Major U.K. national newspapers see online growth

The Guardian remains the U.K.’s most popular online newspaper, but it’s by no means the fastest growing, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

by Helen Leggatt

While other newspapers jostled for position, The Guardian remained in the top spot for the twelfth month running with 2.67 million unique visitors during August this year.

The Telegraph leapfrogged over The Sun to come in second with 2.08 million unique visitors during the same period, The Sun slid to third with 2.05 million and The Times took fourth with 1.91 million.

"The leading UK national papers online have achieved excellent growth since the start of the year,” said Alex Burmaster, a Nielsen//NetRatings European Internet analyst. "As a group, they've experienced 30 percent growth which is particularly impressive considering the online audience itself has grown by just over 9 percent in the same period. This means, as a group, the leading nationals online are growing at three times the rate of overall UK Internet growth."

The Daily Mail, while in fifth place in terms of unique visitors, was the fastest growing of the U.K.’s online newspapers. Since December last year, traffic to the website has grown 117 percent.