannett Newspapers, Newspaper Division 4.9 14,629
WorldNow 4.9 7,523
NYTimes.com 4.5 21,340
Townhall.com 4.5 1,181
Media General Newspapers 4.5 1,459
worldnetdaily.com 4.4 962
Star Tribune 4.3 2,337
IB Websites 4.2 5,943
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 4.2 842
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 3.9 1,359
Real Clear Politics 3.8 1,794
Newsmax.com 3.8 3,375
washingtonpost.com 3.7 9,204
Zwire 3.7 1,539
TWC News Websites ^ 3.7 1,110
USAToday.com 3.7 10,785
ksl.com 3.6 754
Hearst Newspapers Digital 3.5 7,955
Gannett Broadcasting 3.4 4,735
 
 ^ Indicates Home and Work audience duplication projections did not meet minimum sample size standards. Combined home and work audience estimates for these sites may exhibit increased variability month-to-month as a result.


Posted by Beth Lawton at 1:35 PM | PermaLink | 24 comments

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Comments

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
I don't know what exactly Mr. Drudge is doing to get Nielsen to list him top of the news list, month after month, but he is sure showing them how it is done!
Posted by Anthony Mason on June 18, 2008 at 3:36 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Part of the reason Drudge tops the list is that his site is only 1 page and has auto-refresh every couple minutes. Sometimes it refreshes before I finished reading the headlines.
Posted by Nate on June 19, 2008 at 11:36 AM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Never mind, just read the footnote. Auto-refresh does not affect numbers.
Posted by Nate on June 19, 2008 at 11:38 AM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Keep it up Drudge--with a cup of coffee you open up the world for me every A.M.
Posted by ss11955 on June 19, 2008 at 12:03 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
RE YOUR ARTICLE OF WHICH I AM VERY HAPPY AND DELIGHTED THAT THE DRUDGE REPORT IS IN THE NUMBER ONE SPOT AS IT IS ONE IF NOT MY MAIN SOURCE AS TO WHERE I LOOK TO FOR BREAKNG NEWS ON THE INTERNET VERY RELIABLE AND STATEMENTS OF FACTUAL
Posted by TREVOR MERCHANT on June 19, 2008 at 1:07 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
I've been reading drudge for the past 3 years now and its funny when people tell me about something they saw on the news and i think to myself geeeezzz i saw that on drudge like 2 days ago......... Keep up the good work Drudge. One thing i like about drudge is that the format is simple and not congested with advertising.
Posted by HUITZILOPOCHTLI on June 19, 2008 at 1:30 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Duh! One of the reasons Drudge Report gets such a high "hit count" is that it is set to automatically "refresh" the page so often that you can't even finish reading the headlines. Each "refresh" then records a new "hit" on Drudgereport.com. ... sneaky, irritating and highly misleading! They should only auto refresh (at most) when the actual news items change.
Posted by Bob on June 19, 2008 at 2:02 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Drudge is absolutely the best (even better on Mozilla Firefox with Ad-Block Protection extension to block out th single ad at the top of the page.) Fox news #3...the first 2 links on my home page are in the top 3...nice to know I'm not alone
Posted by pmp on June 19, 2008 at 2:02 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Drudge is the best! He prints the news before anyone else does.
Posted by fay on June 19, 2008 at 2:23 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Stop bashing Drudge. His news sense is better than most of the media poobahs who bash him -- and he beats the competition over and over again.
Posted by RealLiveJournalist on June 19, 2008 at 2:54 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
"Duh" yourself Bob... Read the footnote: * Note on the following numbers: Auto-refresh features on Web sites (i.e. when a Web site page reloads automatically) does not increase the number of sessions. Realize that Drudge is the first place most people go to get the latest news. His site is simple, easy to read, loads quickly and he compiles the most interesting news stories from around the world . You dont get this from any of the corporate media offerings. The site is fantastic and deserves to be #1.
Posted by luckylager on June 19, 2008 at 3:41 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Drudge is at the top because it is the only website that automatically refreshes itself. This is a deceptive way to get the sessions number inflated.
Posted by smokedgouda on June 19, 2008 at 3:43 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Hi Smokedgouda (and others) -- We noted in a footnote that the refresh rate does not actually have anything to do with the number of sessions, which is what this list is ranked by. The definition of 'session' is available through wikipedia (look up "session" and choose the computer science definition). As long as the connection between the user and the site isn't broken, that's just one session -- no matter how many times the site refreshes. Thanks for reading!
Posted by Beth Lawton on June 19, 2008 at 3:49 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Why don't some of you people read the footnotes? The automatic refresh of Drudge does NOT affect the session count! A session only counts more than once if you leave the domain (DrudgeReport.com) for another website and then return again to Drudge. I actually view Drudge at least two dozen times per day. I used to trust Yahoo for the news -- but they have become so blatantly biased for Obama and homosexual activism. They should rename the website Yahoobama! WTG, Drudge, your website ROCKS!!!
Posted by Mireya Ayala on June 19, 2008 at 5:23 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
It isn't just Yahoo that is so blatantly biased for Obama. It seems like most of the media has attached themselves to the hyped leg of Obama -- like a dog in puberty! It is quite gross if you ask me. Yahoo is obvious in their bias because some liberal fellow rewrites the headlines. Nearly every headline is pro-Obama or pro-homosexual in one way or another. Even if the story might actually paint Obama in a bad light, the News editors at Yahoo rewrite the headline to paint Obama favorably. It really is disgusting to see such a disregard to journalistic intregrity. One guy said on a blog that Yahoo looks like the PR firm for the Obama campaign! But such is the media -- as Harvard recently confirmed extreme liberal bias in the media. It seems like most of those who utilize the "creative" side of politics fall into the realm of liberalism. Is it any wonder that that same "creative" side of the brain is also responsible for the ability to lie? Go figure. ;-P
Posted by Chris Murphy on June 19, 2008 at 5:31 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Refreshing does not affect your session count. Sessions are only registered if you go to a website leave and then return later. The DrudgeReport is visited so often because it brings the news quickly without slanting the headlines to the far left (like most major news outlets). As a result, I visit several times a day! I don't know if the other websites realize just how liberal they appear to be. If someone is so liberal, do they realize that it is reflected in their articles and titles? The online editors at CNN, NYTimes and Yahoo obviously can't tell the difference. They are just as obviously liberal as the HuffingtonPost.
Posted by Barack HusseiNObama on June 19, 2008 at 5:56 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Drudge also offers easy and direct connection with a large group of columnists as well as publications...I get to many of the rated sources listed above via the Drudge lists.
Posted by Irvin Herman on June 19, 2008 at 8:02 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Drudge is by far the first one out with scoops, and major breaking news. Check the site three times a day -- 6:30 AM; 1 PM and 7:30 PM. Try to stay informed, and Drudge does it!!
Posted by JWATL on June 19, 2008 at 8:04 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
I also read Drudge several times daily and, is it just me, or does Drudge seem to still be nursing a pro-Obama bias now that Hillary has dropped out and Barack is running against John McCain?!?
Posted by Verballistic on June 19, 2008 at 8:50 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Look, Drudge is tops because he pulls from a variety of sources newsworthy items that seem to defy the conventional "wisdom" that is regurgitated by the MSM. Proving what so many have thought for years, the truth is out there, you just have to be willing look for it and to hear it. And, as these numbers show, people are not satisfied with the old media, and have rejected them and their pre-formed opinions.
Posted by NoCryBabies on June 19, 2008 at 9:49 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
I'm a big fan of Drudge, but a possible reason why his numbers could be higher than some of the others is that his site redirects you to a host of other sites and then you must go back to his page to see more--I wonder if each one of these counts as a unique session. News sites such as foxnews and cnn are all internal--no redirection.
Posted by lewis on June 19, 2008 at 10:10 PM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
This looks like a shameless article just to get linkage from Drudge. I'm fan of drudge, and despite what the footnote saids, I'm sure the constant refresh has a lot to do with Drudge topping the list, but that's my problem with this stat. My problem with this stat is who really cares that much about sessions per visit. If I visit my site 50 times a month, and I'm the only one visiting it, my site would have 50 sessions/visitor - I would beat Drudge or anyone else on this list. Dumb. The more important stat is unique visitors, which measures the amount of people visiting a site; and in that list, Drudge is nowhere near the top. CNN has more than 10 times the number of unique visitors. Fan of Drudge, but this sessions/unique list is dumb.
Posted by umm... on June 20, 2008 at 12:05 AM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Whats funny is that the places that are also on that chart can attribute their traffic to DrudgeReport.com.
Posted by C. Mader on June 20, 2008 at 1:00 AM

Re: Nielsen: Drudge Report Leads Top 30 in Sessions per Person; More Newspapers Join List
Milwaukee Journal in 6th place? Shows this report has no credability. They can't even give this paper away at Brewers or Bucks games or the Lakefront Festivals. That it's listed higher than USA Today is even a bigger joke ! Plus the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ( Better known as the Milwaukee Urinal ) web site sucks anyway and isn't updated timely. But good if you want to get the latest liberal bias stuff and find out who shot or stabbed who in the core. Drudge does it best they did get that correct !
Posted by Felix on June 20, 2008 at 5:41 AM

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